FAMILY TREASURES
Band to reclaim totem pole
A party of 20 members of the Nuxalk First Nation is headed to the Royal B.C. Museum to reclaim a valuable piece of family heritage, a totem carved by the late hereditary chief Louie Snow Snuxyaltwa.
“The totem pole that we want to repatriate was a longhouse entrance pole, but my great grandfather (Louie) had moved it to a family grave site,” said hereditary chief Snuxyaltwa of the Nuxalk First Nation, also known as Deric Snow.
The totem was taken from the North Bentinck Arm village site sometime after a tumultuous displacement of the Nuxalk people due to a smallpox epidemic, he said.
Family treasures were left behind when the government ordered the Nuxalk to move to Bella Coola after they were intentionally infected by European settlers in the late 1800s.
“Thousands of people were murdered at that time,” said Snow. “There were three totems removed that I know of, so we’re going to see ours and one belonging to Hans family. The Tallio family totem was sent to Ottawa.”
Four hereditary chiefs and about 20 family members plan to hold a ceremony at the Royal B.C. Museum on Friday to mark the beginning of a repatriation process that could see the Snuxyaltwa totem and other family treasures returned to the Nuxalk people.
“My grandfather was a canoe builder and I believe they have one of his canoes,” said Snow. “They also have some goat skin regalia.”
The Nuxalk party will meet with museum representatives to view pieces taken from their territory.
“These are family treasures, so it finally came to me what I have to do,” he said. “The spirits are telling me what to do, so I better pay attention.”
The provincial government allocated $2 million to help return family treasures in museum collections to First Nations.
The Royal B.C. Museum has been the clearing house for repatriations and works with a First Nations cultural advisory council on procedure.
“It’s taking a bit of time to develop, because every repatriation request is different, and the way it’s handled with each First Nation is different, because of the history of the pieces and the ceremonies that go with them,” said Louann Neel, repatriation specialist for the museum.
The communities have been bringing home ancestral remains as a first priority, she said. Several hundred remains at the museum have already been returned, mostly without the glare of media attention.
“The museum has partial and full remains from more than 700 individuals,” she said. “Most of them are fragments from excavations and archeological digs.”
Some First Nations are building cultural centres or museums to house and display major artifacts returned to them, she said.
Together with partners from Haida Gwaii, Neel has put together a Repatriation Handbook to help First Nations with the formal process.
Although there is no active settlement in North Bentinck, the Snuxyaltwa totem will be returned there after a potlatch (feast) and ceremony at Bella Coola, said Snow.
The pole is to be erected alongside a pole designed by the family and erected in 2009.
“That’s where it belongs,” he said. “These poles have a whole lifetime story that goes back to the beginning of time.”