Bronze Disk Installation Celebration
a private affair at the Reconciliation Pole on the UBC-V campus
An invitation only event has now been scheduled to celebrate the installation of the bronze disk at the foot of the Reconciliation Pole.
Earlier this year A Campus Resident wrote about the installation of the disk. In our first story in February 2023 we reported on the backstory of the disk and its connection to the Reconciliation Pole. The second story in March 2023 featured an interview with Richard Campbell and details of the actual installation of the disk on site.
Mid-May a Musqueam honouring ceremony will take place at the Reconciliation Pole. While no details have yet been provided, a typical south coast Indigenous honouring ceremony involves witnessing of cultural work. The family (or organization) hosting an event will place a blanket on the person (or persons) being honoured. Witnesses will then be called. After the witnesses speak they will be publicly thanked. There are variations community to community (and it’s quite different on the north coast than the south), but that is the general outline.
A decade ago a similar event was held to honour the installation of a Musqueam House Post at Allard Hall. Then UBC law student, Christina Gray (Ts’msyen) wrote about the event on her blog:
“Cultural leader and band councilor, Howard Grant spoke on behalf of the artist, as is the practice with the Musqueam. Howard said that Brent was “honoured to carve this house post as a way of commemorating the institution and what they’re defending”. The land where UBC stands has long been known as a place of defense for the Musqueam. In the past, this area was a strategic fortification site, known as q’ələχən, where Musqueam warriors and their families resided to protect the land from marauders.”
“Howard Grant also expressed that Brent was thankful to the selection committee for choosing him to carve the house post as well as to those who were in attendance to witness the ceremony.”
“Musqueam Elder Larry Grant spoke in hən’q’əmin’əm’, a Coast Salish dialect, followed by an English translation. He welcomed the public to the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people and highlighted that the Musqueam have never formally surrendered or given-up the territory upon which the university sits.”
Gray also describes a ceremonial blessing:
“The ceremony also included a traditional Coast Salish blessing. Thelma Stogan, a respected member of the Musqueam Nation, blessed the post using cedar boughs. She asked all those in attendance to pray in their respective fashion while she went around the post brushing it with the cedar boughs. Cedar boughs play a significant role with many First Nations people along the Northwest Coast, such as the Musqueam, who use it to bless and cleanse spaces and people.”
The ceremony for the bronze disk will be different. However, many of the same aspects of protocol will be in evidence for those invited to witness.
Invitations to the current event were determined partly by Musqueam and partly by UBC. On UBC’s side invitations went to individuals associated with (though not exclusively) the Belkin Gallery, the Museum of Anthropology, the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory, university administrators, and the Board of Governors.
UBC Ceremonies, the Belkin Gallery, and UBC Media Relations were asked whether there would be a public portion of the celebration. As of the time of publication no response was received.