¿ì²¥ÊÓƵ professor champions Indigenous cultural preservation by Deirdre Kelly. "In a powerful intersection of art, history and Indigenous rights, Ann Marie Murnaghan, a professor in the Children, Childhood and Youth Program at ¿ì²¥ÊÓƵ, is leading a groundbreaking research project focused on the K’ëgit totem pole. This monumental piece of Indigenous art stands approximately 16 […]
How a Wet’suwet’en Totem Pole Wound Up in Paris: Inside a generational journey of reconnection and education by Amanda Follett Hosgood. "The totem pole stands in the entryway of France’s Musée du Quai Branly, tall and elegant but somewhat out of place — the contours of its weathered exterior in stark contrast with its clinical […]
Wet'suwet'en delegation travels to Paris to reconnect with cultural treasure: The K’ëgit totem pole, which once stood in a Wet'suwet'en village, is now housed at the Quai Branly Museum by CBC News with files from CBC's Shaurya Kshatri and The Early Edition. "A First Nation in B.C. recently reconnected with a powerful piece of their cultural […]
Wet’suwet’en reconnect with totem pole in France, by Logan Flint. "A Wet’suwet’en delegation recently traveled to France to reconnect with the K’ëgit totem pole sold for $100 in 1938. This trip was a collaboration between the Likhsilyu Clan, Kyah Wiget Education Society, Florida State University, ¿ì²¥ÊÓƵ, the Bulkley Valley Museum, and School District 54. […]
Joanne Connauton spoke with Stephen Quinn on the Early Edition, Vancouver. The title of the interview was Wet'suwet'en nation reunited with a historic totem pole transported to France You can find the segment linked on this page https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/wet-suwet-en-totem-pole-paris-1.7385342
"A delegation of Witsuwit’en hereditary chiefs, elders, artists and youth from C’inegh Lhay Yikh (House of Many Eyes) of the Likhsilyu Clan (Small Frog) travelled to Paris, France in the third week of October, 2024 in search of their history and its connection to the Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac Museum. In 1938, Kurt Seligmann, […]
In June 2024, while the Olympics were being set up across the city of Paris, France, Ann Marie Murnaghan began the archival research for the project. At the Museum of National History (Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle https://www.mnhn.fr/en ), she collected hundreds of images from scrapbooks, publications, letters, and important documents relating to the Kegit Pole (Wit’suwit’en), and […]
Research The research team has over a dozen-Âyear relationship doing research with Witsuwit’en elders and community members. Reconnecting to Witsuwit’en HistoryRestoring Relations with the K’ëgit Totem Pole Hagwilnekhlh Ron Mitchell, Dzïggot Ron Austin, ’Ilhdesinon Birdy Markert, We’es Tes Sandra Martin Harris, Jean Matheson, Diana Wilson, Toni Michell, Drew Harris, Helen Harris, Tyler McCreary, Joanne Connauton, […]
Collaborators: Wet’suwet’en Language and Culture Society, the Office of the Wet’suwet’en, the Matriarchs of the House of Many Eyes, Birdy Markert, and the Kyah Wiget Education Society Witsuwit'en Language and Culture Society The Office of the Wet'suwet'en The House of Many Eyes Kyah Wiget Education Society School District No. 54 Funding Old Poles New Stories […]
Feel free to get in contact with our research team! Quick Links Ann Marie Murnaghan Dr. Murnaghan is the Principal Investigator for this project, and an assistant professor in the Department of Humanities at ¿ì²¥ÊÓƵ in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Murnaghan’s research expertise is in archival research and children’s geographies. The co-editor of Children, Nature, […]