'Like seeing an old friend:' Beloved totem pole restored and relocated in St. Catharines, Ont.

About six years after it was removed from a St. Catharines, Ont., park, a beloved totem pole is once again standing tall in the community.

Commissioned in 1966 for Canada's 100th birthday, the Centennial Totem Pole was carved by the late Doug Cranmer, a Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw artist and hereditary chief of the ʼNa̱mǥis Nation.

Close to 13 metres tall, the totem pole, featuring carvings of figures including a thunderbird, bear and cedar man, stood in Richard Pierpoint Park in the Queenston neighbourhood until 2019 when it was taken down for restoration. 

Over its 50 years in the park, the piece of art took on significance locally, Six Nations Wolf Clan member Phil Davis told CBC Hamilton.

"It has become a part of our fabric and has come to represent a place of hope and faith for our people to gather over the years," he said. 

Davis works as a cultural resource coordinator for the Niagara Regional Native Centre (NRNC) and said such spaces are important for a community trying to find its identity in an urban setting.  

"When we have something as magnificent as a totem pole, we start understanding it at a deeper level," he said. "That is something that's much needed these days in the crazy world that we live in."

Totem poles are not customary of the region

Despite its local significance, carving totem poles is not a tradition among Indigenous people in Treaty 3 land. Totem poles come from the Pacific Northwest.

At the time the totem pole was commissioned, "it wasn't uncommon for municipalities and governments to celebrate the colonization of Canada through purchasing Indigenous art pieces," said St. Catharines culture coordinator Olivia Hope.

Those were often Western works that conformed to "the idea of what Indigenous was at the time," Hope said, adding the city likely viewed it as something to represent the Indigenous community in Niagara. 

Hope is Oneida, Haudenausaunee, from Six Nations of the Grand River and also has Québécois and Polish heritage.

Around 2017, Hope said, the city, NRNC and local community members began discussing what to do with the totem pole, which was in "rough shape," according to Bruce Alfred, the artist who would eventually restore it. 

She said Cranmer's family was contacted and were in favour of the totem pole being restored. They also suggested Alfred be the one to lead the process. 

Alfred is also an artist from the Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw Nation, who lives in Alert Bay, B.C., and apprenticed with Cranmer. 

He agreed to restore it and the totem pole was reinstalled inside the Canada Games Park.

'He was such a character'

Even though it might not have "the exact same connection" with community as it did before, Hope said the totem pole will still be accessible.

"That way, generations upon generations could enjoy it," said Alfred. "Otherwise, in 10 years, it'll be right back to square one before we restored it."

It took Alfred and two other Indigenous artists, Dominique Wells and Cole Speck, four weeks and long hours to restore the piece, he said.

He said the piece needed "a lot of work" as, on top of the weather damage, the totem pole had been set on fire, which created a cavity inside it. Then someone filled it up with cement, which Alfred said was "a job and a half" to remove.

"There ended up being a lot of concrete in there. We had to get a miniature jackhammer to break it apart," he said.

It wasn't the first time Alfred was restoring a piece made by his mentor, but that didn't make it any less special or educational.

"It's always a learning experience. You know, I just kept thinking, 'Okay, what would Doug do?'" he said.

For Alfred, Cranmer was more than a teacher.

"Doug was my chief, my uncle, my mentor, even a father figure to me, which meant a lot," he said. "He was such a character, gifted character."

'There's a lot of pride there'

Hope said the restoration was a learning experience for the city and an opportunity for Indigenous people to share their knowledge.

"I think also what has highlighted for the city and hopefully for other cities is the need for local Indigenous art to be made more public, to be created, to have a light shone on it," she said.

Davis said his involvement in the restoration was made through his work, but "it expanded beyond that."

He and Hope would have conversations about what the totem pole represents, he said, and even considered letting it "go back to nature."

Alfred invited Davis to the totem pole's installation as a witness, which he said was "pretty amazing."

"It was awesome to walk up and see it again, like seeing an old friend again," he said.

Alfred said the totem pole was an art piece that "became ceremonial," because of how locals, Indigenous and not, embraced it.

"There's a lot of pride there," he said.