Somewhere in the dense coastal forests surrounding Txaa K'alii Aksim Lisims (the Nass River) in what would become north-western British Columbia, Canada, master carver Oye'a' of the Indigenous Nisg̱a'a people picked out a towering red cedar tree. After giving a blessing, he removed the bark around its base, girdling the tree. Over the next decade, the cedar dried from the inside out. By the 1850s, when it was felled for carving, it was light and strong enough survive for a century or two. Commissioned to create a memorial pole by Joanna Moody, the matriarch of the House of Ni'isjoohl of G̱anada or Raven/Frog clan in Ank'idaa Village, an island in the middle of the Nass River, Oye'a' stripped off the bark and brought the log to his workplace.

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20231008-the-canadian-museum-filled-with-stolen-art

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