The paddlers in this year’s Pulling Together canoe journey were due to arrive in Vancouver on Friday after starting off the annual event on the Sunshine Coast.
Weather got in the way of the plans to paddle from Sechelt to Gibsons on July 7, but the crews were able to participate in traditional welcoming ceremonies on the shíshálh Nation waterfront and Squamish Nation territory in Gibsons and enjoy a night of cultural events at the shíshálh longhouse.
After making the trip over from Gibsons on July 8, the paddlers’ last stop in the region was Camp Potlatch, situated on Howe Sound’s northwest shore across from Anvil Island.
This is the 17th year for Pulling Together, and the 2017 journey was planned as a joint effort by the Squamish Nation, West Vancouver Police and Royal Canadian Navy.
The journey brings together indigenous and non-indigenous paddlers with the goal of “building true reconciliation from a grassroots level.”
The 20 or so canoes taking part in this year’s Pulling Together journey set off from Squamish Tuesday and were working their way along the east shore of Howe Sound to Vancouver’s Vanier Park, where they’ll take part in a ceremony to request permission to land on the traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations as part of the City of Vancouver’s Canada 150+ celebration. The paddlers wrap up their adventure July 15 at Ambleside Park in West Vancouver.
