Tumpline Nouveau voyageurs. [ CaNoes ]


Digging a New Dug-Out


WILL THE PACIFIC DANCER HELP WEST COAST CANOE CULTURE?


The first races in 29 years. PHOTO: LEE WHITE


[ trips ]


Riding a Green Wave


ECO-PROGRAMS SEE UPSWING IN INTEREST


S C


an fibreglass resurrect an ancient cul- ture? Tat’s what some in the tiny First


Nation community of Kitimaat hope. Te town of 500 near Prince Rupert on the B.C. coast, is banking on two new canoes to help the community rediscover its history. “Tere’s been a massive resurgence in ca-


noe culture in First Nations communities in the last 10 years, and this boat will continue that trend,” says Lee White, a community development leader working with the Haisla and other First Nations in the area. Te canoe White is talking about is the


Pacific Dancer, a 36-foot fibreglass canoe styled after traditional West Coast wooden dug-outs. Kitimaat has just bought two from B.C manufacturer Clipper Canoes. Canoes were vital to transportation, hunt-


ing and warfare for West Coast First Nations, and many traditional villages are still water- access only. Using mammoth western red cedar logs, expert carvers hollowed out huge boats with upturned bows for deflecting ocean swells. Tey would hunt whales, wage war, travel and trade using the canoes. But the boats were extremely heavy, took skill to paddle and years of carving experience to build. When motorized boats hit the scene they seemed convenient by comparison. Te Haisla began having trouble finding logs big enough for carving, and the skills


and the culture that accompanied the canoes began to fade. In Kitimaat, the final blow came in 1997


when a canoe shed collapsed, destroying the town’s dug-outs. As White explains, there was no one able to replace them, “Tere’s only one canoe carver in town, and he’s 80 years old and can’t stand long enough to carve.” With the Pacific Dancer, Clipper has tried


to fill the void left by the loss of carving skills, says Lynne Smith, Clipper’s general manager. Te 18-passenger canoe, designed in house, is similar in style to the traditional boats carved by First Nation groups from the central B.C. coast to Oregon, but at only 550 pounds, it is much easier and safer for com- munities to transport, store and paddle. Both Smith and White stress their belief


the fibreglass canoes will encourage, not supplant, traditional canoe-building skills. Te arrival of the Pacific Dancers is “a spring- board to get people back into canoeing to re- discover their canoeing culture,” White says. Kitimaat plans to offer canoe-carving


classes along with new canoeing lessons. “Tey will energize young people to want to canoe and make canoes for their families,” says White. Proof: the weekend after the boats arrived from Clipper, Kitimaat held its first canoe races in 29 years. » RYAN STUART


urging enthusiasm for going green is proving a boon for a nearly 50-


year-old canoe trip program that teaches ecological appreciation. In 1960, before eco-adventure be-


came a buzzword, the Voyageur Wilder- ness Programme (VWP) was founded to encourage urban youth to experience and appreciate nature. A recent increase in American visi-


tors to Canada and a new fervour for getting intimate with nature has meant busy days for the industry, VWP included. More schools, clubs, families and individuals are signing up to live the life of an early fur trader in Ontar- io’s Quetico Provincial Park. On Voyageur Island, eco-education


and fur trading heritage find a natural home, explains program CEO Michelle Savoie. Not only is Quetico home to historic fur trading routes, but one of Savoie’s ancestors transported furs for the North West Trading Company. Guests paddle to the base camp with


voyageur-garbed guides in a Montreal canoe. Tough standard canoes are used for trips, the historic element is woven throughout. “Our naturalist guides point out that voyageurs actu- ally travelled these lakes and saw those same pictographs,” says Savoie. Whether the environmental appre-


ciation spurring on the sector’s new economic activity will last might be as hard to predict as the weather for next week’s trip. In both cases, hope is in order. » JESSICA SMITH


www.canoerootsmag.com 15 PHOTO: VOYAGEUR WILDERNESS PROGRAM


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