Paddling Back Through Time
August-September 2001
This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
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by Karen Peachey
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Our time machine was a 45 foot cedar canoe
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When I think about it now, it seems funny that I grew up in Vancouver and never asked why Indian Arm was so named, or to what "Indians" this magnificent 28-kilometre fjord might be referring. Twice in the past couple of months, I have found myself paddling on the waters of Indian Arm, wanting to know more about this place that has been home to the Tsleil-Waututh ('t-slay-wa-tooth') for over 10,000 years. But, it was only on my second journey that the connection between this place and the People of the Inlet became clear to me.
The first trip was recreational fun at its best. An adventure. Early May winds from the southeast joined a following tide to push our kayaks 16 km up the west side of Indian Arm in record time-an hour and a half. Needless to say, there was little time to stop and look around at the steep rocky shorelines towering above us, or the creeks bursting over them. From time to time we strained our eyes over the cliffs to pick out the pictographs that adorn them, but our untrained eyes saw only intricate patterns of lichen. As we sailed past Silver Falls, I tried not to look but failed when its sparkling waters caught my eye and its roar filled my ears. For the Tsleil-Waututh people, it is forbidden to look at this waterfall. I wasn't sure who to apologize to, but did so quietly, and paddled on.
Buzzed on surf-induced adrenaline, we landed safely at Bishop Creek. This wilderness campsite is in the newly created 9,300 hectare Say-Nuth-Khaw-Yum-Indian Arm Provincial Park, co-managed by the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation and BC Parks. Plans to paddle further into the park and explore Croker Island, the Indian River estuary and Granite Falls were set aside for another trip. Smug with our campsite digs, we watched yachts pitch furiously toward the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club's Wigwam Inn just a few kilometres north. As darkness fell, we drank wine and laughed, pausing in our mirth to watch a full moon rise in the east. The 3-hour paddle back the next morning was beautiful, ending an excellent weekend away, all within spitting (and cell phone) distance of Vancouver.
A month later, on a sunny June morning, I found myself on the shore of Indian Arm once again. I had joined ten others on one of the many cultural tours offered by Takaya Tours, an ecotourism company owned and operated by the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation. This tour promised a journey back in time. Our time machine was a magnificent 13-metre (45-foot) cedar canoe, plus the songs and stories of the Tsleil-Waututh people.
Our journey started with a song of welcome sung by our guides Damian and Cecily George. Before beginning, they pointed out an eagle none of us had noticed, feasting on salmon. Then their voices rose to praise this great creature that flies closest to the sun. They asked us to introduce ourselves to the canoe before climbing aboard, in respect for its spirit and to ensure a stable and safe journey. After a briefing on how to collectively paddle the 1,000 lb traditional canoe, we headed out.
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Takaya Guides Photo courtesy of Takaya Tours |
Nervous laughter erupted as the first great pull on our paddles rocked the boat and momentum took hold. But then, quiet descended. As we paddled over the water there was a powerful sense that we were part of something larger than ourselves, something timeless. I think our guides must have known that this feeling would come as they gave us time to privately observe it.
After a short time, our steersman, Sam George, broke the silence, initiating the calls that would see each of us in sequence switch to paddle on the other side. We would do this many times on our two-hour paddle to give each arm its chance to rest.
As we paddled toward Jug Island in Belcarra Regional Park, our guides pointed out landmarks, giving them their Halkomelem names. Tum-tumay-whue-ton: once the main winter village of the Tsleil-Waututh, now known as Belcarra. Say-umiton: a site occupied for over 5,000 years by the Tsleil-Waututh, now known as Strathcona Park.
Across from Jug Island, we landed the canoe on a small pebble beach. The narrow passage between the island and the mainland had once been an important salmon-harvesting place. The beach where we landed the canoe had been a place to clean and smoke the fish. As a high-school kayak group rounded the island and exuberantly landed on the beach, I pondered the memories that must be stored in the stones beneath our feet. What had they seen?
On our paddle back, our guides shared more songs and stories that have been passed on orally for uncountable generations. They told us the story of how the Tsleil-Waututh people came to be called children of the wolf, Takaya.As a curious seal watched our paddles flash by, they told us how a seal's behaviour could foretell the sex of a pregnant woman's child.In farewell, a prayer was sung. Its haunting beauty made me close my eyes so nothing would distract me from the sound of voices and drumming rising up around me. I was beginning to understand. Indian Arm. Tsleil-Waututh. People of the Inlet.
Takaya Tours offers kayak tours, lessons and rentals at the Belcarra Paddling Centre, located in Belcarra Regional Park, once the main |
© Karen Peachey is a Vancouver-based Community Planner
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