The Globe and Mail

Douglas Cardinal, the Canadian architect who served as the original designer of Washington's National Museum of the American Indian, will boycott today's opening ceremonies for the Smithsonian Institution's newest facility. Museum officials expect tens of thousands of people to show up for the multimillion-dollar opening events, which include a procession of native people on the National Mall and a six-day outdoor festival. But Cardinal snubbed a personal invitation from American Indian museum director W. Richard West to attend the opening of the 260,000-square-foot museum because he is still angry after being taken off the project in 1998 and not paid what he says he is owed for work performed. "I have nothing. What have I got to celebrate?" Cardinal said last week.