Correctional supervisor Phillip Boudreau carves into a 40-foot cedar pole alongside individuals in custody at Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre in Victoria, on May 3.Amy Romer/Amy Romer © 2022. All rights re
At Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre, Tsawout artist Tom LaFortune, his brother Aubrey LaFortune and the institution’s Indigenous cultural liaison, Max Henry Jr., are teaching inmates how to design and construct a 40-foot totem pole.
The Pole Project is designed to help inmates of all ethnicities build practical skills in drawing and woodworking and learn cultural teachings that will support them as they prepare for life on the outside.
The project is the first of its kind at the maximum-security provincial institution, which houses 240 male inmates. But staff anticipate it could be the first of many. “We’re only just scratching the surface,” correctional supervisor Phillip Boudreau says.
Amy Romer/Amy Romer
Eddy Cliffe, who is serving a twenty-one month prison sentence with eighteen months probation, uses a chisel and hammer to carve a beaver into the bottom of the forty foot cedar pole.Amy Romer/Amy Romer © 2022. All rights re
The 40-foot cedar log was selected locally by Max Henry Sr., Henry Jr.’s father. The pole’s design is symbolic of what it means to turn a new page through rehabilitation. The carvings include animals such as owls, which Indigenous teachings say are able to observe in all directions, including the past, present and future.
The project runs for six hours each week. During that time, life behind bars is transformed for both inmates and staff. The Pole Project offers an opportunity for barriers to disappear and “for people to just be people,” participant Roger Der says.
Work is expected to be completed by September, when the pole is set to be raised in front of the correctional centre.
Amy Romer/Amy Romer © 2022. All rights re
Tsawout artist and project leader Tom LaFortune helps Eddy Cliffe design a feather.Amy Romer/Amy Romer © 2022. All rights re
We have a weekly Western Canada newsletter written by our B.C. and Alberta bureau chiefs, providing a comprehensive package of the news you need to know about the region and its place in the issues facing Canada. Sign up today.