Brockton Point Totem Poles

Nine totem poles in a group on the eastern side of Stanley Park at Brockton Point, set on grass with the harbour and the downtown skyline behind them.

They come from several different Nations of the British Columbia coast — Kwakwaka’wakw, Haida, Nuu-chah-nulth and others — and they are not all of one type. Some are house posts that once supported the roof beams of a dwelling. Some are memorial or mortuary poles. Each carries figures that identify family lineage, rights and stories.

Nearby stand three carved Coast Salish welcome figures, marking the fact that Stanley Park lies on the traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Interpretive panels explain what the figures represent and how a pole is read.

Entry is free and the site is open at all hours.

Worth understanding, because it changes what you are looking at.

The poles were brought here from various communities along the coast through the twentieth century — they did not originate at this spot. Several of the originals have since been returned to their home communities or moved into museum conditions to protect them from the weather, and what stands here in those cases is a replica carved by artists from the same Nation.

That is not a disappointment. Replacing a weathering pole with a newly carved one is closer to how poles were traditionally treated than preserving a decaying original would be, and the carvers are contemporary artists working in a living tradition.

It does mean this is a display rather than an in-situ site.

For original historic poles and deeper context, the Museum of Anthropology at UBC is the place to go, and the two make a good pairing.

The interpretive panels are the difference between a photo stop and an actual visit.

They identify each pole, name the carver and the Nation, and explain the figures — the raven, the bear, the thunderbird, the whale — and what claims and stories they encode.

Most visitors photograph the group and move on within five minutes. The ones who spend fifteen minutes reading come away with a completely different impression, and say so.

A pole is not decorative art. It is a public statement of lineage and rights, closer to a coat of arms or a legal document than to a sculpture.

If you are going to do one thing here beyond taking a photograph, read two or three panels properly.

This is the busiest single spot in Stanley Park.

From mid-morning through the afternoon in summer, coach tours and cruise excursions stop here in numbers, and there is a constant rotation of groups in front of the poles.

Early morning gives you the site almost empty, with the light coming across the harbour onto the poles and the skyline behind them.

Late afternoon and evening thin out again, and the site stays open after dark.

If you are walking or cycling the seawall, this is one more argument for setting off early.

Brockton Point is on the eastern side of Stanley Park, about twenty to twenty-five minutes’ walk from the downtown corner of the park along the seawall.

On a bike it is a few minutes into the counter-clockwise loop.

There is a car park alongside with paid parking under the Stanley Park system, and a ticket bought elsewhere in the park generally covers it.

The seasonal park shuttle and the hop-on-hop-off buses both stop here.

The walk out along the seawall from Coal Harbour is the pleasant way to arrive, and it is flat and paved the whole way.

The site sits in a cluster of things worth the few extra minutes.

The Brockton Point lighthouse is a short walk on, with a good view back across the water.

The Nine O’Clock Gun, a cannon fired nightly, stands nearby.

The harbour view from this point takes in the downtown towers, the freighters at anchor and the North Shore mountains, and is one of the best in the park.

There is a gift shop and a concession at the site, along with toilets — a useful stop on a seawall loop.

The rest of Stanley Park is all around, and the aquarium is a few minutes inland.

Five minutes to look and photograph.

Twenty minutes to read the panels properly and walk to the lighthouse and the viewpoint.

An hour if you are treating this as a stop on a seawall walk with a coffee at the concession.

This is not a destination in itself. It is the best-known waypoint on a Stanley Park visit, and it works as part of a walk or ride rather than as a separate trip.

The classic shot is the poles in a row with the harbour and the skyline behind.

Early morning is the only reliable way to get them without people in frame, and the light from the east is on the poles at that hour.

Shoot from slightly to the side rather than dead on, which gives depth to the group rather than flattening it.

The welcome figures nearby are less photographed and photograph well.

Be considerate about photographing other visitors, and be aware that these are objects of continuing cultural significance rather than props.

Good. The site is flat and paved, reached directly from the seawall, which is level and accessible for its entire length.

Accessible parking is available in the adjacent car park.

Toilets are available at the site.

The grass area where the poles stand is level, and the poles can be seen and read from the paved path.

Of all the notable sights in Stanley Park, this is among the easiest to reach without walking far.

Almost universally yes, with the same caveat that applies to every short free stop.

The underwhelming version: arrive with a coach party at midday, take a photograph over somebody’s shoulder, read nothing, and leave in three minutes having seen nine painted poles.

The good version: walk out along the seawall early, have the site to yourself, read what the figures mean and who carved them, walk on to the lighthouse for the harbour view, and carry on round the park.

It is free, it is on the route anyway, and it is the most accessible introduction to Northwest Coast carving in the city. For the deeper version, the Museum of Anthropology is half an hour away.