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
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
BREAKING Ottawa public school board, 3 Toronto-area school boards launch lawsuit against social media giants
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and three school boards in the Toronto-area have launched legal action against social media giants, accusing them of "disrupting students' fundamental right to education."
Doctors visiting a Gaza hospital are stunned by the war's toll on Palestinian children
An international team of doctors visiting a hospital in central Gaza was prepared for the worst. But the gruesome impact Israel’s war against Hamas is having on Palestinian children still left them stunned.
Crypt near Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner could fetch US$400,000 at auction
A one-space mausoleum crypt in the vicinity of Marilyn Monroe and Hugh Hefner will go on auction Saturday, when it is expected to reach between US$200,000 and $400,000.
Tipping is off the table at this Toronto restaurant
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
A fight to protect the dignity of Michelangelo's David raises questions about freedom of expression
Michelangelo's David has been a towering figure in Italian culture since its completion in 1504. But in the current era of the quick buck, curators worry the marble statue's religious and political significance is being diminished.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Premiers not being truthful about carbon tax, Trudeau says while sparks fly in Ottawa
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Conservative premiers across the country are 'not telling the truth' when it comes to the carbon tax. Trudeau's comments came as fresh sparks were flying in Ottawa at a recalled House of Commons committee.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.