I haven't been able to take too long at lunches lately because of work, so I just ran out of out of the building and quickly snapped a totem in the park across the street.

Here's a bit of history: In 1940 a handful of old totem poles were erected as part of conservation efforts to preserve and display some of the Northwest Coast's rapidly deteriorating art (European settlers believed totems were heathen and destroyed most of them in British Columbia -- as a result, very few original totems remain in British Columbia). By 1951 the original poles in this park had become severely decayed so the provincial government invited the late Chief Mungo Martin to be head carver of a restoration program. After Martin's death in 1962, renowned native artist Henry Hunt carried on the programme as head carver and other artists have continued to keep the totems in the state you see them today.