'Like seeing an old friend:' Beloved totem pole restored and relocated in St. Catharines, Ont.

About six years aft it was removed from a St. Catharines, Ont., park, a beloved totem rod is erstwhile again lasting gangly successful the community.

Commissioned successful 1966 for Canada's 100th birthday, the Centennial Totem Pole was carved by the precocious Doug Cranmer, a Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw creator and hereditary main of the ʼNa̱mǥis Nation.

Close to 13 metres tall, the totem pole, featuring carvings of figures including a thunderbird, carnivore and cedar man, stood successful Richard Pierpoint Park successful the Queenston neighbourhood until 2019 erstwhile it was taken down for restoration. 

Over its 50 years successful the park, the portion of creation took connected value locally, Six Nations Wolf Clan subordinate Phil Davis told CBC Hamilton.

"It has go a portion of our cloth and has travel to correspond a spot of anticipation and religion for our radical to stitchery implicit the years," helium said. 

Davis works arsenic a taste assets coordinator for the Niagara Regional Native Centre (NRNC) and said specified spaces are important for a assemblage trying to find its individuality successful an municipality setting.  

"When we person thing arsenic magnificent arsenic a totem pole, we commencement knowing it astatine a deeper level," helium said. "That is thing that's overmuch needed these days successful the brainsick satellite that we unrecorded in."

Totem poles are not customary of the region

Despite its section significance, carving totem poles is not a contented among Indigenous radical successful Treaty 3 land. Totem poles travel from the Pacific Northwest.

At the clip the totem rod was commissioned, "it wasn't uncommon for municipalities and governments to observe the colonization of Canada done purchasing Indigenous creation pieces," said St. Catharines civilization coordinator Olivia Hope.

Those were often Western works that conformed to "the thought of what Indigenous was astatine the time," Hope said, adding the metropolis apt viewed it arsenic thing to correspond the Indigenous assemblage successful Niagara. 

Hope is Oneida, Haudenausaunee, from Six Nations of the Grand River and besides has Québécois and Polish heritage.

Around 2017, Hope said, the city, NRNC and section assemblage members began discussing what to bash with the totem pole, which was successful "rough shape," according to Bruce Alfred, the creator who would yet reconstruct it. 

She said Cranmer's household was contacted and were successful favour of the totem rod being restored. They besides suggested Alfred beryllium the 1 to pb the process. 

Alfred is besides an creator from the Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw Nation, who lives successful Alert Bay, B.C., and apprenticed with Cranmer. 

He agreed to reconstruct it and the totem rod was reinstalled wrong the Canada Games Park.

'He was specified a character'

Even though it mightiness not person "the nonstop aforesaid connection" with assemblage arsenic it did before, Hope said the totem rod volition inactive beryllium accessible.

"That way, generations upon generations could bask it," said Alfred. "Otherwise, successful 10 years, it'll beryllium close backmost to quadrate 1 earlier we restored it."

It took Alfred and 2 different Indigenous artists, Dominique Wells and Cole Speck, 4 weeks and agelong hours to reconstruct the piece, helium said.

He said the portion needed "a batch of work" as, connected apical of the upwind damage, the totem rod had been acceptable connected fire, which created a cavity wrong it. Then idiosyncratic filled it up with cement, which Alfred said was "a occupation and a half" to remove.

"There ended up being a batch of factual successful there. We had to get a miniature jackhammer to interruption it apart," helium said.

It wasn't the archetypal clip Alfred was restoring a portion made by his mentor, but that didn't marque it immoderate little peculiar oregon educational.

"It's ever a learning experience. You know, I conscionable kept thinking, 'Okay, what would Doug do?'" helium said.

For Alfred, Cranmer was much than a teacher.

"Doug was my chief, my uncle, my mentor, adjacent a begetter fig to me, which meant a lot," helium said. "He was specified a character, talented character."

'There's a batch of pridefulness there'

Hope said the restoration was a learning acquisition for the metropolis and an accidental for Indigenous radical to stock their knowledge.

"I deliberation besides what has highlighted for the metropolis and hopefully for different cities is the request for section Indigenous creation to beryllium made much public, to beryllium created, to person a airy shone connected it," she said.

Davis said his engagement successful the restoration was made done his work, but "it expanded beyond that."

He and Hope would person conversations astir what the totem rod represents, helium said, and adjacent considered letting it "go backmost to nature."

Alfred invited Davis to the totem pole's installation arsenic a witness, which helium said was "pretty amazing."

"It was awesome to locomotion up and spot it again, similar seeing an aged person again," helium said.

Alfred said the totem rod was an creation portion that "became ceremonial," due to the fact that of however locals, Indigenous and not, embraced it.

"There's a batch of pridefulness there," helium said.