Journey Home: The Story of the Midiigm Pts’aan
It has been 126 years since this pts’aan (totem pole or house post) was last in Laxyuubm Gitxaała (Gitxaała territory). It was cut down, saved, sold, abused, given away, and displayed. Finally, it has returned home in Gitxaała Nation’s first repatriation.
Pts’aan carry history and power. They mark territory and tell the stories of the houses and clans that belong to them. This pts'aan is 12 feet tall (3.7m) and displays the Midiigm Ts’m’aks (Grizzly Bear of the Sea) crest at the base and the Bear Mother crest on top. These crests on the pts’aan belong to the Gispwudwada (Blackfish Clan).
By reclaiming the pts’aan, Gitxaała Nation is asserting sovereignty and control over its cultural heritage. The pole’s return will inspire carving, art, and language learning, reaffirming connections between people and culture.
Here we tell the story of the midiigm pts’aan (grizzly bear totem pole) and its journey home to Laxyuubm Gitxaała.
Łaluyeltgn Pts’aanm Gitxaała
The returning pole belongs to Gitxaała
Content warning: The archival documents featured in this exhibition contain racist language towards First Nations people.
Sections of this Exhibition
Repatriation Celebrations
Community Unveiling and Feast
Monday, April 17, 2023
Community Hall
Lax Klan, BC
Ladling out a serving of soup at the Lax Klan pt’saan repatriation feast.
Prince Rupert Welcome and Smorgasbord
Saturday, April 15, 2023
Jim Ciccone Civic Centre
Prince Rupert, BC
A banner representing the grizzly bear pts’aan decorated the Prince Rupert Russell Gamble Gym where the initial welcome feast took place. It hung next to a portrait of Gitxaała Sm’ooygit He:l, for whom the gym is named.
Over Land and Sea
A century later, the pole comes home
Our story begins and ends in Laxyuubm Gitxaała, the homeland of the People of the Saltwater. The pole stood in Lax Klan, one of the most ancient settlements in the region and contemporary centre of the Gitxaała Nation government.
Scroll through the map below to follow the journey of the pole across the centuries.
The midiigm pts’aan stood tall
Sea lion totem pole in Lax Klan in 1913. It stood about 50 feet tall. We do not have any images of the full grizzly bear pole before it was sectioned.
The pts’aan we have today was once part of a much larger totem pole. The larger pole stood outside, and might have been as tall as 50 feet (15 meters).
It may have been a similar height to this sea lion totem pole that stood in Lax Klan in 1913.
Under threat
Eagle totem pole at left, bird totem pole at right. In the foreground is the remains of a traditional longhouse that had been abandoned under pressure from missionaries to build Western-style houses.
Missionaries ordered people to cut down and burn their totem poles. Gitxaała people refused to burn the midiigm pts’aan however. Instead, they sectioned it and brought the pieces into their homes.
This was during the Potlatch Ban in Canada (1885-1951), when many aspects of First Nations’ culture and governance were illegal under colonial law. First Nations people fought to survive genocide.
Sold / Stolen
In 1896, the midiigm pts’aan was sold to Absolom Freeman, skipper for the New England Fish Company. He bought it for $50, or around $1000 today. He shipped it all the way to the New England Fish Company centre of operations in Boston, Massachusetts.
An image of T-wharf in Boston, Massachusetts in the early 1900s. The midiigm pts’aan was stored in a building on this wharf for 21 years.
Desecration
While it was in Boston, “Al” Rich of A. F. Rich & Co. decided to install electric lights inside the pts’aan that would shine through the nostrils. This desecration caused everyone on the wharf to experience bad luck, including injuries, boat accidents, and pet deaths, documented in a Boston newspaper.
The return of the pole to Gitxaała territory will be an important act of reparation to the naxnox (supernatural beings) who were angered by the defacement of the pole.
1901 article in the Boston Post about the desecration of the pts’aan. Illustration shows the electric lights shining through the grizzly bear’s nostrils. Please note that this article contains racist language. It also misidentifies the post as being from Alaska.
The Peabody Museum
The Peabody Museum requested information about the pts’aan when the New England Fish Company offered to donate it. Absolom Freeman provided information about his purchase of the post in this 1917 letter. Please note that this letter contains racist language.
In 1917 the New England Fish Company decided to donate the post to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. The letter at left was written by Absolom Freeman to describe how he got the pole. This letter was key to proving Gitxaała’s connection to the post in the repatriation negotiations.
The pts’aan remained at the Peabody for more than one hundred years. In 2011 it took a brief trip to the Peabody Essex museum for the exhibition “Shape Shifting: Transformations in Native American Art”.
Repatriation
The pts’aan at the Peabody Museum being prepared for shipment. The pole weighs 400 lbs (181 kg).
The Gitxaała Nation Language and Culture Department began negotiations with the Peabody Museum in 2022 to repatriate the midiigm pts’aan. The Gitxaała Repatriation Committee, composed of representatives of all four clans, helped guide the negotiation. The museum recognized that the original sale of the pole was not legitimate since it occurred during the Potlach Ban. The pole was packed up and shipped to Lax Klan in March 2023.
Return to Laxyuubm Gitxaała
Gitxaała sm’gigyet await the midiigm pts’aan. The pole was transported safely from Prince Rupert to Lax Klan in a truck on a barge, guided by Gitxaała fisheries vessels.
After a months-long journey and negotiations with Border Services, the midiigm pts’aan arrived in Lax Klan, Laxyuubm Gitxaała on April 17th, 2023.
Explore the Midiigm Pts’aan in 3D!
Click the image of the pole to begin. Click and drag to move around the pole. Scroll to zoom in and out. Click a number to learn more about the feature in that area.
