The raising of the totem pole on Bowen Island, to mark the 75th anniversary of the B.C.-Yukon Division of the CNIB, was very significant event for both the blind and indigenous communities. This totem found its way to Bowen Island to be raised after being originally carved from a centuries-old log in the Shíshálh Nation (between Jervis Inlet and Howe Sound).

While indigenous people did not usually restore totem poles because they thought the eventual decay of the old cedar logs was part of the natural life cycle, the rarity of these poles made them valuable to the preservation of their heritage. The community worked together to restore the pole so that future generations could also appreciate the artwork and learn its history.

Dr. Euclid Herie, national director of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, “ran his sensitive fingertips over the rough grain and carvings of the 175-year-old cedar totem pole, picking up images that brightened his sightless eyes.”

When master carver Stan Joseph took the pole down to begin work, an eagle flew overhead, a sign the spirit of the eagle - a feature on top of the pole - and the original carver approved the project, he said: “I got a very good feeling out of it.”

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Audio Description of Photo:

circa 1928-1929 -- Totem poles carved by Sechelt carver Dan Paull and Philip Paul Weenah of Rivers Inlet and commissioned by the Union Steamship Company. They stood outside the Sechelt Dance Pavilion and Totem Tea Room on the waterfront at Trail Bay until 1955 when they were removed to Bowen Island after the Union Steam Ship Company turned the village of Sechelt over to its residents in 1956. Photograph # 5361 by Helen McCall, photograph courtesy the Vancouver City Archives
circa 1928-1929 -- Totem poles carved by Sechelt carver Dan Paull and Philip Paul Weenah of Rivers Inlet and commissioned by the Union Steamship Company. They stood outside the Sechelt Dance Pavilion and Totem Tea Room on the waterfront at Trail Bay until 1955 when they were removed to Bowen Island after the Union Steam Ship Company turned the village of Sechelt over to its residents in 1956. Photograph # 5361 by Helen McCall, photograph courtesy the Vancouver City Archives

Audio Description of Photo:

The Totem Pole on Bowen

The totem pole on Bowen was carved from a cedar tree estimated to be over 600 years old. At the time the totem pole was carved, it was more common to carve house posts.

Reading the pole from the top down:

  • The first figure is an eagle
  • The second figure is a black fish
  • The third is the killer whale
  • The fifth figure is a frog
  • The sixth figure at the bottom is a black bear

Many poles from the Sechelt are include: 1. Wolf 2. Grizzly Bear 3. Orca and 4. Eagle representing the four main clans of the Shíshálh Nation.

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