The Story of the Leadership Desk

Interpreting the Iconography & Symbolism

The Leadership desk has been sponsored by a group of British Columbians and has been created and gifted to the office of the leader of the province of British Columbia to be kept in perpetuity for the province for today and for generations to come. I am honoured to have designed and created the Leadership Desk. Inspired by a bent cornered box I have created the Leadership Desk with the helping hands of many people. In First Nation's culture the bent corner box served many purposes.

The design elements of the eagle on the front of the desk represent leadership at its very roots. The frontal design represents the eagle adorned with feathers as its wings spread as a blanket of protection for the young eaglet that now appears. As the eaglet looks at us its head is also the body of the eagle. The large feet and legs of the eagle are also the feet and legs of the young eaglet. As we look at the wings of the eagle at the base of its wings are the tiny fragile developing wings of the eaglet. As it matures the protective down adorning its body slowly disappears, as the feathers grow the eaglet transforms through the care and dedication of the eagle so that it too many soar high above any storm. Without its feathers the eagle could not fly.

The story of the eagle's feather has been told in many First Nation's legends and I have heard it many times as it tells the story of all living things. In the case of the Leadership desk the precious past and the present are told as will the future be told through the feather's of the eagle.

The feather has two sides, a light side and a dark side, they represent the past, the good and the bad, the present, the good and the bad, as they will represent the future. The creator gave us two eyes, one sees bad things while the other only good, we were given two ears, one hears only bad things while the other only good, we were given two hands, one that strikes out to harm the other reaches out in kindness, we have two feet, one leads us down the wrong path and the other always leads us down the right path, we have a mind that gives us a choice every moment of every day to make the wrong decision or the right decision. The future is affected by the decisions made by the leader of the day and will effect the generations to come.

The side images are those of the future, the next generation. The young male and female very fragile as they develop within the eggs. The care and dedication at this time determine the future of the next generation.

The designs on the back of the desk are of the male and female of this generation from the youngest to the eldest. They stand with their hands outstretched in an entrusting and supportive gesture.

In the hands of the female are the salmon/trout heads as the salmon have been precious sources of nourishment that have sustained the cycle of life and the people of our province from the north to the south to the interior through the great river systems to the creeks of our coastal communities. The male, symbolically reminding us of the precious old growth cedar that he stands on. The desk has been created from recovered old growth cedar, pulled from a burn pile over twenty years ago it now has a new life as the Leadership desk. We are and have been the stewards of the salmon, the great water systems and the vast and precious forests that the cedar grows in since we have inhabited this great province which has been for some 10,000 years. Today the decisions of the leader directly affect the development of this generation and the precious cycle of life that sustains us.

I trust that the leadership desk will cause the leader and the leaders yet to come to pause and consider the enormous responsibilities they have accepted on behalf of all of the families of all cultures in this great province of British Columbia.

On behalf of all those involved in the sponsoring and the many precious helping hands involved in its creation, I gift to the province of British Columbia the Leadership Desk.

Arthur Vickers, October 2009