Revival of the Great Canoes

February-March 2000

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.

by Alan Wilson

The legends of the Pacific Coast First Nations tell of the time of the great flood, when the people tied their canoes together side by side. As the waters rose, the people took a stout cedar rope and attached their canoes to a mountain top. Here they waited until the waters receded, and they were saved."

David Neel in his wonderful book, The Great Canoes, shows how the canoe is once again serving in this capacity as 'lifeboat', helping First Nations communities survive the flood of modernity.

With seventy exquisite colour photographs, Neel documents the canoe gatherings of recent years, including the landmark Qatuwas gathering in Bella Bella in 1993. He shows usa proud people celebrating a culture which was almost lost.

"Only five or ten years ago the canoe, like many of our traditions, seemed destined to be a part of our rich past. Today its continuation is assured. It returns to us carrying the knowledge and pride of our ancestors.

"Today, in its renaissance, the canoe carries the knowledge of a millennia-old culture as well as the dreams and aspirations of a younger generation."

A professional photographer in North Vancouver, Neel has a lineage which includes the great Kwagiutl carver, Mungo Martin, whose Big House stands beside the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria. In 1995, Neel undertook the challenge of carving his own canoe for the upcoming La Push canoe gathering (1997). The book documents Neel's efforts as he carves his canoe from a five hundred year old cedar log.

"When the work was finally complete and I ran my eyes over the sleek form of the family canoe, I experienced a peace inside. I could feel the energy, the knowledge and the responsibility of the carvers who came before me. When I laid my hands on the gunwales, I could tell that something very important was coming back to me, my family and my people.

Neel describes the canoe as "a vessel of knowledge, symbolizing the cultural regeneration of many nations as they struggle to retain and rebuild following a period of systematic oppression and rapid social and technological change."

"The canoe is a metaphor for community. In the canoe, as in any community, everyone must work together. Paddling or 'pulling' as a crew over miles of water requires respect for one another and a commitment to working together, as the old people did."

This is a brilliant book with inspired text-including the direct words of many who participated in these historic events-accompanied with stunning photographs which show a people in the throes of cultural rediscovery.

"Many of the trees that supply us with our canoes were already hundreds of years old when the first tall ships came to our shores," Neel says. "In their lifetimes, these trees have seen a new people settle upon the land, seen our Native population diminish, seen the canoe become a memory, and then be reborn again in a modern world."

"The heroes of many of our stories go into the forest, or to the depths of the ocean, to find upon their return that they have been away not days but years. Like our canoes, they return transformed, with great gifts to share with the people."