This post sits at the entrance to the townhouse development, sitting on the Mamquam Channel. The post features layers of carved salmon, essential to our waterway ecosystems.
The salmon wrapping around the cedar pole, placed on the shore of the Mamquam Blind Channel, harkens back to a time when salmon were more plentiful in Squamish.
“Squamish, when you look at it geographically speaking, has all these rivers… and many, many creeks that would all have — before the mills and the chemical plants and the mines — would have had massive salmon runs,” said a Bethel spokesperson. “Squamish Nation [folks] would have lived here because food sources would have been very, very plentiful.”
For Northwest Coastal First Nations, salmon is the symbol of life.
“It is the base for both bears and eagles and wolves and the large predators, but also the forest folks can tell you that when there were large salmon runs, they can tell because the rings on the trees grew bigger because it was fertilized by dead salmon. Having salmon [bring] nutrients from the ocean to the land is really what creates a very abundant cycle of life on the land with humans, animals, and birds and with other fish and all the rest of it.”
Kasalus, also known as Richard Baker, was born into a family of artists. He started carving and drawing in 1974, learning the basics of technique and formline design from his family. He was a featured carver at the 1986 World Exposition, which opened many doors for him. In 1996, Richard opened a studio for the public on Capilano Reserve in North Vancouver. He divides his time between creating hand-engraved jewellery and carving wood.
