New Galt exhibit ‘Taking Action’ highlights values

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on April 17, 2025.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

A new temporary exhibit has opened at the Galt Museum and Archives that highlights different ways community members and organizations have taken action to create social change in southern Alberta.
“Taking Action: People Making a Difference” is now on display until Oct. 5, 2025, and Camina Weasel Moccasin, indigenous curator at the Galt Museum says the exhibit highlights eight events in and around the community.
“What we are excited about this exhibit is that we paired those events with some of the Blackfoot values and each of those events is associated with a value,” says Weasel Moccasin.
The four Blackfoot values highlighted in the exhibit are: Sao’ohkoomaimohsini (achievement), Kimapiiyipitsinni (kindness to others), Mokakssini (wisdom), and Aahkowaitapiiyssini (collectivity).
“We want to make sure that we are emphasizing and highlighting Blackfoot culture and Blackfoot values, but we also don’t want to silo them separate from, or making them other than,” says Weasel Moccasin. “So, this was a great opportunity where we can look at these different events that happened in Blackfoot territory.”
She adds that the exhibit therefore draws a connection between the events and each Blackfoot value they are upholding.
“There is a mix of indigenous-focused events and also non-indigenous events that span decades. One of them is the “candy bar war” in 1947, right after Word War II, when candy bar prices jumped from five cents to eight cents and children took to the streets to protest,” says Weasel Moccasin.
Another Indigenous-focused event highlighted in the exhibit is “The run to Ottawa,” which took place in 1980. The run was organized by men from the Blood Tribe to draw attention to broken treaty promises.
“There is a variety of stories that we tried to bring forward that highlight children, adults, things from the 1940s as well as contemporary stuff as well,” says Weasel Moccasin.
She hopes the exhibit gets people thinking about what their own values are, and whether those values being threatened would incite them to take action.
“This exhibit highlights all the different ways that people took stands. Sometimes it was protests in the streets, sometimes it was creating social groups, sometimes it was creating non-for-profit organizations, so many different ways that people can take action against injustices,” says Weasel Moccasin.
The exhibition also shows how one person can ignite a small spark that triggers something much bigger and how events at the local level are often connected to larger national or global happenings.
“This exhibition is a tribute to the changemakers among us—and a reminder that meaningful action often begins with just one person choosing to care.”

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