Watching hundreds gather Saturday to celebrate the installation of a totem pole in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside was “very surreal” for carver Bernie Williams.
It marked exactly 39 years since her mother was murdered — but also the end of many years of fighting for the Survivors Totem Pole, a powerful, 8.2-metre-tall symbol of hope that now stands at Pigeon Park at Carrall and Hastings streets, overlooking the city’s most impoverished neighbourhood.
“To me, it all resonates about a resilience of the people in this community because we are so diverse,” said Williams, who is known by her Haida name Skundaal and who lives nearby. “It’s just a legacy that we want to instil for years to come.”
The pole, carved from a 980-year-old cedar from Haida Gwaii, features a thunderbird, raven, whale and bear mother.
It was created to celebrate survival in the Downtown Eastside and recognize the suffering of residents and their ancestors who endured the discriminatory Chinese head tax, Japanese internment camps, displacement of the Black community, the Komagata Maru incident and violence against Indigenous people.
Following a ceremony with drumming, dancing and regalia in the intersection at Main and Hastings streets, community members carried the pole to Pigeon Park where it was carefully lifted into position by crane on unceded Coast Salish Territory, with permission from the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
Williams, who is the only female apprentice of the late Haida artist Bill Reid, said she’s carved 12 totem poles but this one had special meaning for her. It was surreal to see it standing after five months of carving with nine other Indigenous women and three Indigenous men, she said.
“This was the hardest one for me,” said Williams, a member of the Sacred Circle Society. “My mother was murdered Nov. 5, 1977 … After she got out of residential school, this was the place that they used to come down to, this very park. I met so many people that shared their own different stories, like from different cultures. This was a meeting place.”
Mayor Gregor Robertson and Councillor Andrea Reimer attended the installation and an open-air potlatch and celebration that followed.
“The Survivors’ Totem Pole is a very important statement of reconciliation and healing in the Downtown Eastside for all the cultures but most importantly Aboriginal people, who have suffered the worst for generations now,” Robertson said.
“For me, this pole is a long time in the making,” said Reimer, commending Williams for her hard work. “Skundaal has had this vision for almost a decade.”
The pole’s permanent installation was achieved with a $50,000 contribution from the Park Board. Project partners also included the city, Portland Hotel Society, Potluck Café and Vancouver Moving Theatre/DTES Heart of the City Festival.
Over the next few days, the Park Board will be cleaning up Pigeon Park, adding new landscaping, plants and benches.
