Words of Arthur Brociner: As the one who came up with this idea, and as one of the carving apprentices working with the carver on this protector totem pole, I will try to answer your question the best I can. I totally agree with you that this protector totem pole is an amazing creation and deserves to be written about. Yesterday Jim Wolf, the Heritage Planner and Historian of the City of Burnaby came to visit the site and he told us he believes history is being made here. He promised to facilitate us to get permission from Mayor Corrigans office to erect the protector totem poles right here on the very spot. As per my initial proposal, this is hopefully one of the tree totem poles that will be carved and erected here, right on the site where this drilling is perpetrated by KM contractors, and where our fight against this atrocity started. The plan is to carve and erect here one protector totem pole for each one of the three local bands of the great Coast Salish First Nation - who have been for millennia the caretakers and the protectors of the Salish Sea and of all the land and waterways of this whole area of the Salish Coast. One totem pole will represent the Squamish people, another one the Tsleil-Waututh people, and the third one the Musqueam people. Genevieve Kawoq has helped us purchase a couple of fir logs from a dismantled log cabin and we are repurposing them by pouring new life into them. We are looking for a third log, preferably cedar. This first totem pole is being carved by a Squamish artisan wood carver - Mike Antone - the brother of Sutlut Antone (the lady who started the Sacred Fire here with Mel Cliftons help). Sut-lut and her sister Clarissa have been at the core of our fight ever since the Sacred Fire was lit here. As per Mikes vision, this first protector totem pole will represent a native man wrapped in a blanket. The blanket is an important item in the First Nations cultural heritage. A blanket is the traditional gift for any important event in the life of native people, as well as to honor elders, leaders and special guests. It can also serve as the equivalent of a medal awarded for special achievements to the benefit of the community. The blanket symbolizes protection, as it has been used for millennia by the First Nations people to protect themselves against harsh weather. Hence the blanket wrapped around this native man represents his status as a protector of the land. He will stand here on this site to guard and protect this Salish Coast against any such ecocidal corporation attempting to rape, pillage and poison the land for the sole profit of the shareholders. The blanket will be decorated with two snakes, one on each side. In First Nations culture, the snake symbolizes the primordial energy, as it is a very old creature. It moves in a zig-zag all the time, always going forward, so it is like “one-minded”, and symbolizes the ability to concentrate on one thing, and move towards that with no distraction, just like our fight for social and environmental justice. The snake also represents the straight line and the circle, the zero and the one, so it is really at the beginning of things, symbolizing the fundamental primordial energy. The snake renews itself, it sheds its old skin and comes out with a completely new skin, and this is the ability to let go of the old and bring in the new, just like the new sustainable renewable energy sources will replace the old, antiquated energy generated by burning fossil fuels. On his head, this protector will wear a raven helmet. The raven is a trickster, which can mean bad and good. We are now at a turning point, when the bad things done by the corporations have raised our awareness, leading to a good thing: our standing up in solidarity with the Squamish, with the Unistoten, with the Klabona Keepers, with the Mikmaq of Elsipogtog, with the Secwepemc Women Warriors, with the City of Burnaby, with the City of Vancouver, with all Land Defenders from all over the world, regardless of nationality. These three totem poles will stand here long after we will be all gone, and they will be watching over the land, protecting it for future generations. Our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren will come visit Burnaby Mountain an see these totem poles that did bear witness to our uprising in solidarity with all Land Defenders, to say NO means NO and ENOUGH is ENOUGH. This uprising here on Burnaby Mountain was started by a group of dedicated caretakers, led by Adam Gold, Mia Nissen, Dan Wallace, Marija Brzev, Xenoa Skinteh, Jakub Markiewicz, Mel NoEnbridge Clifton, Caleb, Eric and Julia Mathias, one more Eric, and Serguei. This grassroots movement rapidly expanded and it immediately got the support of some veterans of the Clayoquot Sound uprising and of the Surrey coal train blockade, like Brad Hornik, Yvon Raoul, Earle Peach, Prof. Stephen Collis, as well as Prof. Lynne Quarmby, John Clarke (the guy who originally persuaded Burnabys Mayor in the 70s to repurchase this whole area on Burnaby Mountain, and to make it a conservation area for perpetuity), Larry M, Sutlut Antone, Clarissa Antone, Mike Antone, Genevieve Kawok, some members of BROKE (Burnaby Residents Opposed to KinderMorgan Expansion), like Sabina Hill, Ruth Walmsley, and many others whose names I do not remember. Each and everyone of us contributed in their own way to this endeavor. Many people volunteered to help us and to bring us supplies. This uprising was never a conspiracy against Kinder Morgan as their lawyer tried to portray it in court. It was never an act of hate, to the contrary, it has always been an act of love: love for Mother Earth, for the environment and for the future of the human race. We will never give up. We will keep that fire burning in our hearts until the final victory, until all these ecocidal corporations will be bankrupt and the system will be changed, until such laws will be put in place as to defend for perpetuity our rights to a clean and healthy environment, laws that would forever forbid any corporations to put profit ahead of the safety, health and wellbeing of the people. I am not a journalist, nor a poet, nor a writer of any kind, and English is not my mother tongue. I wrote this at work during a night shift. So if you feel this story needs to be brushed up, please do so :-)
Posted on: Fri, 28 Nov 2014 07:21:28 +0000
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