Following three months of carving, two totem poles now welcome residents and visitors at Cumberland’s Peace Park.
The poles were carved by Junior Henderson of Campbell River and Karver Everson of the Comox Valley with Henderson leading the way and guiding Everson through the process.
Everson adds the poles, made of red cedar and carved using a mix of chainsaws and traditional tools, took a lot of planning and consideration to ensure their culture is properly represented.
“We’re very cognisant of a lot of things when we do a pole and there’s things that we think about and make sure to include,” said Everson. “With these two welcome figures, we really wanted one to be a man and one to be woman. In our culture that is so important to have that balance.
“We wanted to show the relationship to our river systems, the relationship to the land, the traditional Puntledge and K’ómoks territory that we all live and play in.”
He adds they also wanted to integrate family and how important it is to building communities.
Henderson echoes the comments, adding the poles also represent what it takes to look after the land and respect it.
The pole unveiling falls on National Indigenous Peoples Day, which brings even more emotions to the event. Gigal’ga̱m ‘Walas Kwagu’ł Hereditary Chief Rob Everson says the poles help to recognize the First Peoples in the area, looking at the past to establish truth before moving forward to reconciliation.
“Part of that process is understanding the truth, putting these poles, these markers to recognize the First Peoples and really to stop the erasure of Indigenous culture within our territories, in our regions, including municipalities,” said he said.
Traditional leader of Kingcome Inlet Charles Willie adds the day marks an important path for all of society.
“It’s a path that walking together is really important for not only our people but for society,” said Willie. “I’ve talked before that none of us are going anywhere, so how do we walk together, how do we make it work on both sides?
“Hopefully we start changing the worldview and start looking at it through our lens to see how things are for us experiencing everyday life but how we used to look at the environment and everything else.”
Karver Everson adds that the day makes him reflect on his ancestors, and how things have changed since then.
“I’m reflective of my great grandfather and Junior’s grandpa, and there was a time when they had to go underground to practice their culture and they couldn’t express that freely,” said Everson. “We get to do that today, whereas the generations before us, they didn’t have that.”
“Working together is so important, holding on to each other in a way that uplifts each other,” added Henderson. “Our children need to understand that we need to uplift and help each other as much as we can to get through the next generation of this life that we live.”
