News - Local News

POSTED: Monday, Jul. 21, 2008

Canoes gather for paddle to Cowichan, B.C.

LUMMI — Canoeists and supporters awaited the arrival five local canoes at Lummi Stommish Grounds on Sunday, on the eve of their departure to the intertribal Paddle to Quw’utsun.

More than 100 canoes from as far as northern Alaska will join together July 28 in Cowichan, B.C. for the annual event, which honors the canoe as a centuries-old custom of transport, harvest and trade by the Coast Salish tribes.

Lummi Nation hosted the journey for the first time last year, attracting hundreds of canoeists and onlookers. The event began in 1989 with the Paddle to Seattle.

Three Lummi canoes and two Nooksack canoes will set off on the week-long paddle to Cowichan today, joining a canoe paddled by members of LaConner’s Swinomish tribe.

Some other tribes will travel up to two weeks to reach Cowichan, where participants will celebrate and share their native songs and dance.

James Hillaire, leader of Lummi’s Ohileq-sen canoe family, will take part in his seventh journey this year, but virtually all of his paddlers have never participated before.

“We don’t beg people to go on journey,” he said as he awaited the other canoes’ arrival. “They have to want to challenge themselves. Each individual has their own reason for going. Some want a chance to see a different place, some want to meet new people, some want to seek a spiritual healing.”

Though paddlers often endure rigorous day-long pulls, Hillaire said each newcomer leaves with a new sense of accomplishment.

“They experience exhaustion, but they also experience the victory of having met the challenge, or having succeeded,” he said.