Skip to content

Story pole raised at Grand Forks Secondary

Students at Grand Forks Senior Secondary School (GFSS) have a new attraction in the middle of the school.
88950grandforksGFGFP110525
Jan deHaan (left)

Students at Grand Forks Senior Secondary School (GFSS) have a new attraction in the middle of the school.

Last Wednesday, a story pole, which is like a totem pole, was raised. Students at GFSS, as well as

Boundary Central Secondary School helped to design and carve the pole.

Bob Grieve, aboriginal education teacher at GFSS, helped to put together the carving project. Funding came from School District 51, the Boundary Métis Association and Regional District Area C.

The pole was made alongside the one that’s been raised in the Living Arts Centre at Christina Lake.

“The main one (at the lake) was done mostly by the professional carvers,” Grieve said. “This is the project that the adults and students worked on together.”

Grieve said that the culture pole is significant in that it shows the acknowledgement of the ongoing Aboriginal presence in the district.

The historic nations in this area were the Sinixt and the Okanagan. Grieve said that the pole is not a totem pole, but is called a culture or story pole, because it doesn’t have links to a stipulated ancestor of a group, like a family or clan.

Xwalacktun from the Squamish Nation in West Vancouver conducted the ceremony.

He joked that the totem-raising ceremony, which usually takes up a full day, had to be shortened due to the Vancouver Canucks game.

He explained that each of the animals carved in the totem have significance. On top is the Kokanee, which is balance. Under it is the raven, which signifies creativity and nature, but also the light and dark sides of the world.

The root of the pole is the beaver, which is a part of the earth and signifies hard work.