It rests on a concrete pad, bolted upright with two aluminum bars, tucked behind Coquitlam's Dogwood Pavilion on Poirier Street.
And even though it's 16 metres tall and has been there for 45 years, it's still hard to find a local resident who knows of its existence.
The presence of the totem pole came up last spring when someone stood before a townhall meeting to enquire of its origins.
City council and staff were stumped, and tasked the municipality's arts and culture advisory committee to do some digging on the topic.
In stepped Christopher Moreno, a committee member and Coquitlam resident, who volunteered to take on the research project.
The pole, as it turns out, is one of four that were carved in 1967 as part of a community-driven initiative organized by the Columbian, a regional newspaper that once served Surrey, New Westminster, Burnaby and Coquitlam.
The project, aimed to mark Canada's 100th birthday and bring attention to the First Nations, involved raising from the readers $1 per inch to install a totem pole in each of the four cities the newspaper was distributed in.
Surrey's structure, located on the Surrey Municipal Centre grounds at 14245 56th Ave., is 12 metres tall and has four figures - an eagle, bear, beaver and frog - carved in the Kwakwaka'wakw tradition of northwest coast First Nations art.
In 2003, Surrey accepted it as part of its public art collection.
That city lists its totem pole maker as John Edward "Ted" Neel (the son of well-known carver Ellen Neel) who is also named on a plaque at the back of Coquitlam's pole, along with Lloyd Wadhams and Robert Whonnock.
The Coquitlam pole also differs with its colours and characters. Carved into the heavy cedar wood are a thunderbird, a heron with a fish, a man and a frog/lizard.
Piecing together the background of the four poles hasn't been easy, Moreno said, as much of the information is missing or inconsistent.
Recently, he has rifled through archives and spoken with civic leaders active during that era but has turned up few results. Now, Moreno plans to visit with the SFU anthropology department and First Nations groups to uncover the pole's story.
Coquitlam city council will also look at helping out financially. Last month, it voted to consider putting money aside in next year's budget for more research as well as sprucing up the immediate area and promoting the pole online.
Moreno said he would also like to see the city consider restoring the totem pole by 2016 for the municipality's 125th birthday. "That would be a really cool commemorative project for the city," Moreno said while on site last week, adding, "The totem pole deserves recognition. Hardly anyone knows it's here."
Do you know about the Coquitlam Centennial Totem Pole? Email Christopher Moreno at [email protected].
