Nuu-chah-nulth Pole

This totem pole is one my favourites as it is more colourful that the older ones in the Museum and departs somewhat from the iconography of the other poles in the Great Hall.

The pole was a gift from the Hesquaiht people and the Royal British Columbia Museum in 1989 for the opening of the Canadian Museum of Civilization.   It was carved Tim Paul with assistance from Kevin Cranmer.

"The four main figures on this pole are from the history of the Hesquiaht people.  The figure at the top is an ancestral chief, wearing an elaborate headdress and posed in a dancing position.  Beneath him is Thunderbird and between his wings is a mythic hunter known for his ability to catch whales, sea otters and seals.  The final figure represents the whale canoe that carried the hunter's rival out to sea."