A totem pole celebrating reconciliation has become a symbol of platitudes and empty promises according to organizers.
Master carver Tim Paul and other elders and carvers are working on the pole on the Port Alberni waterfront, despite the lack of government funding and assistance.
The 70′ pole being carved from an 800-year old log beside the Alberni Maritime Heritage Centre, will be raised at the new school of indigenous language study at UVIC, but the university isn’t putting any money into the project, and is actually charging the carvers $36,000 for the base mount and engineering costs.
The BC Government recently announced a $50 million fund to help restore First Nations languages, but says this project doesn’t qualify.
Project coordinator Les Doiron says he’s disappointed in the lack of support, as there has been no federal, provincial, or local support, and First Nations have been pushing the project forward alone.
Being carved by residential school survivors only a couple of miles from the site of the Alberni Indian Residential School, Doiron says the project has become a symbol of the one-sidedness of the reconciliation discussion.
Doiron says if another group steps forward with the $300,000 needed, they could take over ownership and have it placed wherever they want.
