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Road Closure granted for North Island Secondary School

Closure requested for May 17 totem pole celebration
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TYSON WHITNEY PHOTO North Island Secondary School’s grade eight woodworking class, along with Principal Jay Dixon, pulled the tarp off the new totem pole that ‘Namgis Chief Don Svanvik will be carving this semester with help from the students, giving Gazette readers a special sneak peek at the project.

A road closure has been granted by Port McNeill Council.

Port McNeill councillor Jay Dixon asked for the section of McNeill Road in front of North Island Secondary School to be temporarily closed on Thursday, May 17, from 10:30-12:30 p.m.

Dixon stated the reason for the road closure was for safety issues, as they will be having a totem pole celebration that will be hosting at least 600-1,000 people “for a traditional totem raising ceremony and celebration on the front lawn and parking lot of the school. We are concerned that the thru traffic may be a safety concern for the crowd.”

Dixon added “the Town of Port McNeill staff, Mayor, and council and many community members will all be invited to this event.”

Dixon also pointed out the totem pole project would not have come to fruition without the support of the First Peoples’ Cultural Council’s Arts Program and the U’mista Cultural Centre in Alert Bay.

Contact North Island Secondary School for more information on the project.



Tyson Whitney

About the Author: Tyson Whitney

I have been working in the community newspaper business for nearly a decade, all of those years with Black Press Media.
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