Edmonton film-maker helps re-energize Haisla with film

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In 1872, a nine-metre high mortuary pole was carved at the request of Chief G'psgolox and stood in the village of Misk'usa, reminding people of the many deaths that had occurred when smallpox came into the community, and of the special healing powers bestowed upon the chief by the Zola spirit that allowed him to bring the members of his tribe back to life. Then in 1929, when the people of the village returned from fishing, the pole was gone. It had been cut from its base, and had disappeared without a trace.

For more than 60 years, the fate of the pole remained a mystery. Then it was discovered in the collection of the National Museum of Ethnography in Sweden, who had obtained the pole in 1929 with the permission of the Canadian government. In 1991, a group of Haisla people traveled to the museum to make it known that they wanted their totem returned.

More than a decade has passed since that first visit to lay claim to the long-lost totem, and still it has not come home. But the efforts of the Haisla people to see that goal realized continue, and are chronicled in a new documentary by Edmonton film-maker Gil Cardinal.

Totem: The Return of the G'psgolox Pole was written and directed by Cardinal, whose past credits include the documentaries Home and Native Land, The Spirit Within, Foster Child, and David With F.A.S. He also directed episodes of North of 60, The Rez and Mentors, co-wrote and directed the mini-series Big Bear, and wrote and directed episodes of Chiefs.

Cardinal originally got involved in the Totem project after he was contacted by Louise Barbetti, one of the Haisla people involved in the repatriation .

"Louise called me and told me the basic story and essentially invited me to come and make a film. To come and meet the people and see about developing a film," he said.

Cardinal travelled to B.C., but also to Stockholm where the Haisla people presented the museum with a newly-carved totem pole to replace the one they are trying to have returned to them. It was this aspect of the repatriation project that helped to interest Cardinal in taking on the film project, he explained.

"The initial information was quite enticing, about a community trying to right a wrong, and working very diligently and patiently at what had already been a 10-year process of negotiating for the return of the pole. And to imagine a totem pole sitting in Stockholm, trying to get back home to Kitamaat Village, seemed very interesting. And the fact that the carvers were going to be creating duplicate poles also really struck me as being very filmic, very cinematic. But you know, underneath it all was, I think, the spirit of the people that attracted me and compelled me to want to work with them, to want to put myself in their service to tell their story. I found them to be, rather than taking an angry approach, you know, which they could have been quite justified in, they were going about this in a very kind of respectful way, and trying to create a climate of respect, mutual respect with the Swedish people. So I thought that's really what's at the heart of the whole story," he said.

"Part of the intention behind the process was they have offered to create a replacement pole for the museum, because they didn't want to just take their pole down, take it away and leave the museum with nothing. So they made a very generous offer to create a replacement pole. And so part of the thinking behind that was to create a real cultural exchange. So the pole was only carved half way in Kitamaat Village. Then it was sent on a plane to Stockholm and the carvers went over later and the carvers finished carving the pole right there in the museum, with the invitation for the Swedish people to come and meet them and watch and give the people some context for what a totem pole is and what that pole represents and what it means to the people. So it was a very important kind of approach, I think, that they took to try to remove barriers, try to ceate a climate of mutual respect for each other. I think the way they've gone about this can serve as a model for how repatriations can be pursued in the future," said Gil Cardinal.

While the Swedish government agreed to return the G'psgolox pole to Kitamaat Village in 1994, the stumbling block has been the museum's insistence that the pole not be returned until it can be housed in a state-of-the-art, climate-controlled facility to protect and preserve it. Currently that type of facility doesn't exist in the village, nor do the funds to make it a reality.

For more information about the Haisla Totem Pole Repatriation Project, visit the project Web site at http://www.haislatotem.org.