FIATA's World Congress Ceremonial Talking Stick: What is it and what is the history behind it?

In 2008, at the commencement of the Vancouver FIATA World Congress, participants heard from the Chief of the Haida, one of Canada's indigenous people groups located on the west coast of the country. A long-standing tradition of this tribe is that when they meet for gatherings, a talking stick is present. Whoever is speaking must be in possession of the talking stick and no one else can speak at this time. Once the said person is finished with speaking, it moves onto the next person who can then speak. The sticks are all hand-carved and original pieces of artwork, one never being the same as another.

As a kind gesture towards FIATA, the Haida tribe gifted a talking stick to FIATA, which was presented and used for the first time at the 2008 FIATA World Congress. Unfortunately, some years later, ahead of the 2013 Singapore FIATA World Congress, the talking stick was lost, presumed stolen. Once the Canadian International Freight Forwarding Association (CIFFA) heard this, they promised to replace it with a replica. CIFFA representatives found an indigenous store which specialised in the making of such talking sticks, and found a hand-carved replica to replace the lost stick. Once bought, the CIFFA replacement stick remained in CIFFA's ownership until the 2023 FIATA World Congress, when Chris Gillespie, FIATA Past President (1999-2001) presented the stick to FIATA's then-President Dr Ivan Petrov, in a symbolic hand-over during the Extended Board Welcome Reception at the Brussels Town Hall. Between 2013 and 2023, a different replacement stick had been used to fill in for the lost original.

With regards to ceremonial traditions, the speakers, once they had finished speaking, would usually leave the talking stick at the podium in a symbolic display in which the next FIATA World Congress host assumed the talking stick. At the Closing Ceremony of each FIATA World Congress, this tradition is now carried out, in which the Master of Ceremony usually explains the meaning of the traditional talking stick. The CIFFA new tribal talking stick is now the official FIATA talking stick and will carry on the tradition. The replacement used from 2013 to 2023 will be taken to the FIATA HQ as a souvenir.

FIATA would like to thank Chris Gillespie for kindly sharing some words and giving a background of the talking stick's history, to enable this article to be written.