Jean-Luc Pilon

Research Division - First Peoples and Early Canada

Canadian Museum of Civilization

jean-luc.pilon@historymuseum.ca

Gatineau , Quebec K1A 0M8

Dr. Jean-Luc Pilon is the Curator of Central Archaeology. His primary area of responsibility lies in understanding and presenting the ancient history of Ontario and Québec, and developing the museum’s collections to best reflect this area which extends from the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence to the shores of Hudson Bay. Dr. Pilon has carried out research in various parts of northern Québec, northern Ontario, as well as the lower Mackenzie River in the NWT. More recently he has worked in the Ottawa Valley. His research in these mostly remote parts of Canada has focussed on establishing the basic parameters of human history in these areas. He has also been interested in exploring the dynamic nature of the relationships that people have nurtured with the land over time. Particularly meaningful to him has been the sharing of this information through a number of different media, including scholarly publications, exhibitions and web sites. First Peoples of Canada, an exhibition he co-curated, was shown in Beijing, Osaka, Hanover and Mexico City. The English-language version of that exhibition’s publication received an honourable mention from the American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence for 2013. This past October, he received the first ever J.V. Wright Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ontario Archaeological Society. Dr. Pilon studied at both the University of Toronto and Laval University, and he holds a doctorate in archaeology from the University of Toronto.