By Odette Auger, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com
A blackened column carved with childrenB次元官网网址檚 faces, representing lives lost at Indian residential schools, has been created by acclaimed Kwakiutl First Nation master carver Stanley Hunt.
The pole will soon travel through Vancouver Island, beginning June 16, making its way to the installation place in Vancouver on Indigenous PeopleB次元官网网址檚 Day, June 21.
Based in the Port Hardy area, Hunt was working on a memorial for a beloved granddaughter, commissioned by friend Ray Bergen, when the first 215 unmarked graves were recovered at the former residential school at TkB次元官网网址檈mlups te Secwepemc in 2021.
Conversations about honouring and remembering began between the carver and the Vancouver businessman. The idea for the residential school memorial pole was born, and Bergen set out to fundraise for it, while Hunt began to work on concept drawings.
The drawing stage involved processing emotions, and important healing for Hunt.
B次元官网网址淚 tried to talk to my family about this. ThereB次元官网网址檚 no words in any language anywhere in the world that could possibly be put together to make any of that make sense,B次元官网网址� he told Windspeaker.com.
B次元官网网址淪o when we started this, there were some pretty emotional days,B次元官网网址� said Hunt. B次元官网网址淲e worked right through the winter in a tent with lightingB次元官网网址� through some mighty cold days. And through those days, you just wanted to keep looking for the children.B次元官网网址�
There were times when he wanted to take time off, B次元官网网址渃ome in the house and warm up and get coffee and try to warm up a little bit, but we wanted to keep working for those kids.B次元官网网址�
At 18-feet tall, the pole holds Raven sitting atop, embracing the children. The column is covered with rows of childrenB次元官网网址檚 faces, each one unique, each one expressing loss and sorrow. ItB次元官网网址檚 washed in black to represent this part of Canadian /Indigenous history. Orange bands separate the rows of childrenB次元官网网址檚 faces and honours the Every Child Matters movement.
B次元官网网址淎ll those children who were taken away to go to Indian residential schools were really loved by their families. They were being well brought up, well taken care ofB次元官网网址� in the ways of the people B次元官网网址渇or thousands and thousands of years,B次元官网网址� he said.
Residential schools were B次元官网网址渟omething that should never have happened.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淩aven is our Creator, and a trickster,B次元官网网址� Hunt explained. B次元官网网址淚f you look closely at the raven itself, in his beak heB次元官网网址檚 cradling the seed of lifeB次元官网网址nd when he is looking down at the monument, he looks directly down at a cross.B次元官网网址�
The cross is in the direct centre, inverted. It appears upside down to the viewer standing before the pole, but itB次元官网网址檚 upright from the RavenB次元官网网址檚 view. Hunt said that cross represents those who were directly, and indirectly involved with residential schools.
B次元官网网址淚 wanted all the people that were involved with thinking it was OK to murder children,B次元官网网址� Hunt said. B次元官网网址淚 wanted them to be represented for this time in our history,B次元官网网址� for their decisions, held accountable.
The Canadian maple leaf is also upside down, along with the acronyms RCMP and NWMP (North West Mountain Police).
B次元官网网址淏ut, Raven, being the trickster, is looking down the monument and for him, he sees it right side up and heB次元官网网址檚 gonna make this right by finding those children.B次元官网网址�
The five-foot diameter log arrived at HuntB次元官网网址檚 shop the same day the Pope landed in Canada last summer, notes the carver.
Hunt and nephew Rey Dickey worked from August to the end of December on the pole. Then Hunt hired master carver Mervyn Child (Kwagu艂, Tlingit, Nuu-chah-nulth), who has continued the work to this day.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e still working on it now, probably finishing the day before it leaves to go on its trip.B次元官网网址�
The memorial pole will leave in ceremony, travelling from HuntB次元官网网址檚 shop on June 16 through island communities, with ceremony to greet the pole at each stop:
- June 17 at 11:15 a.m. in Port Hardy, Carrot Park.
- June 18 at 10 a.m. in Campbell River at Thunderbird Hall.
- June 19 at 10 a.m. at Nanaimo and 4 p.m. at Duncan, locations to be announced.
- June 20 at 10 a.m. at Victoria Inner Harbour.
- June 21 at 10 a.m. farewell and arriving at 4 p.m. to Vancouver Inner Harbour.
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