A culturally significant totem pole is finally returning to the Nisga’a Nation, nearly eight decades after it was taken from the Nass Valley.
Carved around 1860 by master carver Oyee, the House of Laay’ pole carries the history of the Lax-w’isax clan and once stood at the village of Gwinwok. After a flood relocated it to Gitiks, the pole remained there until it was acquired by UBC in 1947—during the Potlatch Ban, when many Indigenous cultural items were taken under duress.
Although technically purchased, museum officials and Nisga’a leadership agree the pole was removed during a time of cultural oppression. It has since been housed at UBC’s Museum of Anthropology, where only part of it was displayed after a restoration in the 1970s.
The return was formally requested last year by Sim’oogit Laay’—Chief Bruce Haldane—and approved by UBC’s Board of Governors this past June. A blessing ceremony took place in Vancouver using cedar boughs to prepare the pole for transport.
The totem will arrive in Laxgalts’ap on September 25 and will be installed at the Nisga’a Museum. Its return is timed with a memorial feast honouring the late Sim’oogit Laay’, Chief Hubert Haldane.
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