���Ҵ�ý

A 16-foot Coast Salish house post now stands at the entrance of c̓əsqənelə Elementary, welcoming students, staff and visitors into the school with a message of connectedness.

The carving on the 600-year-old cedar house post depicts a golden eagle clasping a hatching egg.

Kwantlen First Nation artist and carver Brandon Gabriel hopes when people see the pole, they see the story it tells.

“[It’s] a story about generations and it’s a story about family and community,” Gabriel explained.

Gabriel and his carving team from – Elder Lekeyten and Luther Aday, also of the Kwantlen First Nation – worked for two years to bring the story to life.

In the summer of 2022, the principal at the time invited Gabriel to the school to discuss the possibility of a public art installation.

“We discussed a mural, we discussed 3D sculptures, we discussed collages,” he said. “And we decided that the most fitting tribute to the school and the most respectful and historically accurate with respect to Indigenous culture would have been a Coast Salish welcome pole.”

Prior to colonization, these welcome poles were the first thing to greet visitors at longhouses, Gabriel explained.

“And these carved welcome figures were [intended] to show the power and authority, the heraldry and the strength of the community […] you visited,” he said.

While the landscape is no longer dotted with longhouses, Gabriel noted, it’s important to recognize this history and uphold it.

“So, I think it’s fitting that it’d be placed at the entrance of this school,” he said.

Gabriel and his team got to work. They found an old growth red cedar that had been naturally felled by lightning in Port McNeill on northern Vancouver Island.

After harvesting the log, they began the design consultation process, which included members of the Katzie First Nation, Kwantlen First Nation, members of other Stó:lō communities, and SD42 staff and students.

“I wanted to create an art piece that was a unifier, something that the school community could all be proud of,” he explained. “Something that could easily be told and retold no matter what age you were, no matter what your connection to the school is.”

After one year of consultation, they settled on a design. The Hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ name of the school, c̓əsqənelə, translates to “where the golden eagle gathers.”

“It’s a direct reference to the very land that we’re standing on,” Gabriel said.

This land used to be one of North America’s primary breeding and migratory grounds for thousands of eagles each winter, sustained by the large salmon population in the Fraser River, he explained.

“This place is special,” Gabriel said. “To this day, this land still provides enough abundance of resources for people to call this place home. So, I wanted to create an artwork that is a direct correlation and a direct reference to those phenomena.”

Gabriel and his team carved on site at the school and students were able to watch them work and ask questions.

After one year of consultation and eight months of carving, the pole was finished.

The house post was unveiled in a ceremony at c̓əsqənelə Elementary on March 12, 2025.