Carved from a 1,000-year-old cedar tree, the Survivors Totem Pole was raised in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside as a symbol of survival and healing from social and racial injustice.
The pole was raised in a potlatch ceremony with Coast Salish and Haida protocols and formally witnessed by special guests including Mayor Gregor Robertson, Vancouver Park Board vice-chair Erin Shum and more than a dozen matriarchs, elders and hereditary chiefs.
It will stand at Pigeon Park.
Communities Coming Together
The pole is a three-year collaboration between DTES advocates, First Nations, members of the LGBTQ community, along with Japanese, Chinese and South Asian survivors of racism.
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