Tag Archives: Canoe culture

Animals, Indigenous Nations History, Tourism

Environmentalists protect local history and seabirds on Galiano Island

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A new conservation area on B.C.’s Galiano Island with deep cultural significance for local First Nations will protect a pristine shore for a multitude of seabirds and help an increasingly rare ecosystem withstand global warming.

A kilometre of beach in Cable Bay and the adjoining 66 acres of land inside the threatened Coastal Douglas-Fir biogeoclimatic zone (CDF) have been acquired by the Galiano Conservancy Association (GCA) and the Nature Trust of British Columbia.

Continue reading Environmentalists protect local history and seabirds on Galiano Island →
Arts, History, Indigenous Nations History

Sacred journey exhibit celebrates Indigenous canoe culture

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Nations and families from far-flung parts of coastal B.C. gathered to launch the Sacred Journey exhibit and celebrate the enduring importance of Indigenous canoe culture that stretches across the Pacific Northwest coast.

Continue reading Sacred journey exhibit celebrates Indigenous canoe culture →
Arts, Indigenous Nations History

An Artistic Sacred Journey: The Pacific Northwest’s canoe culture

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A massive canvas canoe adorned with sweeping bold lines of red, black and royal blue swallows up the space around it.

Artist KC Hall has little room to step back and get perspective on his latest work housed in a temporary workshop on Quadra Island a week before Christmas.

Hall, renowned for his synthesis of graffiti, manga and Northwest Coast art, is finishing up a central piece for the Sacred Journey travelling exhibition, slated to launch in Campbell River on Vancouver Island this spring.

Continue reading An Artistic Sacred Journey: The Pacific Northwest’s canoe culture →
History, Indigenous Nations History

Tl’emtl’ems Left Squirrel Cove

3 Comments

By Roy L Hales

Its almost 550 km from Squirrel Cove, on Cortes Island, to Puyallup, Washington by car, but centuries by canoe. In 1884 the Canadian Government joined in a conspiracy to destroy the canoe traffic that had been plying coastal waters, from Alaska to California, since the beginnings of oral tradition.  First Nations people were restricted to their reserves and had had to obtain permission to leave. The reawakening started almost 30 years ago, in what has since become an annual event.  A different nation hosts the gathering every year and this summer the gathering is at Puyallup. The Klahoose canoe Tl’emtl’ems left Squirrel Cove at 10 AM this morning. 

Continue reading Tl’emtl’ems Left Squirrel Cove →