Totem pole restoration supported
Like the thunderbird at the top of the 10-metre-tall totem pole in Centennial Park, the future of the 50-year-old structure is up in the air.
However, from the mood during a meeting the City of St. Catharines arranged to discuss options for the deteriorating West Coast Indigenous carving, the choice is clear: the city should do everything it can to ensure it remains standing for years to come.
On Wednesday, the city held the first of three community consultation meetings planned for the week. While the meeting at Niagara Regional Native Centre was sparsely attended, there were enough voices heard to understand a consensus was being formed.
However, before the future can be decided for the piece of art the city commissioned Kwakwaka’wakw artist Douglas Cranmer to make for the city’s Canada Centennial celebrations, a few misconceptions needed to be cleared up.
First of all, the totem pole was not a gift to the city. It was purchased for $6,800 in 1966 from Cranmer, a prolific and prominent carver who has works all over the world and who was in the prime of his career at the time.
Second, while culturally and spiritually significant, totem poles are not exactly sacred objects. They’re used to represent family history and and as a symbol to people’s spiritual connection to animals — it was settlers who falsely believed Indigenous people prayed to them.
Third, and perhaps most significant, there is no cultural reason preventing the city from restoring the pole. There is a perception in the community that the pole must be untouched and left to return to the elements.
Bruce Alfred, who is also a Kwakwaka’wakw artist, and who apprenticed under Cranmer, was invited by the city to assess the pole and discuss it during the meetings. He said the totem pole can and should be restored, and that he is frequently consulted to do just that.
“Your pole is in pretty good shape,” Alfred said. “I would say fix it, take care of it. It’s worth it for the next 50 years.”
The pole has had some maintenance. It was repainted in 1980 and again in 2000. It has also had some patchwork done, in the form of crudely applied concrete near the base.
Kathleen Powell, acting supervisor of cultural services for the city, said without significant intervention the totem pole’s days in the park are numbered. An assessment about six weeks ago uncovered a solid exterior but an interior that is rotting and spongy.
“Basically, it’s just the outside of the totem pole that has any real structure to it,” she said.
While it’s not top-heavy like a tree, there is still a risk that at some point in the future, the pole will topple. The city can’t take that risk, Powell said.
“Even if there’s a slight risk … we have to consider what we’re going to do in the future.”
Phil Davis, cultural services co-ordinator with the NRNC, said the hands-off idea may have had something to do with how Haudenosaunee handle certain objects and that he’s glad the pole can be repaired. The NRNC also has a totem pole needing work, and Davis said the two jobs could be done together as a community building exercise.
“To me, it’s about working with our non-Indigenous brothers and sisters and restoring these pieces,” he said.
Though not apparent at the meeting, the restoration option is not universally desired. Karl Dockstader, anti-racism program co-ordinator with the Fort Erie Friendship Centre and president of the NRNC, said that while he doesn’t have a strong opinion, people he’s spoken to are of mixed mind. Some see the totem pole, with is roots in West Coast Indigenous culture, as an affront to local Indigenous people, noting that for years it was just about the only native symbol in the city at all.
Powell said if the pole is indeed restored — city council will make the decision — she’d like to see more interpretive signs explaining its significance, as well as more information about local Indigenous people.
More consultations were scheduled to be held in the atrium at city hall on Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m.