Tag: memorial pole

Rematriation

MEMORIAL POLE IS GOING HOME

The Nisg̱a’a Lisims Government (NLG) and National Museums Scotland (NMS) announce that the House of Ni’isjoohl memorial pole will return home to the Nass Valley this September, in a historic moment for reconciliation.

The rematriation of the pole is the result of a year-long discussion and close collaboration between the Nisg̱a’a Nation and the museum.  

The term “rematriation” reframes the concept of “repatriation” by grounding the process of recovering belongings in Indigenous law — and is more closely in alignment with Nisga’a matrilineal society.  

Following months of preparatory work, a delegation of family members and supporters from the Nisg̱a’a Lisims Government have travelled to the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh to oversee the start of the return.

A closed spiritual ceremony was held on Aug. 28, to prepare the pole for its journey home. The delegation included: Sim’oogit Ni’isjoohl (Chief Earl Stephens), Sigidimnaḵ’ Nox̱s Ts’aawit (Dr. Amy Parent), Shawna Mackay, Sim’oogit Duuk (Chief William Moore), Sim’oogit Laay̓ (Chief Bruce Haldane), Mmihlgum Maakskwhl G̱akw (Pamela Brown), and NLG Representatives Apdii Lax̱ha (Andrew Robinson), Theresa Schober (Nisg̱a’a Museum Curator and Director), Laax̱ Yee (Bobby Clark, Director of Communications and Intergovernmental Relations. 

The 37-foot, hand-carved pole will be transported to Terrace, British Columbia, and then driven in a family procession to the Nisg̱a’a Village of Lax̱g̱alts’ap in the Nass Valley where it will be housed at Hli G̱oothl Wilp-Adoḵshl Nisg̱a’a – the Nisga’a Museum.

A public arrival ceremony will be held at Hli G̱oothl Wilp-Adoḵshl Nisg̱a’a on Sept. 29, with the pole still enclosed within its protective box with a Nisg̱a’a feast to follow. The pole will be raised in the following days and available for the public to view later in October. 

The memorial pole belongs to the House of Ni’isjoohl from the G̱anada (frog clan) in the Nisg̱a’a Nation. In 1860, House of Ni’isjoohl Matriarch Joanna Moody commissioned the pole to be carved by Nisg̱a’a master carver Oyee to honour her family member Ts’awit, who was next in line to be chief. Ts’awit was also a warrior who died protecting his family and nation. 

Sim’oogit Ni’isjoohl, Chief Earl Stephens, explained: “In Nisg̱a’a culture, we believe that this pole is alive with the spirit of our ancestors.

“After nearly 100 years, we are finally able to bring our dear relative home to rest on Nisg̱a’a lands. It means so much for us to have the Ni’isjoohl memorial pole returned to us, so that we can connect our family, nation and our future generations with our living history.” 

Sigidimnak’ Noxs Ts’aawit, Dr. Amy Parent, added: “We are grateful to collectively tell a new story that turns the colonial gaze onto itself by acknowledging the complexities of our pole’s theft, its intergenerational absence from our community and the persistence needed to ensure that justice for our ancestors prevails.

“This new story also highlights the responsible commitments made by many who have demonstrated to our global community that it is possible to do the right thing by returning our ancestors, cultural treasures and belongings back to us, their rightful relatives.” 

Eva Clayton, President of Nisg̱a’a Lisims Government, said: “Our hearts are at peace knowing that we are changing history with a precedent-setting transformational story of collaboration with the people of Scotland and Canada.

“It is an honour for the Nisg̱a’a Nation to be standing beside Wilp Ni’isjoohl at this historic moment in time. We are grateful to be alongside them, while having our treaty partners next to us to unwind some of the injustices to our history as Nisg̱a’a people.” 

Dr Chris Breward, Director of National Museums Scotland, said: “Since the transfer of the Memorial Pole was agreed last December, our teams have been planning the complex task of carefully lowering and transporting it in what is the first return of its type by a UK national institution.

“We are pleased to have reached the point where that work is now underway, and we are delighted to have welcomed the Nisga’a delegation to the Museum before we bid the Pole farewell.”   

Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, Angus Robertson said: “The great significance of the Ni’isjoohl memorial pole to the Nisga’a people and their community was made clear to me when I met with their representatives last year and I was pleased to have been able to provide the necessary ministerial consent to enable its return. 

“Today’s ceremony is the next step in that journey, following months of careful planning and dialogue between National Museums Scotland and the Nisga’a Nation, and I’m grateful to all parties for the work that has been undertaken to make it happen.”

Going Home: National Museums Scotland to transfer memorial pole to Nisga’a Nation

A memorial pole brought to Scotland nearly a century ago will be returned to its place of origin in what is now British Columbia, Canada.  

The House of Ni’isjoohl Memorial Pole has been on display in what is now the National Museum of Scotland since 1930. During a visit from a delegation of Nisga’a representatives to Edinburgh in August, a request for its transfer to the Nisga’a Nation was made.

The request was formally agreed by the Board of Trustees of National Museums Scotland and subsequently approved by the Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture.  

Dr Chris Breward, Director of National Museums Scotland said: ““We are committed to promoting understanding and dialogue with respect to those parts of the Museum’s collection associated with our nation’s colonial history and its difficult legacies.

“The fact that our Trustees have agreed to this request demonstrates our readiness to act on this commitment. We are pleased to have reached this agreement and to be able to transfer the Memorial Pole to its people and to the place where its spiritual significance is most keenly understood. We hope this is not the end of the process but the next step in a fruitful and ongoing relationship with the Nisga’a.” 

Sim’oogit Ni’ijoohl (Chief Earl Stephens) of Nisga’a Nation said: “In Nisga’a culture, we believe that this pole is alive with the spirit of our ancestor. After nearly one hundred years, we are finally able to bring our dear relative home to rest on Nisga’a lands.

“In means so much for us to have the Ni’isjoohl memorial pole returned to us, so that we can connect our family, nation and our future generations with our living history.”  

Ian Russell, Chair of the Board of Trustees of National Museums Scotland, said: “The decision to transfer objects which are in our care is not to be taken lightly. Following careful consideration in line with our Procedure for Considering Requests for the Permanent Transfer of Collection Objects from Non-UK Claimants, the Board approved the request.

“Having subsequently sought and now received the required approval from the Scottish Government, we have informed the Nisga’a Nation and will now begin to make arrangements for the transfer of the Pole to the Nisga’a Museum.”

Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, Angus Robertson said: “I welcome the decision taken by National Museums Scotland’s Board of Trustees to return the Ni’isjoohl memorial pole to its place of origin. It follows a deeply moving recent meeting with the Nisga’a delegation when they came to Scotland to explain the huge importance of the pole to their culture, people and community. 

“I would like to thank National Museums Scotland’s Board for their speedy but careful consideration of the request and for reaching such a positive outcome and also the Nisga’a delegation for helping us to understand the memorial pole’s history and importance to them.

“It has been a pleasure to give the required ministerial consent to enable National Museums Scotland to proceed with the transfer of ownership to the Nisga’a Museum” 

Sigidimnak’ Nox Ts’aawit, Dr.  Amy Parent, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Education and Governance, Tier 2, said: 

“Our hearts have been moved with the commitment to return our family’s cultural treasure, which enables us to create a new story to re-right a colonial wrong with the honour, dignity and solidarity of the Scottish Peoples who are walking beside us on our decolonizing journeys.” 

Following the decision, staff at National Museums Scotland will begin planning the complex task of safely removing the 11-metre pole from its display location and preparing it for transport to British Columbia. 

The Ni’isjoohl Memorial Pole was carved from red cedar in 1855 by artist Oyea Tait and his assistant carver, Gwanes, in memorial of Ts’aawit, a Nisga’a chief of British Columbia, Canada. It shows a series of interlocking figures relating to Ts’aawit’s family history through his ancestors, family crests, and his clan.

The pole originally stood in front of the house of Ts’aawit’s relatives in Ank’idaa village on the Nass River. Today the Nisga’a Memorial Pole is on display in the Living Lands gallery at the National Museum of Scotland.

In 1929, Marius Barbeau purchased the pole from its Nisga’a owners on behalf of the Royal Museum of Scotland, which later became the National Museum of Scotland. It went on display the following year. Barbeau was an ethnographer and curator at the National Museum of Canada from 1911-1949.