Should Indigenous artifacts be displayed in a municipal office?

They stand roughlyfour feet tall and have telltale inlaid copper designs in the wood.

Two Indigenous West Coasttalking sticks hang on the walls of Terrace City Hall.

Recently, first-time councillor Michael Prevost wondered if that's where they belong.

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"I really started having a lot of questions around their origins and how the city came to have them,"Prevostsaid.

"If it is found that they were acquired through confiscation, our council seriously needs to talk about repatriating them to their home community."

A plaque next to the talking sticks says they come from either Kingcome Inlet or Gilford Island, communities located on B.C.'s Central Coast.

The talking sticks were donated to the city in 1964 by Skeena Forest products and Pohle Lumber.

According to Prevost, one of the talking sticks has a motif of a whale over two coppers, and the other shows a chief holding a number of coppers.

'It's telling a story'

The use of inlaid copper details is typical of West Coast Indigenous art.

"Part of our strategic plan for our city is about building relationships and I just really felt that council had an obligation to gather more information about these talking sticks," Prevost said.

WishkeyRobert Dennis Jr., a member of the Huu-ay-aht First Nations, uses a talking stick in his work as a spokesperson for the chief.

"Many of our nations use talking sticks," Dennis Jr. said."It's almost a totem, it's telling a story, and it's a story and history that is passed on through generations.

"The role of the speaker is to speak on behalf of the chief and when he's doing so, it's with a talking stick in hand," he said. "So it's kind of an official stamp."

Since news of his search was made public, Prevost has heard from elders in KingcomeInlet and Gilford island.He is hopeful that the origins of the talking sticks will soon be discovered.

With files from WawmeeshHamilton.