Today, I am standing in Stanley Park, Vancouver. I have a virtual meeting and here on Brockton Point I have great cell service. I find a secluded area and take the call. It is just around the corner from the Totem Park. While I talk, I have a front row seat to the parade of tourists marching by to see the carvings.

This land was originally inhabited by several aboriginal groups who were evicted upon the establishment of the park. The Totem Park is a beautiful patch in a beautiful park that was built on theft and heartache. Today the 9 totem poles at Brockton Point are British Columbia’s most visited tourist attraction.

The colorful, carved wooden pillars were created by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest. A totem pole is a special symbol of remembrance. It can represent family lineage, ancestry, and cultural history. A totem can reveal social standing, depict legends, commemorate an important event, or honor the dead. It can welcome visitors or serve to publicly shame wrongdoers.

I wonder if the dozens of tourists oohing and ahhing while taking endless photos understand the meaning and the ugly history of the Totems. Totem poles were raised during potlatches, which served as the political, legal, and social foundation of Pacific Northwest tribes. To raise a totem during a potlatch ceremony was to affirm community.

In Canada, the government passed a law in 1884, making traditional potlatch ceremonies a criminal offense until 1951. Because the poles were tied to these outlawed gatherings, carving new poles became a dangerous act that could lead to prison time. 

I could easily slip into history teacher mode and try to explain why white officials and Christian missionaries believed that tribal traditions needed to be erased. I could try to explain centuries of policies promoting assimilation and control. But it wouldn’t really explain why totem poles were chopped down, burned, or seized. I will never understand one group’s desire to erase anyone they see as the “other”. Racism and greed are just words that don’t really adequately capture the grave injustice.

Stanley Park’s collection of totems started at Lumberman’s Arch in the 1920s, almost thirty five years after the indigenous families were chased away from their homes. The Park Board bought totems from Vancouver Island’s Bay, from the Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) and the BC central coast Rivers Inlet. Suddenly, the community wanted to celebrate the First People’s whose way of life was slipping away. In the mid 1960s, the totem poles were moved to their current location at Brockton Point.

The poles I observe today are replicas as the original totems were returned to the tribes or given to various museums for preservation. No one here in the park seems to care that the poles are replicas. Most people likely don’t know the difference.

As I wrap up my work call, I wonder about the twists and turns that allow a society to celebrate a culture that they willfully eliminated. There is no mention in this park of eviction, potlatch laws, and forced boarding schools. Those would be subjects too ugly for such a beautiful day. But if you look closely….the totems tell a story. I stand in silence and appreciate and remember.