Peter Shokeir | [email protected]
A decade has passed since more than a hundred people pulled together on haul ropes to hoist up the iconic Two Brothers Totem Pole.
The totem pole replaced the Raven Totem Pole, which had stood in the community for nearly a century and was repatriated to Haida Gwaii after being taken down.
“It doesn’t feel like it has been ten years,” said Jaalen Edenshaw, a Haida artist who carved the totem pole with his brother Gwaai.
When the Raven Totem Pole was in need of replacing, the Edenshaw brothers submitted their idea into an open call for bids.
“We put together our ideas, and they were related to the area and related to our people,” Gwaai said.
“And then Jaalen heard a story that connected us directly to the Rockies, which is the story of the two brothers.”
The totem pole tells the story of two Haida brothers who, out of curiosity and a spirit of adventure, travelled long ago from Haida Gwaii off the west coast to the Rocky Mountains.
“That was just about a week before we submitted our bid,” Gwaai said.
“So, we decided to drastically change our design to fit the story and then we started looking at our design and it actually fits the story perfectly. We didn’t have to change anything.”
This story also reflects how Indigenous people travelled throughout North America and interacted with each other more often than is commonly assumed.
“The story that we got for the pole is a story about our interconnectedness and how prior to contact we were interacting with each other and intermarrying with each other and travelling around a fair bit (more) than what the standard narrative would tell you,” Gwaai said.
Before the raising ceremony, the new totem pole arrived in Jasper two weeks prior to have the finishing touches completed.
While there, Jaalen heard stories from locals about how they grew up with the old totem pole.
“They were quite sad when it was getting pulled down, but once we were there and talking to them, I think they all felt pretty good about the new one going up,” he said.
The finished totem pole is approximately 13.7 metres tall and painted in traditional Haida colours of red, black and blue.
On July 16, 2011, the totem pole was raised as part of Parks Day and Parks Canada Centennial Celebrations.
The raising of the totem pole brought together about 4,500 people and more than 15 different regional Indigenous communities in a celebration of their history and culture.
The celebration fused West Coast Haida culture with regional Indigenous traditions.
It included two pipe ceremonies, a traditional Haida totem pole blessing and carvers dance, a totem pole transfer ceremony, a friendship ceremony, a traditional feast and a round dance.
Since then, the Edenshaw brothers have been keeping tabs on their work.
“I get people sending me updates as they travel through Jasper and send me pictures of it and stuff,” Gwaai said.
“I get to watch as time sort of puts its work in on the pole as well.”
The Two Brothers Totem Pole is located across the street from the Jasper Park Information Centre along Connaught Drive.
