Ever since the Province entered Phase 3 of its restart plan, there’s been a big push to explore “your own backyard,” i.e.: British Columbia. I guess that’s one good thing about living in BC: The geography – cultural, physical, human – is so incredibly diverse that one could spend the whole summer exploring only a small area and still leave many stones unturned by the time autumn sets in. Indeed, that’s been my experience. During our COVID summer, I’ve heeded the Premier’s words and have, so far, merely scratched the surface of what our Province has to offer. It’s brought me to some pretty interesting places – a lot of which I probably wouldn’t have explored otherwise. One such area is Prince Rupert’s Totem Park. It is, as OnAnotherJourney notes, a fairly small park located directly across from the hospital. There isn’t much information readily available on this park but, from what I’ve been able to gather, it was established in the 1930s to honour Prince Rupert’s First Nations heritage. It does so with two (replica) totems based on ones from Haida Gwaii. Unfortunately, the information plaques adjacent to each totem have been vandalized, so you’ll either have to interpret the totems yourself or simply admire them for their artistic, cultural and aesthetic beauty. There is a bench situated next to the totems, but the trees are kind of overgrown and inhibit any view of bustling downtown. I would be doing readers a disservice if I failed to offer a correction to the earlier review: OnAnotherJourney is right in that Totem Park is across from the hospital; however, the area they describe (and illustrate with a photo) is NOT Totem Park. It is, in fact, a completely different park altogether: Roosevelt Park. The confusion is understandable, though, since both parks overlook Prince Rupert, are very small and feature totems. That said, Totem Park is easily identifiable because: 1) It has signage indicating its name; 2) It features two totem poles; and, 3: It is directly across the street from the hospital. Roosevelt Park, on the other hand, is about a 3-minute walk from the hospital and features a single totem (with its information plaque still intact) – a replica modeled on a totem pole from the ancient Haida Village of Yan. I think Totem Park is a worthwhile stop as part of a larger itinerary exploring Prince Rupert’s many totem poles; however, I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit it – or the nearby Roosevelt Park – as a standalone attraction.

This is a small park across from the hospital that has (surprise!) a totem pole. There is a picnic table which is great if you’re at the hospital and need some fresh air in a relaxing space.