Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A flotilla of Indigenous canoes a hundred strong is converging along the Pacific Northwest as nations from Canada, the U.S. and beyond paddle hundreds of kilometres in pursuit of shared objectives and a common destination. 

Paddlers from eight different canoes were hosted, fed and sheltered by the Stz’uminus First Nation near Ladysmith on Vancouver Island before launching Thursday on their first leg of the Tribal Journey, said Michelle Robinson, a member of the Klahoose Nation’s Tl’emtl’ems canoe family.