The Totem Pole award is won by the chapter that has achieved the best overall results during the year in the following areas of competition:

• Membership
• Program
• Education
• Communication/Public Awareness
• Advocacy
• Fellowship

Totem Pole points will be earned during the reporting period from the beginning of November to the end of October. The winning chapter president will be presented with the Totem Pole Trophy at the annual Leadership Conference in November.

Totem Pole Award History

LUAC’s president in 1916, J. Burtt Morgan, donated the Totem Pole Trophy to the Association. It is a reproduction of an Indian Totem Pole, that contains a sample of every metal mined in British Columbia at the turn of the 20th century.

The Totem Pole Trophy, was originally a Membership Trophy that was awarded based on a competition between LUAC and our sister association in the USA, NALU. Canada, however, proved to be extremely effective in its recruiting activities, consequently the Trophy never left Canada.

The Totem Pole Trophy subsequently was used to motivate Local Associations (now called Chapters) across Canada and was awarded to the Local Association that provided the most outstanding level of service to their members in the year of competition.

Since its inception, the Totem Pole Trophy has been won by Local Associations from all across Canada some with membership as small as 50 members to those with more than 3,000 members. The rules for qualification were developed with the diversity among Local Associations in mind and over the years have proven to be effective.

It is important to understand that all of the time and effort that goes into running a successful Local Association is attributable to volunteers. By working together these exceptional practitioners set high standards and deliver quality services.