Horns last week greeted a long line of vehicles winding along the snowy highway to Bella Coola, about 1,000km northwest of Vancouver on BC’s central coast.
At the wheel was a truck loaded with valuable cargo: a Nuxalk totem pole that was snatched from the community more than 100 years ago and is finally being returned to its rightful owners.
The honking continued as the convoy made its way into the community after cruising down the highway after taking the ferry from Victoria, where the totem was housed in the Royal BC Museum for several decades.
“It’s kind of surreal,” said one viewer who caught the moment on video. “Home in Nuxalk territory.”
CLOCK | A convoy of vehicles follows the totem pole to Bella Coola:
“It’s been one hell of a journey, but we made it,” Hereditary Chief Snuxyaltwa (Deric Snow) said when speaking to him The current Host Matt Galloway on the trip.
Hereditary Chief Snuxyaltwa said about 200 people were in Bella Coola to celebrate the return of the pole with blessings and celebrations, which later continued with a feast and formal elevation of the pole.
The journey home was long and long – a mission that the hereditary chief Snuxyaltwa had begun a few years earlier when he formally requested the pole’s return from the museum, and later when he threatened legal action because the process was so slow.
Chief Snuxyaltwa said the pole was carved by his great-grandfather, the late Louie Snow and former holder of the Snuxyaltwa title, in the 19th or early 20th century. It was placed outside the family longhouse in Talleomy (South Bentinck).
It was lost in the early 1900s when Nuxalk members trying to escape the smallpox epidemic moved about 22 miles north to Bella Coola.
It entered the collection of the Royal BC Museum around 1913.
The chief said returning was a good first step as his great-grandfather’s spirit remained in the totem pole and could not come to rest until he was brought back home.
“The cycle of life is that we never perish,” he said.
“We are only here for a visit and once that visit is over we will move on to another trip and mine [great-grandfather] I want to continue this journey.”
CLOCK | Hereditary chief Snuxyaltwa speaks of the importance of the totem pole:
“Our history is embedded in these poles, a great history, and when they’re taken, it’s almost like our children were taken,” Nuxalk member Charlene Schooner told The Canadian Press.
“You are part of our history.”
On Monday afternoon, the Nuxalk Nation will host a ceremony in Bella Coola to celebrate the pole’s return, beginning with afternoon dancing followed by a feast in the evening.
The totem pole will be unveiled at 6 p.m
The mast was taken away by truck after it was removed from the museum last Monday. Because of its size, walls and windows had to be removed and a crane lifted out.
Two days of ceremony followed, and then the march back into Nuxalk territory began; it traveled by truck, ferry to the mainland, and through the interior of the province to Bella Coola.
“My heart is getting warm,” said Mara Pootlass, who was there on Monday and has family ties to Poland.
“I could feel the spirit.”
The museum will cover the cost of returning the pole, but has been unable to confirm details to CBC.
Hereditary Chief Snuxyaltwa said the response from people around the world has been overwhelming.
“They like how this has been done in a very positive way, in a spiritual way for people,” he said.
He said the Pole’s return will be an opportunity to bring stories back to his people.
“My family is happy, our ancestors are happy,” he said.
