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Monday, July 26, 2021

Scouts Canada Totem Pole

In Ottawa on the north side of Baseline Road between Clyde Avenue and Merivale Road in front of the Scouts Canada headquarters stands the Scouts Canada Totem Pole.

Chief Mungo Martin (1879 – 1962), with assistance from his grandson, Henry Hunt, carved this totem pole from a British Columbia cedar tree, in Victoria, British Columbia in 1960. Chief Martin's Kwakiutl Tribe named him Nakapakam, meaning a ten time potlatch chief. (Six sources that I checked do not agree on the spelling of that name. I have very likely misspelled it here.)

 


In 1961, the British Columbia Scouts gifted the totem pole to Scouts Canada in celebration of the official opening of Scouts Canada's national headquarters in Ottawa. The six figures on the totem pole from the top are Raven, Man, Grizzly Bear, Cannibal Woman, Killer Whale and Beaver. These are clan crests of Tribes closely related to Chief Martin.






The totem pole has stood out in the Ottawa weather for sixty years and shows it's wear with faded paint, cracks and weathered wood. Scouts Canada has restoration planning under way and right now accepts donations to help with this. Should you want to help with this, click here to go to Scouts Canada's totem pole donation page.


Sources:
The Scouts Canada Totem Pole by Allison Margot Smith
Tale of the Totem by Andrew King