In the conservation of totem poles, the issues of ethics and conflicting views of conservation are often encountered. On the one hand, a conservator is expected to follow basic conservation guidelines for practice and ethics. On the other hand, from the point of view of the Native culture to which the treatment is being extended, the conservation of cultural material may be seen as unwanted intervention. To investigate the preservation of First Nations cultural material further, we will present an ongoing treatment project for three Gitxsan totem poles now located at the Vancouver International Airport.