Return of Nisga’a memorial totem pole to be celebrated with ceremony and feast

A ceremony and feast are scheduled in northwest B.C. on Friday to mark the return of a memorial totem pole to the Nisga’a Nation.

Global News will carry the event live here and on BC1.

The House of Ni’isjoohl memorial pole was carved from red cedar in 1860 in memory of a Nisga’a chief, and was taken from the nation in 1929, without the nation’s consent, by an ethnographer and later sold to the National Museum of Scotland.

2:23
Scottish museum returns stolen totem pole to Nisga’a Nation in B.C.

Last year, a Nisga’a delegation travelled to Scotland to ask for its return. Following a year of negotiation, the museum agreed to return the pole, and arrangements were made to use a Canadian military airfcraft to fly it back to British Columbia.

Friday’s event will take place at the Hli G̱oothl Wilp-Adoḵshl Nisg̱a’a (the Nisga’a Museum).

Participants will include representatives from the governments of Canada and British Columbia, and the National Museum of Scotland.