Four 4.5-metre totem poles were unveiled Monday outside Saanich Peninsula Hospital as a symbolic welcome to First Nations patients who have felt cultural barriers seeking care at Island Health facilities.
“When they see this, they will feel welcome,” Dr. Brendon Carr, CEO of Island Health, told a crowd of about 100 people, many of them aboriginal, at the private unveiling.
Aboriginal patients have too often felt judged and misunderstood when seeking care, “so it’s not a healing environment,” Carr said following a blessing ceremony.
The ceremony included waving of cedar boughs, sprinkling of red ochre and prolonged chanting by elder Fred Charlie against a backdrop of drumming.
For the $120,000 project, large cedars were donated by Western Forest Products and carved in several distinctive styles in a few months by Tsartlip carver Charles Elliott, Tseycum carver James Jimmy, Pauquachin carver Mark Henry and Tsawout carver Doug LaFortune, who said his pole was “a log for a long time — it took a long time to come out.”
Money for the project came from the estates of Enid Blakeney and David Blair, while aboriginal liaison nurse Jane Fox helped get the project rolling.
“It’s about spirituality within the hospital,” said Karen Morgan, executive director of the Saanich Peninsula Hospital Foundation, adding that in recent years, a multi-faith chapel was installed, along with a healing garden and music therapy.
“This is one more aspect of support for people’s spirituality and helps to heal the whole person,” Morgan said.
Chief Rebecca Harris of the Pauquachin First Nation called the installation “a historic moment,” adding it’s “a great feeling” to have a traditional welcome on traditional lands.
Carr said it’s important to embed respect for aboriginal traditions in how care is offered to First Nations patients, reinforcing healthy aspects of aboriginal culture.
“We’re working very hard with our First Nations patients to try to understand what’s important in their culture,” he said.
Citing colonization, alcoholism and residential schools, Carr said: “We actually have to own that. A lot of their health status is a result of what we’ve done to their culture.
“We don’t want the barriers and we have to stop judging them.”
Lydia Hwitsum, chairwoman of the First Nations Health Authority, said the totems represent a level of “an acknowledgment of the First Nations peoples in this area. I think that the totem poles are literally a bridge for us to help understand each other better.
“It really opens up the opportunity for safer access to services for First Nations people, because this is welcoming.”
“We’re all staunch Peninsula people, no matter what race we come from,” said Danny Henry, brother of one of the carvers.
