Dating to the 1920s, the 12-foot, colourfully painted pole had faded with time and exposure to the elements. The restoration was paid for with more than $6,000 collected during a plant exchange, as well as from a Secret Gardens Tour

Last week on National Aboriginal Day, First Nations storytellers Sylvain Rivard and Marie Céline Charron sang, danced and told tales in French, English and Native languages in the Storytelling Garden outside the children’s library — then, to the sound of chanting and drumbeats, led everyone inside to a corner of the reference section, where councillors George Bowser and Cynthia Lulham unveiled the restored totem.

Charron, who is a member of the Naskapi nation (Kawawachikamach), has been singing and telling tales primarily in English for the past three years in the Ottawa region. Rivard is French-Canadian of Abénaki ancestry. He has been singing and telling tales for the past 12 years. His repertory consists of Métis, Abénaki and French Canadian stories.

Westmount acquired the totem 40 years ago, when the Campbell Garden on Edgehill Road was ceded to the City. Assistant community events coordinator Virginia Elliott, who researched the pole's origins, said she discovered that it was from Wrangell, Alaska. “Our totem pole was probably carved by people who didn’t have masters to teach them,” she said.

According to Elliott, George MacDonald, the former director of the Museum of Civilization in Hull, believes that although it was of Tlingit inspiration from Alaska, there are elements from southern British Columbia Native peoples, such as the Haida.

“It’s not the original; it’s actually a replica. The original I think disappeared in 1981 and ours is a copy,” Elliott said, adding that a fascination with Aboriginal culture developed among non-Native people during the 1920s. Noticing this, many Native people began producing replicas of Aboriginal objects like totem poles for tourists. Apparently that is how this one ended up in Westmount.

Photo: Martin C. Barry