Friday, March 29, 2024
ADVT 
National

Aging Haida totem comes down during ceremony outside Royal B.C. Museum

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 06 Jun, 2019 06:13 PM

    Dancers circled an aging totem pole that tells the story of a murdered Haida woman before it was hooked to a crane and gently lowered to the ground on Wednesday.

    The replica Haida mortuary totem stood at the Royal British Columbia Museum's Thunderbird Park for almost 65 years, but engineers determined the pole suffered internal damage through exposure to the elements and was at risk of falling.

    The ceremony was the second such gathering in recent days to bring down totems at the end of their life spans.

    Haida chiefs stood next to the totem as Indigenous dancers and singers formed rings around the eight-metre tall pole, chanting and spreading eagle feathers.

    "This piece can also be finally laid to rest," said Haida Chief Allan Davidson. "Historically, our poles, they weren't carved to stand forever. This one is also going to finally go to its final resting place."

    Reg Young, a hereditary Haida chief, said the totem was carved to commemorate a woman who lived in the former village of Tanu in the late 1800s. The woman was shot while travelling on the San Juan Islands, located in Washington state waters near Vancouver Island.

    Tanu, on Haida Gwaii on B.C.'s north coast, is a designated National Historic Site of Canada and is part of Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve.

    Young said the amount of detail on the replica totem reveals the woman was highly regarded in the community.

    "She must have been a very important person," he said. "The poles were like our literature. It showed who they were, where they came from and what crests belonged to them."

    Lucy Bell, head of the museum's Indigenous collections and repatriation department, said mortuary poles have boxes at their tops to hold the deceased's cremated remains.

    The Thunderbird Park totem had the mortuary box, a carved hawk, eagle, whale, beaver and crests of the deceased, and parts of hats, which are signs of wealth earned at potlatches, said Bell.

    The original totem was removed from Tanu in 1911. The replica was carved in 1955 by Mungo Martin, a legendary Indigenous artist and leader, widely known for his wood sculptures and preservation of Indigenous music.

    Bell said the replica Haida pole will now be transported to Martin's homeland, the Kwakiutl First Nation near Port Hardy on northern Vancouver Island, where it will become part of a training program for young carvers.

    She said witnessing the mortuary totem ceremony caused her to reflect on this week's release of the final report on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

    Bell said as she was watching a ceremony honouring a murdered Haida woman, she thought about how too many Canadian families are suffering because they cannot put their loved ones to rest.

    "A lot of families of missing and murdered women don't have that opportunity, so I remember them today as well," she said.

    Last month, a replica of a house post totem that dated back to 1870 was taken down from Thunderbird Park and is slated to return to the northern Vancouver Island village of Quatsino where the original pole stood. Martin also carved the Quatsino replica in 1954.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Telus to offer low-cost internet to eligible B.C. families and youth

    Telus to offer low-cost internet to eligible B.C. families and youth
    It means as many 25,000 eligible B.C. families will receive a letter from the Ministry of Social Development allowing them to purchase internet at a cost of $9.95 a month for two years

    Telus to offer low-cost internet to eligible B.C. families and youth

    Crews battle grass fire west of Kamloops, B.C., as dry conditions continue

    Crews battle grass fire west of Kamloops, B.C., as dry conditions continue
    The blaze, which is believed to have been started by humans, broke out near Savona Wednesday, severing Highway 1 between Kamloops and Cache Creek

    Crews battle grass fire west of Kamloops, B.C., as dry conditions continue

    Five injured in alleged random assaults in Vancouver

    Police say they received several reports of a man randomly punching people near Waterfront Station on May 28.

    Five injured in alleged random assaults in Vancouver

    Stringent measures to help improve Metro Vancouver's air quality by 2035

    Stringent measures to help improve Metro Vancouver's air quality by 2035
    Greenhouse gases are estimated to fall by 35 per cent and smog-forming pollutants by 70 per cent by 2035 because of more stringent standards for fuel and vehicle emissions.

    Stringent measures to help improve Metro Vancouver's air quality by 2035

    Rapid response to B.C.'s overdose crisis saved thousands, report finds

    Rapid response to B.C.'s overdose crisis saved thousands, report finds
    Researchers looked at a 20-month period from April 2016 to December 2017 when 2,177 people died of an overdose, concluding that the number of deaths in B.C. would have been two and a half times higher.

    Rapid response to B.C.'s overdose crisis saved thousands, report finds

    Trudeau worried China could target imports of other Canadian products

    Trudeau says he will see if it's appropriate to have a conversation directly with China's President Xi Jinping about a number of bilateral difficulties later this month at the G20 summit in Japan.

    Trudeau worried China could target imports of other Canadian products

    PrevNext