PORTLAND, Ore. — A Pacific Northwest tribe is travelling nearly 8,000 kilometres across Canada and the United States with a 7-metre-tall totem pole on a flatbed truck in a symbolic journey meant to galvanize opposition to fossil fuel infrastructure projects they believe will imperil native lands. The totem pole heads to that site, near the Standing Rock Sioux’s reservation, next week. “We’re all trying to unite our voices to make sure we’re all speaking out,” said Jewell James, a Lummi tribal member and head carver at the House of Tears Carvers. To the sounds of drums and a prayer song, the 22-foot-tall totem pole was blessed in a smudge ceremony at the entrance of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle Thursday. “This totem pole represents our laws, our culture and our spirituality.”Associated Press writers Manuel Valdes in Seattle and Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, contributed to this report.

Source: National Post August 26, 2016 16:41 UTC