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For nearly a year, Lyle Sparrow, a carver from the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nation, has been meticulously working on a house post to be displayed inside the new First Peoples’ Gathering House at 91��ܽ.

It is one of four house posts in the building, each created by an artist representing one of the First Nations on whose unceded traditional territories SFU’s Burnaby campus resides.

As you enter the ceremonial hall in the heart of the House, your eyes are drawn towards the four house posts that overlook the space.

Sparrow is overseeing the delivery of his post, which has made the relatively short trip from his workshop on traditional xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) territory to the university campus.

But the carving itself has seen Sparrow undertake a highly personal and emotional journey.

“The story has been in my mind for a while. They asked me for a drawing and I told them: ‘It’s in here,’” he says, pointing to his head.

“This is a tribute to all the people across the country, brothers and sisters, who went through the residential school system and lived through it. It’s easing my pain.”

His post depicts Mother Earth freeing children who never made it home from the residential schools. Mother Earth is seen passing the children up to Grandfather, who is traditionally a representation of a Creator or higher spirit.

Sparrow’s grandfather and parents went through the residential school system, suffering years of abuse.

“After doing this one it frees me of the hurt that I’ve been feeling, knowing what my parents and other people across the country have gone through,” says Sparrow.

Sparrow has been carving for around 50 years and does not hesitate when asked where this project ranks for him.

“This one means the most to me,” he says. “I’m happy that it’s out in the open now. It’ll keep on teaching the younger generations what we as First Nations went through.”

The 19.5-foot post is fashioned by hand from red cedar. It stands proudly alongside posts from the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) and kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) peoples.

Chris (Syeta’xtn) Lewis, Indigenous executive lead at SFU, says: “Here at SFU we recognize and honour the title and rights of the Host Nations on which our campus is located.

“The house posts represent our call to creating a safe and welcoming space for our Indigenous peoples who come to work and learn at SFU. It was important that we sent a call for artists to the Host Nations to ensure that we represent and uphold their identity, culture, spiritual connections to the land and place.

“The house posts will watch over the house with the strength, resilience and perseverance of the Host Nations. They will become a teaching tool that evoke stories, cultural protocols and promotes Truth and Reconciliation where we all learn and understand.”

Upholding a people

Alongside the house post from the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nation is one from the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) people.

The 19-foot post was crafted by Jody Broomfield, who describes himself as a “late bloomer” in the carving world.

“People have gifts of telling stories orally,” says Broomfield. “I’m a visual storyteller through expression of art. I create what I see and what comes to me.”

Broomfield consulted with family and community members before embarking upon his design. He settled on a carving that tells the story of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) Nation.

“I’m very fortunate to uphold our people in a positive way through expressions of art,” says Broomfield.

“I decided to put the first Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) ancestor on the bottom, he's wrapped in a blanket. And on top is the national symbol of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) people, which is the Thunderbird, protector of our people.”

Broomfield has worked with SFU in the past. He created the Coast Salish welcome figure, unveiled in 2017, that stands on SFU’s Burnaby campus.

For this latest project, Broomfield hand-picked the wood to be used, carefully selecting a log to avoid any inconsistencies in the wood, such as cracks, knots or twists.

To help him make precision cuts, Broomfield then created a maquette of the house post with one inch representing one foot.

“When we carve artwork, we put a lot of our own spirit into the creation,” he explains. “It becomes part of us until we have the official unveiling where we have the blessing.

“Projects that are displayed like this one leave you with a great sense of pride, because they let people know that we as Coast Salish people are still here and we still have our history, legacy, culture and story to tell.”

Sharing knowledge

History, legacy, culture and stories permeate throughout Brandon Gabriel’s carving.

Gabriel is from the qʼʷa:n̓ƛʼən̓ (Kwantlen) Nation, but has undertaken his carving on behalf of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) Nation, who are down-river neighbours.

“One of the things that I wanted to ensure in the development of the concept for this important piece of work was to tell a story that comes from kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), that the story has to be a unique kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) story, that the community can be proud to share with the rest of the world,” says Gabriel.

After consulting with the community, a story emerged about a matriarch who would go down to the Coquitlam River in the morning to bathe in the fresh water.

It is said that the matriarch could communicate with creatures in the forest and she would share messages and information with her community.

One of the creatures that she communicated with was known as Sasq'ets (Sasquatch), which, translated in the Halkomelem language, means protector of the forest.

The story goes that Sasq'ets (Sasquatch) could shapeshift and take on the form of other animals. Its role was to protect the forest and its inhabitants, so it would only appear in times of strife.

The matriarch would take the messages from Sasq'ets (Sasquatch) and pass them on to her community.

“We were cautious in our approach about how we wanted to tell the story, mostly because we were well aware that the idea of Sasq'ets, or the caricaturized version of it known as Sasquatch or Bigfoot, could be seen as folklore by Western audiences,” says Gabriel.

At the top of the 17-foot post is a depiction of Sasq'ets (Sasquatch) wearing a blanket, a sign of honour and recognition.

“When we blanket somebody, we are honouring them. It's the community giving them a hug. It's the community telling them that what they did is important and that it's being recognized,” explains Gabriel.

Below Sasq'ets (Sasquatch) is a representation of the female matriarch holding a speaking staff, a symbol of prestige.

The staff, carved from yellow cedar for contrast against the red cedar, has a depiction of an eagle. It represents going as far as you can with your dreams and is a well-wish to all the people visiting the House and witnessing the story, according to Gabriel.

“The lesson in the story is about the transference of knowledge, passing knowledge from one space to the next, or one generation to the next,” says Gabriel.

“The community felt like this was a good connection to make with the purpose of SFU’s Indigenous gathering space, that it's a space dedicated to the betterment of Indigenous people through the sharing of knowledge.”

For Gabriel, being part of this project is bittersweet in that such spaces were unavailable to Indigenous students during his own education, but are being given more importance today.

“These spaces were so badly needed when I was going through my journey in education,” he says.

A step forward

The fourth house post was carved by Jonas Jones from the səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nation.

“All public artwork is very important because it was stripped of us,” says Jones. “As you’ve heard through many of the speakers of residential schools and just colonization itself, [they] stripped us of our inheritance, our culture, our spirituality, our arts.

“And to have an institution such as SFU shed light on that is a small, tiny step into reconciliation, but you can't really reconcile everything that has happened to us.”

The 15-foot post depicts the origin story of the səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) people.

Having previously studied Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim (Squamish language) at SFU, Jones describes his post as a “monumental piece” and a “full circle moment”.

“This building is not just for my people,” he says. “It's for all ethnicities of Indigenous people to have a place to come and unwind or take a little stress off their shoulders.

“And that was the whole purpose of this building, to make a safe haven for not just one person, but all.”