Image: From left to right, Mayor Sean Bujtas, Marianne and Midori Nicolson of the Dzawada’enuxw Nation, and Nakkita Trimble and Kelli Louie of Coast Mountain College's Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art, stand in front of the two Talking Sticks at City Hall.
After eight years of searching for their rightful owner and more than 60 years in the City of Terrace’s possession, two Indigenous talking sticks are going home.
“It’s time. Actually — it’s way past due,” said City of Terrace Mayor Sean Bujtas.
Until a few years ago, the two talking sticks were displayed on the City of Terrace’s council chambers wall. One is topped with a killer whale head and the other lined with coppers, a symbol of wealth in many BC First Nations’ cultures.
In 2016, then-Councillor Michael Prevost suggested the City look more closely at the sticks’ origins. This is in line with a national reconciliation effort, that continues today, to repatriate Indigenous cultural objects. Many pieces were separated from their originators on bad terms, and returning lost and stolen items acknowledges past wrong doings and aims to rebuild relationships.
According to a plaque at City Hall, Skeena Forest Products Ltd. and Pohle Lumber Co. Ltd donated the talking sticks to the City, and the sticks originate “from either Kingcome Inlet or Gilford Island-Southern Kwakiutl Tribe.”
The Indigenous people who live in Kingcome Inlet refer to themselves as both the Dzawada̱ʼenux̱w and the Musgamakw Dzawada’enuxw. Similar to the Tsimshian Nation in Northwest BC, the Dzawada̱ʼenux̱w First Nation are one of many Nations that make up the Kwakwaka’wakw group of Nations.
The main village of the Dzawada’enuxw is Kingcome, located in a remote inlet only accessible by boat or plane, on the west coast of BC’s mainland, almost 300 kilometres north of Vancouver. The village’s population is fewer than one hundred.
The City of Terrace reached out to the Kingcome Village but never managed to find someone to facilitate the return of the sticks.
Fast forward seven years later Lou-ann Neel, an Indigenous artist and arts administrator, was in Terrace visiting the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art. Prior to her visit she had coffee with Marianne Nicolson of the Dzawada’enuxw who informed her of a newspaper article she had seen about the sticks and asked if she could inquire about them. Lou-ann visited City Hall and sent a photo of the sticks to Marianne.
From the photos, Marianne confirmed the talking sticks were indeed from Kingcome. Lou-ann then put her in touch with City of Terrace staff and that was the connection needed to move forward.
In the spring of 2024, Terrace City Council unanimously voted to put $1,500 towards travel costs for two Dzawada’enuxw members to come view the sticks. So, on June 16, 2024, Marianne and her sister Midori did just that.
Nicolson also used a Canada Council for the Arts Grant to supplement the costs. The grant, which Nicolson calls ‘Ne’nakw’ (Returning Home), is helping fund efforts to return lost capacity and objects to her community.
Viewing the sticks for the first time, both Marianne and Midori were visibly emotional.
“What the sticks represent is highly significant to us. They represent rights and titles. They were created under our old traditions,” said Marianne. “The fact that they ended up in Terrace and are coming back to us is so special.”
The sisters spent a couple hours at Terrace’s City Hall carefully viewing the objects and discussing their return home with the Mayor and staff.
Marianne spoke of a well-known photo (see image) from her village from 1938. It’s a photo of her people in full regalia, standing in front of a totem pole they managed to raise at the time, despite the colonial rules in place.
To get around the potlach ban and pass on cultural teachings, our people committed to building a church, a community hall, a soccer field — and a totem pole, an illegal act then, Marianne said.
She explained that the totem pole includes the four main crests of the four Nations of the Musagamkw Dzawada’enuxw, which translates as ‘the four faces of the Dzawada’enuxw’.
“It tells their origin stories and passes on title to our lands. It represents a time when our people came together to stand up for our rights,” she said.
And someone in the photo is holding the talking stick with the Killer Whale head!
As part of Marianne’s works as a historian, researcher and artist, she organizes trips to different institutions to see objects removed from their community.
“It’s absolutely massive and astounding what has left our community,” she said,
Marianne explained that while some objects were traded, bought or gifted in an equitable manner, many were sold or forfeited under duress.
“In the 1920s, many of our people were prosecuted for potlaching. To not go to jail, they had to hand in their ‘treasures’ — their cultural materials. Families who didn’t agree went to prison,” she said.
While visiting, Marianne and Midori learned a lot about Terrace and area, and the local First Nations. They went to dinner with Mayor and Council and were shown around the City by Mayor Bujtas. They also spent time at Freda Diesing School, having lunch with Master Carver and Senior Advisor Stan Bevan, Coordinator Nakkita Trimble and Program Officer Kelli Louie.
“The trip to Terrace was amazing for us. We learned about what’s going on with art and creativity here. It was very inspiring,” Marianne said, adding that the similarities in the relationships between her community and neighbouring Nations, and Kitsumkalum and Kitselas and the other Tsimshian Nations was remarkable.
She expressed gratitude to the City and the Freda Diesing School.
“We’ve faced a lot of not good will. This story is about goodwill. ‘We recognize these objects belong to you and they’ll be returned,’” she said, adding, “We think of them (the objects) as very much alive, and for many years, they’ve been cared for by people other than us. This is not just a simple case of, ‘Here are these objects.’ We are trying to be conscientious of the whole story, the circumstances under which the sticks left the community, and that they’ve been gone for many years.”
“This story is leading to a happy ending,” said Terrace Mayor Bujtas. “We couldn’t have asked for anything better. The City will now wait to hear how Kingcome wants to proceed and we look forward to being part of that, whatever it may look like.”
Learn more about the significance and protocol of Talking Sticks