Totem pole raising 50 years ago sparked 'reawakening,' Haida artist says

For Haida artist Robert Davidson, the idea of carving a totem pole was his grand, loving gestureto his grandparents' generation to allow them to celebrate in the old ways they knew one more time.

Except, he says, the then-22-year-old artistdidn't know exactly what he was doing.

It was 1969 andno one had raised a pole for almost a century. Many of the giant cedar polesthat were common across Haida Gwaiihad been purposely felled after Christian missionariesdeemed themsinfulpagan idols, or byassimilationistgovernment policieswhich allowed collectors, ethnologists and other officials to remove poles under the guise of preservation and study.

Davidson, who went on to becomean internationally renowned visual artist, carver and jeweller, had little idea his project would spark a community revival.

Since that original totem raising, there have been many othertotem poles carved and raised by the Haida, and other Indigenous communities across the northwest coast.

A family affair

"I wasn't really exposed to cultural events, cultural singing, dancing, because we were muted," said Davidson, 72, recalling the events of 50 years ago."The inspiration came from my relationship with my elders."

Once Davidsonmade the commitment to carve and raise the pole, it became a family affair.

His father walked in the foreston Haida Gwaiifor two weeks looking for a suitable log. His grandparents hosted elders at their house in the village ofMassetto talk about all the right protocols around carving the pole.

"They had several meetings, and it was all in Haida. I don't speak Haida so I [would] have to sit with my uncle who translated for me," he said.

And it was alongside his brother Reg, who was14 at the time, that Davidson spent three-and-half months, six days a week, carving the pole.

"[Reg had] never carved before, but he was there with me throughout the whole project," Davidson said.

The two brothers carved the polenear their parents' house in Masset. When it came to deciding where the pole would sit, the community settled on a space in front of a church.

"There was no real neutral ground we could think of, sothat became the place for the pole to be raised right," he said.

Davidson said more than1,000people came from from out of town,from Masset, Skidegate and even Hydaberg to see the pole raising ceremony on Aug.22, 1969.

Aconstruction crewworking nearby offeredtheir crane to hoist the pole, but Davidson said the elders refused. The pole would be raisedthe traditional Haida way.

There were some challenges for example, there were very few ceremonial pieces left in the community.

"We wereabsolutely void of any ceremonial masks ... [so] a lot of the elders had paper headpieces," he said, recalling his grandmother fashioned one for his cousin using a brown paper bag.

But once the pole was raised, he said, there wasspontaneous singing and dancing, reviving dormant songs and dances long-buried.

"It was really a reawakening for me," Davidson said. "It was there but the totem pole gave reason for it to come back out.

"We were back."

Davidson and his totem pole project wasthe subject of a short National Film Board documentary in 1970.

In honour of the 50thanniversary, Haida filmmaker Christopher Auchter has released a new documentary about Davidson's project, called Now is the Time. The film is set to premiere at this year's Toronto International Film Festival.

Listen to the segment on CBC's Radio West: