A proposed partnership that would see the Thebacha Leadership Council assume an ownership and stewardship role over Fort Smith’s Northern Life Museum and Cultural Centre moved a step forward this week.
The four governments that make up the Thebacha Leadership Council began exploring shared ownership of the museum as part of a broader effort to strengthen regional cooperation last year.
During a Wednesday council meeting, representatives of the leadership council and the museum outlined the vision behind the partnership, describing it as an opportunity to strengthen Indigenous stewardship, preserve northern history and culture, and create new economic and tourism opportunities for the town.
The presentation follows the signing of an agreement in principle on June 21, which outlines the parties’ intention to negotiate a definitive agreement by end of July.
According to a joint news release issued last month, the agreement “represents an important milestone in preserving and strengthening one of the Northwest Territories’ most significant cultural and historical institutions.”
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There are plans for an October grand opening and fundraising event.
At this week’s town meeting, Thebacha MLA Jay Macdonald said the agreement represents an important step toward strengthening relationships, preserving Indigenous history and supporting reconciliation through action.
Macdonald said the partnership will provide a long-term framework for economic development and encourage preservation, repatriation, and respectful care of culturally significant artifacts, oral histories, language resources, and archival material.
“Over time, this agreement will provide a formal basis for ongoing collaboration with Treaty 8 leadership on a variety of cultural protocols [and] enhance opportunities to secure territorial, federal, philanthropic, and private sector funding that will support our community,” he said.
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“We’re setting the bar here by making this agreement, by moving this forward, because many other communities will look to Fort Smith and say, ‘Look what you can really do if you decide that you all want to work together.’ I think that’s really a key point here.”
Museum board chair Michael Miltenberger, a former Thebacha MLA himself, described the proposal as a historic opportunity to reshape the museum’s governance.
While the museum, founded in 1972, holds thousands of artifacts, Miltenberger said it has operated for decades with limited resources.
According to him, bringing Indigenous governments into its governance would not only strengthen both the institution and the community, but also recognize the museum as a place where the region’s shared history is preserved.
“Can we survive if our shared history is not owned by the governments whose history it is?” Miltenberger said in his presentation.
“It took us 159 years to get here. Now, today, is the time where Thebacha is going to come into its own by filling in that big gap that is going to fully link the four governments and all the people they represent.”
Deputy mayor Mike Keizer asked if the town would assume any liabilities under the agreement, including whether taxpayers could face additional costs for maintaining the museum building.
Miltenberger replied that the agreement should be viewed as an investment in the community’s future.
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Councillor Karl Cox inquired whether the agreement would place additional pressure on municipal administration and how the proposed governance model would function.
“There’s going to be a change – a political change, a mental change – because all of a sudden the people that have always been on the outside looking in with their own history are going to say, ‘We are huge asset here,'” Miltenberger responded.
“‘We all have our own cultural aspirations. Now we can pool our resources. Now we can share.’ We’ve got four administrations. We’ve got four public works. So the question is: how much more efficient will we become by working together?”
Miltenberger said the museum board would remain an independent registered charity, while a coordinator would work with member governments and museum staff.
He said the board would be restructured to reflect the participating governments.
