Klahoose First Nation has stepped forward and donated a cedar log to be carved as a memorial pole for the women murdered by convicted serial killer Robert Pickton.
Kelly White, the memorial project’s coordinator and advocate for the families of the Downtown Eastside women, approached the Klahoose First Nation council to ask for support last year.
White and project proponents made a presentation to Vancouver Park Board last month to pitch the idea. The board received letters of support and heard from community members who backed the initiative. A first nations’ prayer vigil with dancing and drumming was performed to honour the missing women.
“This is a way to raise awareness for people who didn’t deserve to die, and supporting those families who are in pain and raising some awareness so that we don’t allow this to happen again,” said James Delorme, Klahoose chief.
The board first approved the creation of a memorial carved cedar pole back in 1997, but Pickton’s trial and the inquiry that followed put those plans on hold.
“Most, if not all, of those women who were murdered had some kind of aboriginal connection,” said Delorme. “It affects us in our community because there are members, who at times we worry about, and it’s also for our brothers and sisters who are out there and who we may be able to reach.”
At the end of the meeting the park board approved the location of the permanent memorial in Crab Park which is located in the Downtown Eastside.
The cedar log will come from Klahoose territory in Toba Inlet, north of Powell River. “It will make its way going down the coast through the [Tla’amin] Sliammon territory and the Sechelt Nation and it will end up in the Four Nations’ territories in the Lower Mainland where it will be carved,” Delorme said.
The log will be approximately three to four feet in diameter and 33 to 40 feet in length.
“There’s been numerous Coast Salish and other nation artists who have come forward and said they would love to work on this project including everything from carving the pole all the way down to smaller projects that support the fundraising for the project,” added Delorme.
“We are a nation who believes in helping our neighbours,” he said. “Donating this pole was our way of saying that we care.”
Pickton, a former Port Coquitlam pig farmer, was convicted of six murders in 2007. Police have said the remains or DNA of 33 women were found on his family’s farm. Pickton had boasted to police he had murdered 49 women.
The pole is expected to be raised in October 2014.
