Ms. Lucy Bell

Biography

Lucy Bell, Sdahl Ḵ’awaas, PhD (ABD) is a Haida Nation-based scholar and member of the Tsiits G’itanee Eagle clan. Her upbringing on Haida Gwaii, where she was “voluntold” to help her mom with cultural activities and in her elementary classroom has played a significant role in igniting her commitment to learning and sharing her knowledge. Although she never envisioned herself following in her mother’s footsteps as a teacher, sharing an Indigenous approach to cultural resource and museum management has been a fulfilling experience for Lucy.

Lucy’s academic journey has been enriched with her Haida knowledge. Lucy has an anthropology degree but refuses to be acknowledged as an anthropologist. She is proud of her UVic Cultural Resource Management Certificate that took her 20 years to complete. She completed it while simultaneously completing her MA in Indigenous Language Revitalization in 2016. UVic recognized Lucy as a distinguished alumna. She is presently a PhD candidate at Simon Fraser University, exploring Haida museology as a means of reconciliation. Lucy’s research is a testament to her desire to use her Haida knowledge to promote reconciliation in the academic and museum worlds.

Lucy strives to tla yahda—make things right for Indigenous peoples and their belongings in museums. She is a founding member of the Haida Repatriation Committee, which has repatriated over 500 Haida ancestral remains and belongings from global museums. Thirty years of repatriation work has also led to impressive changes in the museum sector because the Haida conducted repatriation based on yahgudang—respect—and because they demanded yahgudang from museums. Lucy is now a member of the K’yuu research team, and engaged in a cost/benefit analysis of repatriation in British Columbia. 

Lucy has been recognized for her courageous stand against racism in the museum sector, winning prestigious awards such as the Sterling Prize for Controversy and the BC Museums Association’s Distinguished Service Award. Lucy was the inaugural head of Indigenous collections and repatriation department at the Royal BC Museum, co-writing the Indigenous Repatriation Handbook and demanding change until she called the museum out for racism. This changed Lucy’s life and the museum sector. Lucy’s life expanded to include anti-racism and decolonial advocacy in the heritage sector. This experience led to the creation of the Indigenous Museum Cousins.

Lucy’s passion for learning and using her Indigenous knowledge to promote reconciliation continues to inspire others. Her contributions to the academy, heritage sector and in reconciliation initiatives have been outstanding, and she is an accomplished Indigenous leader, advocate and scholar. Lucy’s journey, and the work she continues to do, provides hope that reconciliation and tla yahda—making it right between Indigenous Peoples and the heritage sector—is achievable.