LITTLE BOSTON — Port Gamble S’Klallam and Suquamish canoe families will join other indigenous nations from the eastern Salish Sea in a Canoe Journey to Golden Gardens Park in Ballard. Canoe families will arrive at Golden Gardens Park on Aug. 5 and will be hosted by the Muckleshoot Tribe.
The first stop in this journey will be July 30 at Birch Bay, followed on July 31 at Lummi Nation, Aug. 1 at Samish Nation, Aug. 2 at Swinomish, Aug. 3 at Tulalip, Aug. 4 at Suquamish, and Aug. 5 at Golden Gardens.
This Canoe Journey is one of at least four that will take place this year.
The Ahousaht First Nation presents a Traditional Territorial Canoe Journey annually to, according its website, “bring the youth, parents and elders out to show our territory and where we come from and what each part of the territory means and what it is about, [and] what has been done in each place.” The journey also promotes a healthy, alcohol- and drug-free lifestyle. The first Traditional Territorial Canoe Journey took place in 2009.
The Semiahmoo First Nation will host the annual Pulling Together Canoe Journey July 2-11 (this journey has taken place in B.C. since 2001). The journey will start at the Sts’ailes First Nation (Harrison Lake) and will continue down the Fraser River from to Semiahmoo Bay.
The Sliammon First Nation will host an Honoring Our Youth Canoe Journey for First Nations on the coasts of Vancouver Island and mainland B.C. Canoe families will travel down the coast of Vancouver Island and across to Powell River, arriving at Willingdon Beach on July 17. Two days of cultural celebrations will follow on July 18-19.
2015 is the 23rd year of the annual Canoe Journey, a gathering of Northwest indigenous nations. The annual journey was sparked by the Paddle to Seattle in 1989, which was organized by educator Emmett Oliver, Quinault, as part of the State of Washington’s centennial celebration. Since that first journey, the journey has grown to include more than 100 canoes and the participation of people from other indigenous canoe cultures, including Ainu, Alaska Natives, Greenlandic Inuit, Maori, Native Hawaiians, and indigenous peoples from Brazil and Mexico.
Canoe pullers – “pullers,” not “paddlers,” is the preferred term because of the pulling motion on the paddle – travel great distances as their ancestors did, so participating in the journey requires physical and spiritual discipline. At each stop, canoe families follow certain protocols – they ask for permission to come ashore, often in their indigenous languages, and at night in longhouses there is gifting, honoring and the sharing of traditional songs and dances. Meals, including evening dinners of traditional foods, are provided by the host nations.
It’s not the first time that multiple journeys have taken place. Here’s a list of past and upcoming Canoe Journeys. (Multiple-journey years noted by asterisk.)
1989: Seattle
1993: Bella Bella, B.C.
1994: Youth Paddle to Olympia (in connection with the Cedar Tree Conference)
1995: Full Circle Youth Paddle (Puget Sound)
1996: Full Circle Youth Paddle (Puget Sound)
1997: LaPush
1998: Puyallup
1999: Ahousaht, B.C.
*2000: Songhees, B.C.
*2000: Pendleton, Oregon
2001: Squamish, B.C.
2002: Quinault
2003: Tulalip
2004: Chemainus, B.C.
2005: Elwha Klallam
2006: Muckleshoot (Auburn)
2007: Lummi
2008: Cowichan, B.C.
2009: Suquamish
2010: Makah
2011: Swinomish
2012: Squaxin
*2013: Quinault
*2013: Warm Springs Canoe Project (Rock Creek to Quinault)
2014: Bella Bella, B.C.
*2015: Muckleshoot (Ballard)
*2015: Ahousaht, B.C.
*2015: Semiahmoo, B.C.
*2015: Sliammon, B.C.
2016: Nisqually
2017: Sliammon, B.C.
