Symbol: A totem brings Canadians together
by Deborah Nobes
for CBC Sports Online

Shaving by shaving, chip by chip, almost 3,000 kilograms of British Columbia red cedar is slowly being transformed into a symbol of national pride as it travels across the country.

Tens of thousands of Canadians have been invited to scrape away the flesh of the 540-year-old tree, giving it new life as a totem pole that will depict the story of the nation, incorporating all the elements necessary for life: air water and earth.

Andre El-Khoury, 15, carves the heart of Canada totem pole

Its latest stop, at the Canada pavilion at the 2003 Canada Winter Games in Bathurst, is its second to last before going to Brandon, Manitoba in a few weeks. From there it will head to its final destination, the home of acclaimed Haida artist Reg Davidson in the Queen Charlotte Islands off the coast of British Columbia, where it will be finished in time to be inaugurated for National Aboriginal Day on June 24, 2004.

The totem pole project is the brainchild of Ontario's town crier Daniel Richer, an energetic Abenakis actor who is also the official town crier for the games. Ask him about the project, and the bright-eyed Richer is likely to launch into a rallying cry for national pride.

"When you are traveling, and people find out you are Canadian - even Americans - they envy us. They love the country, they love the wide-open spaces, they love the people," Richer says. "We are nice, gentle, polite people and everyone loves us around the world. We come home, and we bicker about the smallest things. We don't realize all the richness that surrounds us."

The idea behind the totem is to bring an estimated 200,000 Canadians together to work on a single object. To the First Nation way of thinking, whoever works on a totem pole takes some of its spirit away, and leaves some of their spirit behind. To Richer, the project is an active way of expressing the soul of thousands of individuals in far-flung cities and towns across Canada.

But Carver Reg Davidson says the project is about more than just national pride. It's an opportunity for him to demonstrate his culture and way of life to the country - one Canadian at a time.

Canada Games town crier Daniel Richer with the heart of Canada totem pole

"The best thing I've gotten out of this project is making friends all across Canada," he says. "Doing this job also allows me to teach the reach of Canada about the Haida people. We're no different that anybody else, the only thing we did is hang onto our culture. We practice it in singing and dancing."

Davidson began carving 30 years ago, apprenticing under his brother, Robert Davidson. He is also an acclaimed dancer whose troupe has performed across Europe and the United States. He has been on the road with this project for 45 days, including a recent stint in Halifax during one of the coldest stretches of the year where the pipes broke in his hotel and he was left with no heat in his room.

He says being on constant display is difficult, and has occasionally left him wishing for a little solitude to work on his project. Still, he says the opportunity to share his culture is worth the sacrifice of being on the road.

"It's been a really incredible experience for me. This has allowed people from all over Canada be involved with something that is my life. This isn't a show for me. This is my way of life. And having people enjoy what I enjoy all the time is really something."