Yukon First Nation unveils 7 totem poles in colourful ceremony

Members of the Carcross Tagish First Nation celebrated their culture in a big way on Friday with the unveiling of seven totem poles at their Learning Centre in Carcross, Yukon.

There is a totem pole for each of the six clans in the First Nation as well as a story pole.

"We are very proud of our Carcross Tagish history and this is what this is about today," said Charlie James, the executive council memberrepresenting the Daklaweidi Clan.

The other clans represented by the poles are the Deisheetaan, Ishkaahittan, Kookhittaan, Gaanaxteidi and Yan Yedi.

"It's mostly that we share our culture with everyone here and the people that are coming to witness this great event, that we've never done this before," said James.

The unveilingof the totems was accompanied by songs, drumming and dancing.

James says there is an immense feeling of pride in the work done by master carver Keith WolfeSmarch and his team of Aaron Smarch, Jared Kane, Thomas Fawcett and Scott James.

"It's more about the carvers and what they put into these poles," he said, adding that it was a labour of love for the carvers who have put years of work into them.

Smarch said for the clan poles, he spoke with members of each clan about what they wanted on their pole.

Four generations

He talked to the elders council about the story pole and they asked that it represent the past four generations of their people.

"So starting at the bottom, we have a man and a woman and they're holding up two of our youth, a male and a female," said Smarch.

"And also they requested that we have a raven at the top because the raven is, of course, our folk hero and he's our teacher; he created everything that we have today."

This is a significant day for the First Nation said its Kh Shde Hni [Chief], Andy Carvill.

"We just about lost our culture at one point in time in history and a few of the elders and some of our people kept it going," said Carvill.

"Today is a day where, to me, we're starting to gain our culture back.We're bringing it back, piece by piece, the language, the poles, the songs, the dancing," he said.

The event wraps up on Friday evening with a community feast that's open to all.

Second phase of learning centre open

The unveiling of the totem poles also marked the opening of the second phase of the First Nation's Learning Centre.

Carvillsaid the centre came about after elders spoke of the need for an appropriate space for funeral and memorial services.

He said that request led to the decision to build a place for community gatherings and learning.

A release from the Yukon government notes that both the first and second phases of the Learning Centre were built with the help of local students who gainedbuilding skills in the process.

The main hall and central building in the first phase opened in June 2017.

With files from Jackie McKay and Meagan Deuling