After standing for nearly 100 years in Scotland, an historic totem pole has finally been returned to Nisga’a territory.
Premier David Eby was present in Nisga’a territory on Truth and Reconciliation Day for a ceremony and speeches welcoming the Ni’isjoohl Memorial Pole back to where it was created.
In a Twitter X post, he says it was humbling to join the Nisga’a Nation to celebrate the return, adding it’s an example of how “meaningful reconciliation requires us to address past wrongs, and chart a new path towards healing.”
The pole was returned on Friday, after being flown from Edinburgh to Canada with the help of the Canadian Armed Forces, and transported north.
The pole was carved from red cedar in 1855 and tells the story of Ts’aawit, a Nisga’a chief. The Nisga’a say it was taken without consent in 1929 and sold to the Scottish National Museum while locals were away from their villages for the annual hunting season.
Last December, after a delegation of Nisga’a elders and representatives visited the museum to explain the significance of the Ni’isjoohl Memorial Pole, Scotland agreed to return it to the coastal nation.
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