Culturally insensitive totem pole to be replaced in Kitimat, B.C.
KITIMAT, B.C. — The raising of a new totem pole later this year in Kitimat, on British Columbia’s North Coast could finally remove an irritant between the local First Nation and the district.
The current totem pole in Centennial Park is reaching the end of its life, but Haisla First Nation master carver Sammy Robinson says the pole wasn’t carved according to the their customs.
Robinson says the pole tells the story of the region, when a monster flock of seagulls kept intruders out of the area during an important fishing season.
He says the decades-old pole was commissioned when district officials had little knowledge of indigenous art and “everything about it is wrong,” including its uphill direction, facing away from the ocean.