Royal B.C. Museum returning totem pole to B.C. First Nation
The Royal B.C. Museum is returning a totem pole to a First Nation on the mainland following a years-long process.
The totem pole comes from the Nuxalk Nation near Bella Coola, B.C.
The museum says it purchased the pole for $45 in 1897.
The totem pole was built by Nuxalk Nation hereditary chief Snuxyaltwa's great grandfather, Louie.
"He’s stuck there on that totem pole. His spirit is stuck there," Snuxyaltwa told CTV News on Wednesday.
The hereditary chief says it took four years and a lawsuit for the museum to finally arrange sending the totem pole home.
"They promised it in 2019. It's now 2023," he said.
While the museum first agreed to return the pole in 2019, Snuxyaltwa later had to file a lawsuit because he says staff stopped responding to his emails.
Once communication resumed, he dropped the suit.
Janet Hanuse, vice president of engagement and DRIPA implementation at the Royal B.C. Museum says the delay in returning the pole was due to necessary research.
"It’s assessing the pole and ensuring the integrity of the pole is maintained, that takes a long time," she said.
"Finding the story, making sure we’ve got the right information, making sure it goes to the right family, that’s where the time is taken up," said Hanuse.
Snuxyaltwa says he's looking to get other Nuxalk First Nation artifacts returned as well, but hopefully on a faster timeline.
"You can’t repatriate them one by one. It’s going to take us 200 years to do that at four years apart," he joked.
TRANSPORTATION
It won't be an easy task to remove the five metre, or 16 foot, pole from the third floor of the museum.
Third floor walls and windows are coming down so the 680 kilogram pole can start its journey back home on Feb. 13.
Transporting the totem pole involves "a lot of bubblewrap, a lot of custom crating, a lot of building and a lot of deconstruction," said Hanuse.
Two cranes will load the pole onto a truck, before it's driven hundreds of kilometres back to the Bella Coola area.
Snuxyaltwa says he and other Nuxalk members will be in Victoria on Feb. 13 to celebrate the return of the totem pole, which will see the open sky for the first time in more than a century.
"We’re making changes for a lot of people here. Not only Bella Coola on the coast here but all over the world," he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Feds hope to table foreign interference legislation next week: LeBlanc
Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he plans to table legislation this week to help the federal government address foreign interference, but he wouldn't say whether the proposal will include a foreign agent registry.
Auston Matthews skates ahead of Game 7, status unclear with season on the line
Auston Matthews was back on the ice with his teammates Saturday.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Work stoppage possible as WestJet issues lockout notice to maintenance engineers' union
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.