Book cover: Craigdarroch Castle in 21 Treasures by Moira Dann
Sometimes it is difficult to know when to let go, or when to hang on and preserve; these two books provide both completely opposite perspectives, but each are very culturally significant.
Totem Hosaqami, The Pole With Two Lives by Graeme Teague and David Vaughan (2020, 18Rabbit Press, Inc.) tells the remarkable and moving story of a totem pole named Hosaqami, meaning in the Kwakiutl language, “he who owns this pole is a man of integrity in his society.” The totem pole was carved in B.C. in 1959 by Chief Mungo Martin, his adoptive grandson Tony Hunt, and Tony’s father Henry, and was a gift from the graduates of the Royal Canadian Navy to their base colleagues whom they had trained with on Whale Island, just off the south coast of England. The pole proudly made its way to its British home (via Halifax) aboard HMCS Kootenay in 1960 where it was accompanied by 15 naval officers, all of First Nation descent.