Well, these 'totem poles' were created by Hokkaido artists to represent the connection between Burnaby, a city in Greater Vancouver, Canada, and Kushiro in Hokkaido. They are twinned cities. They also represent the kinship of native peoples of the two places, the native Americans (First Nation) of Canada and the Ainu, the native people of Hokkaido. The totem poles are located quite near Simon Fraser University in Burnaby.