The cost of history

[LovelyLadyLux]

On Vancouver Island which is off the coast of British Columbia, Canada there are many First Nations peoples. They lived there in Bands and family groupings since time memorial and decorated their lands with totem poles that are dotted throughout the countryside.

One of the primary type trees there is cedar - both red and yellow. Red cedar was used extensively in carvings and totems - however over time and particularly given the coast rainforest conditions the totems rot.

There are very few carvers anymore and the cost of poles prohibitive so it is more than imperative that these totems are kept and preserved - but what price preservation.

Was out walking through one of the local parks in Nanaimo when I came across these totems that have actually been cut down (rather than let them break off on their own).

The controversy is what to do with them now?



You can see from this angle that the poles are essentially rotted. The discussion is 'who' should be saving these? The First Nations people? The families they represent? The city? Provincial gov't? Federal gov't? (First Nations people come under Federal jurisdicition)



Part of the problem is the size of these totems and trying to move them and where to put them. Even if they are dried out how structurally sound are they?

It is really sad that these totems are disappearing. Alert Bay, which is a small community on a smaller island off the coast of Vancouver Island has a virtual treasure trove of totems but many are falling and since they are no longer being automatically replaced by the First Nations family they are fading into the past. I fear that in a few more generations most of the artistic history of the people - Nootka, Salish, Haida, Tlingit etc will be gone.

Egyptians are lucky in this sense. They are in desert which serves as its own preservative. Rain forst isn't condusive to preserving cedar.

[Horus]

Great pictures LLL, thanks very much for posting this little piece of your local history. As a young lad I was always a cowboy and would have loves those Totem poles, they are a part of my childhood memories, Cowboys, Indians and Totem Poles.

As for the preservation, I have no doubt in my mind that the current caretakers are the Canadian people regardless of ethnicity. These things may be common now, but one day they will be gone, so steps should be taken to preserve them, no price can be placed upon your national heritage in whatever form it takes and everyone should embrace and be proud of their common history regardless of how distasteful it may have been at times.

[Morgita]

LLL, these seem to be laid on bare earth. Surely that will cause even faster decay? What a shame there appears to be no preservation program.

[LovelyLadyLux]

@ Morgita - yes they were all cut down rather than have them fall down but there they sit on the bare ground, out in the open in a park full of kids, duck ponds and waterfalls. Anyway can walk on them, touch them, mark 'em up - do anything and there they lay.

I don't know much about what efforts have been made or are being made to save these but I do know there is always a perennial problem with anything First Nations in that #1 First Nations people will claim said totems or artifacts as theirs and belonging to their band #2 Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA - federal) will also claim same #3 provinces may or may not claim ownership as it depends on funding and IF the feds will give $$ out to the provinces to do something to save First Nations artifacts etc............mostly what I'm saying is it is always extremely convoluted with lots of controversy anytime anything happens with First Nations people. They have demanded and gotten their own right to self-govern but other than an abstract "right" they've gotten not much else except layers of gov't fighting with their own First Nations gov't. Meantime totem poles are rotting on the ground..........sad, very very sad. It IS history that is being lost and cannot be replaced.