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
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.