While the CGRF project was underway, the Lake of the Woods Museum had already undertaken cross-cultural collaboration to develop two major exhibits that were highly successful both in terms of process and end result (exhibit). These were Bakaan nake’ii ngii-izhi-gakinoo’amaagoomin – We Were Taught Differently: The Indian Residential School Experience and Miijim: Traditional Foods of the Lake of the Woods Anishinaabeg.
The Mobile Tour project was the Museum’s third collaboration with the CGRF. The project saw the Museum continue to develop its collaborative relationships with area Indigenous peoples to create a mobile tour of its semi-permanent exhibit gallery. The program, presented on iPads, provides an audio/ video tour experience meant to maximize the impact of the visitor’s time at the Museum by engaging them with a high-tech, non-traditional approach to museum learning.
The tour program involves fact presentation, storytelling, music and video. The Museum has engaged elders and other knowledgeable First Nations and Métis participants in the interpretive process and in assisting in the production of the material presented through this mobile tour.
The Mobile Tour launched June 16, 2012 and in October it was recognized with a 2012 Ontario Museum Association Award of Excellence in Special Projects.