Qwaya Sam is feeling a little sad these days. A work that has challenged him, delighted him and taught him many lessons is coming to an end.
“I want to stay an extra day. I don’t want to let it go,” he told Ha-Shilth-Sa. But that’s what will happen with a ceremony that will wake up the 32-foot totem pole he has toiled over with many talented carvers during the past many months.
Sam and others are just finishing the painting of the Nuu-chah-nulth pole that will be stood up beside Shq’apthut--A Gathering Place for the Aboriginal students at Vancouver Island University’s Nanaimo campus. The carving of it represents a personal journey.
“Something I’ve never, ever felt,” Sam said. “It totally made me grab onto the beliefs and teaching from my family and community." The project has meant more than he had ever imagined, he said. There was times of intimidation, concern and issues that were out of his control, but he prayed every day for guidance and medicine and a clear way forward.
“It happened, and it’s happening still,” said Qwaya.
The pole talks about “our most high, our chiefs, our biggest ceremonies,” he said. At the bottom of the pole is a wolf holding onto the fin of a killer whale. There is a young whaler that will be holding a traditional harpoon, and at the top a Thunderbird.
The working end of the nine-foot harpoon is a replica of one crafted by Sam’s grandfather, David Frank, 70 years ago in Kelsmaht. It was made of yew wood, shell and elk horn by Sam’s adopted brother Robinson Cook. Sam was proud to display the craftsmanship to Ha-Shilth-Sa.
In fact, Sam is proud of all the work of the artists that have touched the pole. Carver Francine Champagne was inside the tent when we visited May 27, helping with the finishing touches. She had met Qwaya at the Carving on the Edge Festival in Tofino. She came by the carving shed on campus one day, just to have a look, and she stayed, she laughed.
Qwaya also points to Kelly Robinson who helped on the Thunderbird figure. “He’s a really good artist,” Sam said. Like Sam, he has roots in Ahousaht, but Kelly grew up in Bella Coola. He said the best part of the project for him was sitting with Qwaya and learning the culture, listening to the stories and enhancing his cultural connection to his Ahousaht relatives.
Among the other artists who have “touched” the pole are Pat Amos and George Hunt Jr. There were about seven artists in all that have crafted some part of it. The project is part of a vision of the university’s student union that will represent the Island’s First Nations peoples. A ceremony is being planned for June 11.
Qwaya has studied both at VIU and at Emily Carr University. His daughter, Francine Frank, will be graduating next week with an education degree from VIU. She stopped by to see how her father was getting on with the work.
It’s a big thing, Sam said, to share the pole with all people; a big thing for the Nuu-chah-nulth people that it represents.
Kelly Robinson said what he hopes the students get from the finished work is inspiration “to raise the bar.”
So many of our people didn’t get a chance to get a western degree, said Qwaya. But “I’m a big believer in the teachings and medicines of our people,” he said. The pole will honor the ancestors, the Creator. It represents the teachings, the sharing of Nuu-chah-nulth culture.
“This is who we are.”
“We’re here. Now you can see us,” said Sam. “We are going to show people we’re here. We’re alive.”
