First Nations and Métis Communities are in the process of developing their own museums and keeping houses. They want to tell their stories from their perspectives and to regain control of their cultural heritage objects. Access to existing resources within the museum community is essential to their long term survival.

The Museums Association of Saskatchewan is positioned to serve the needs of all types of museums in the province. Under new policies, the focus has shifted to a diverse, inclusive community.

The objectives for providing support to First Nations & Métis communities are:

to facilitate and support the decision-making process for groups or communities thinking about establishing a heritage facility by:

• helping to identify who needs to be involved
• making connections and exploring potential partnerships
• getting community support

and to assist groups/communities that have already made a decision and are in the process of establishing a museum, keeping house or cultural centre by:

• linking them to resources
• providing on-site and telephone advisory assist- ance (information, answering questions, identi- fying options, etc.)
• on-site developmental assistance (helping in planning, writing policies, job descriptions, etc.)
• facilitating participation in the museum community

For non-Aboriginal museums with First Nations and Métis collections, the objectives are:

• to facilitate the development of existing partner- ships between non-Aboriginal museums and Aboriginal groups/communities where there are difficulties because the partnership is new or needs to better understand the cultural differences
• or where the partnership is not growing and needs help in generating ideas for initiatives or planning a new direction
• to assist museums that are planning exhibitions/ programs with their First Nations and Métis collections and need resources within the Aboriginal community
• most frequently these museums need to get First Nations or Métis people involved in the planning/ implementation and do not know how to make the connections, need to broaden the scope of feedback or input because it is too limited, or require information to make more informed decisions.