St. John's Anglican church and Robert Davidson's totem pole.
Old Massett

Type of pole: Bear Mother clan pole

Robert Davidson was 22 years old in 1969, when he raised the first pole on Haida Gwaii in nearly a century. It still stands in front of St. John’s church in Old Massett.

Robert Davidson comments on one of his earlier projects, the Bear Mother pole: People were very co-operative and also very critical because I am Eagle and carving this totempole I should also put an Eagle on top of the pole. But I said, "No, I want the pole to be for everybody; it belongs to the village, I don't want it to be one man's totempole," That was a radical change. The totempole became a focal point, a school, a vehicle for knowledge.