Completed in 1967, the Provincial Museum of Alberta houses three permanent exhibits and has an exhibition hall for featured exhibits. The three permanent exhibits include Wild Alberta, Syncrude Gallery of Aboriginal Culture, and Natural History. The name was changed to Royal Alberta Museum in 2005 when it was visited by Queen Elizabeth II.

I visited this museum towards the end of my tour this Summer and the collection of native displays made a lot more sense and meant much more. For 100 years, first nations were important trading partners during the fur trade years. They provided much of the fur trappings and traded them for goods like blankets, metal tools, glass beads, guns, etc. Things that they saw value in, but couldn't necessarily make themselves. Europeans got the furs that they were looking for to sell in Europe and Asia and the First Nations got things that made their lives easier in return.

The current split and separation that we see today seems to have started around the late 1800's during the time of coal mining and settlement of the West. Some called it development and progress, but others saw it as exploitation and destruction of the land. The Edmonton area was once covered with poplar trees much like the surrounding areas near Whitecourt. The lands were completely cleared out to make way for farmland. The fur trade was also in decline at the time due to decreasing demand.

The decline of the bison also didn't help the first nations. It was around this time that the numbered treaties, 6, 7, and 8 in Alberta where the natives signed over their lands forever and reserves were created.