Algonquin Park - East Gate - Totem Pole - Carver: Dan Bowers

Peace and reconciliation

Totem Pole at Algonquin Park

in Ontario, Canada
In October 2015, the Algonquins of Ontario raised a totem pole
overlooking Algonquin Provincial Park’s East Gate.

An Algonquin elder carved it from an eastern white pine
almost as old as the park.

Their gift comes with a story.

The grandfather pine

It all started in August 2013, when a tornado swept through Dan Bowers’
lakefront property.

His family was safe, but a century-old pine by the water’s edge wasn’t so lucky.

“That giant grandfather pine had fallen to the water,” said Dan.

It troubled him each time he passed by.

“I couldn’t just leave him laying there.”

He brought the pine home to his studio.

That winter, he started carving.


Truth and reconciliation

At that time, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
was taking statements from survivors of the residential schools.

Stories in the news told of children taken from their families,robbed of their culture and language, beaten and abused.

It was no news to Dan. Elders of all nations had shared their stories
with him as he kept fire. He’d heard his father’s story, too.

“My dad was taken away and put in an orphanage
when he was only a young boy.

He didn’t even know his family for 25 years.”
Carving a new path

Then Dan heard a speech by federal Senator Murray Sinclair.

“I thought it would be a good time to celebrate that truth and reconciliation
with all nations across Canada.”

Dan didn’t want to disrespect the culture of traditional carvers
like the Haida and the Cowichan.

So he carved the stories from his own people.

The eagle.

Turtle Island.

The sacred fire of healing and renewal.



Dan Bowers and NHE Technician Dawn Sherman worked together to prepare the interpretive panels. Audio will soon be added, with elders telling the stories in their Indigenous language.
“I wanted to give something back to our ancestors,

I wanted to give something back to our people up north.

To society, to symbolize how beautiful the native culture could be,
what it could contribute.

“I carved at night, with the Grandmothers shining down.

It just seemed to flow.

With each stroke of the knife,
the stories would just come back to me.”
Reaching out

When the totem was finished,
the Algonquins of Ontario offered it to Algonquin Provincial Park
in the spirit of peace and reconciliation.



Park Superintendent David Coulas was deeply touched by the gift and the spirit in which it was given.

The grandfather pine was raised in a place of pride
at the eastern gateway of the park.

At its foot, interpretive panels share the totem’s significance.



It was unveiled October 25, 2015 before more than 300 people.
Forging friendships

In the spirit of reconciliation, the park hosted a community feast afterwards.

Parks Group Leader Tania Jermol planned the event with great care.

The menu included traditional Algonquin foods,
including a special strawberry drink, soup made
from the Three Sisters

– corn, squash and beans

—and bannock baked according to an elder’s recipe.




“It was so powerful to see our staff, many of them in uniform,
and the Algonquins, the whole spectrum from the elders
to the little kids who are the future, all sitting
and sharing a meal together,” says David.

“Following the ceremony, several of the elders came up to me.

They said it’s the first time in their lifetime

—in their lifetime!

—they feel welcome in Algonquin Provincial Park.”
A new start

“We need to resolve a lot of issues in the past,” says Dan.

“But I don’t want to look back anymore.

We need to move forward now.

“I think we’ve started a good path.

Hopefully we can keep on that journey.”

Reconciliation won’t happen overnight, says David.

But events like this build greater respect and balance

between the park and the community.

And that’s a good start.
Moving forward





David Coulas’s office overlooks the totem pole.

Every single day, he sees people stop, read, reflect.

That Grandfather pine is sharing his stories.

 

East Gate of Algonquin Park

TOTEM POLE
Carved by Dan Bowers

 

Let It Stand
Let It Stand | Algonquin Elder, Dan Bowers, carved this tote… | Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lynket5/22969672914/
(go to flicker to see amazing shot)
Photographer: Lynn Reket

Algonquin Elder, Dan Bowers, carved this totem
from a 116 year old Eastern White Pine that fell in a storm in 2013.

It now stands at the east gate parking in Algonquin Park.

It is a magnificent piece of art.

 

Totem pole shares stories about Algonquin culture

October 28, 2015



By Nate Smelle
After a devastating storm tore through his community in late August 2013,
Algonquin elder and artist Dan Bowers came across a massive eastern white pine toppled by the high winds.

When he first discovered the fallen tree, Bowers said it spoke to him in a way that he had not experienced before.
“I passed by and saw him laying there and could not go by without feeling something in my heart,” Bowers said
.
“I could see the life of the Grandfather being drained as the sap began to drip on the earthly tears.

He stood there over 100 years and gave us life as we all walked by I knew then it was what creator wanted, to show respect for his life.”

The following winter Bowers decided to honour the Grandfather by carving a totem pole from the ancient tree.

Each night he would carve late into the cold evenings with the Grandmothers shining down on him,
keeping watch as the seasons changed. As he carved the totem the ancestors began to tell their stories.

“I had never carved a totem pole in my life but I just started carving,” Bowers said.

“I have been fire keeping now for more than 20 years and I’ve listened to all of the elders when they would come in and talk.

Elders from all different nations have come into tell her stories to me.

I’ve listened to the elders who were put in residential schools when they tell me their stories.

In a way I picked up all that wisdom through them and tried to portray it in this pole.

I tried to tell their stories for them.”
Then he said it was like time stopped; and in a blink of an eye the journey was complete.

On the morning of Sunday, Oct. 25 more than 300 people gathered in Algonquin Park
to celebrate the totem pole’s new home at the East Gate of the park.

In the spirit of peace and reconciliation with all nations Bowers presented the totem pole
to Algonquin Park on behalf of the Algonquins of Ontario.

“I wanted to portray our culture to all the nations and I thought this would be a perfect place to do that,” said Bowers.

“We have all nations coming through here, and it is for all nations not just for Algonquins.

It is important that we respect each other’s cultures.”

“Certainly it will draw a lot of attention,” added park superintendent Dave Coulas.

“We have about 800,000 people who flow through Algonquin Park every year.

We have a visitor centre that speaks to the overall history of Algonquin Park,
but it is also a mutual hope that there will be a cultural center dedicated to the Algonquin first nation,
storing artefacts and speaking about the culture.

This is all about creating an opportunity to share the Algonquin culture,
which is very important in this area and to the park.”

Working together with Bowers from the beginning to create a space for the totem pole at the East Gate,
Coulas said he learned many valuable lessons throughout the process.

Through learning about Algonquin culture he has also discovered a great deal about himself.

“We are all standing here holding Mother Earth in what is really just a moment in time,” Coulas said.

“And there is a tremendous amount of responsibility that each and every one of us carry to recognize the past
and the honour the future that we are leaving to future generations.”

Because Algonquin people expressed themselves through petroglyphs and in nature instead of in books,
Bowers said that carving the totem pole was his way of sharing Algonquin culture with future generations
while hounouring the ancestors.

“Looking back on our elders and our ancestors before us I think of the hardships they had to face,” Bowers said.

“This is my way of giving back to them. It is not just for the people it’s also in recognition of what our ancestors went through.

It is in honour of them.”
With a cool Autumn rain beginning at the end of the ceremony the gathering packed up
and headed east to Whitney for a delicious community feast provided by the Algonquin Park staff.

Totem pole shares stories about Algonquin culture | Bancroft this Week
http://www.bancroftthisweek.com/?p=5151

 

I was conceived on the shores of Round Lake, in Algonquin Park, Ontario Canada
on the 1st 7lk/wind date and; was born on 7lk/wind date in December of 1958
under 13 poles 'n a canvas !!!
~susan

 

There is lots of black water snakes in this lake
~when i did a shamanic water initiation with a Bantu Shaman from South Africa
i had a vistor that looked like this, only twice the size !!!


BLACK WATER SNAKE with yellow belly
Photographer: Kenneth P. Wray