Tribal Canoe Journeys is Topic of Upcoming Film

Sunday, November 11, 3 p.m., Sea View Theatre

— from Peter Fisher —

War Canoe Races, Eastsound WA 2002

We are pleased to announce “Sacred Journeys,” a film and fundraiser. It features a presentation by Sharon Kinley, Director of the Coast Salish Institute at Northwest Indian College, and a showing of the film “Glwa: Resurgence of the Ocean Going Canoe.” The event is at the Sea View Theatre at 3 p.m. Sunday, November 11, 2018. Ticket price includes appetizers ($25, $20 members). This fundraiser supports capacity building at Orcas Island Historical Museums for cross cultural events and also the upcoming “Sacred Journeys” traveling exhibit on ancient canoe culture and today’s canoe resurgence.

About the movie: “Tribal Canoe Journeys is an annual Indigenous cultural gathering on the Northwest Pacific Coast. Over the last three decades, the gathering helped the Heiltsuk Nation of Bella Bella, B.C. heal from intergenerational traumas and revitalize their culture, which was nearly lost as a result of colonialism and the Residential School system. Since its unofficial beginning in 1986, the gathering has grown and now involves hundreds of canoes and thousands of participants paddling to different host communities all the way from Alaska to Oregon.

‘Glwa: Resurgence of the Ocean-Going Canoe’ follows Frank Brown and a group of Heiltsuk youth as they paddle down the coast of Washington State to honour the invitation of ancestral groups of the Nisqually Tribe for Tribal Journeys 2016. Over a period of twelve days, the journey helped youth learn and revitalize their cultural songs, dances, stories, language, teachings, and other traditions. On the journey, youth also reconnected with the natural environment and with other coastal Indigenous Nations, and began to reverse intergenerational trauma.” (Glwafilm.com website)

Photo: War Canoe Races, Eastsound WA 2002