The Reconciliation Pole
Our engagement process was designed to be somewhat analogous to the story of the raising of the Reconciliation Pole, installed here at UBC in April 2017.
About Reconciliation Pole
The Reconciliation Pole is situated on the unceded ancestral and traditional territory of the hən’q’əmin’əm’ speaking Musqueam people. The pole, carved from an 800-year-old red cedar log, was installed on April 1, 2017.
The Reconciliation Pole recognizes a complex history, which includes the history of the Indian residential schools that operated for more than 100 years, the last one closing in 1996. Indian residential schools forcibly separated an estimated 150,000 children from their parents, families, and culture. Many students died in the schools and many more suffered severe forms of psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. For the Haida people today, carving and publicly raising new poles is a way of honouring history and celebrating the ongoing vitality of cultural practices. Though culturally distinct, the Reconciliation Pole honours all First Nations who have persisted through the dark experience of the schools and look to a better future.
What story does reconciliation pole tell?
Haida poles are read from bottom to top.
1
Surrounding the base of the pole are salmon symbolizing life and its cycles.
2
Between the legs of Bear Mother is sGaaga (Shaman) who stands on top of the Salmon House and enacts a ritual to ensure their return.
3
Bear Mother holds her twin cubs, Raven looks out from between Bear Mother’s Ears.
4
Surrounding the base of the pole are salmon symbolizing life and its cycles.
5
Bear Mother holds her twin cubs, Raven looks out from between Bear Mother’s Ears.
6
Bear Mother holds her twin cubs, Raven looks out from between Bear Mother’s Ears.
7
Surrounding the base of the pole are salmon symbolizing life and its cycles.
8
Between the legs of Bear Mother is sGaaga (Shaman) who stands on top of the Salmon House and enacts a ritual to ensure their return.
9
Bear Mother holds her twin cubs, Raven looks out from between Bear Mother’s Ears.
10
Between the legs of Bear Mother is sGaaga (Shaman) who stands on top of the Salmon House and enacts a ritual to ensure their return.
After
During
Before
We honour, celebrate and thank the xʷməθkʷəy̓ əm (Musqueam) and Syilx Okanagan peoples on whose territories the main campuses of the University of British Columbia have the privilege to be situated.