Fading away

CANADA | Monday, 24 November 2014 | Views [194] | View Smaller Image

By reviving canoe racing, the Tsleil-Waututh people hope to bring the Nation together. And more importantly, to engage their youth in their traditions. This year, kids as young as seven were introduced to the art of paddling by some of the Nation’s best racers. For four months, veterans and newcomers gathered together five times a week to paddle. “It feels like the community is coming together again,” says 13-year-old Meghan Ormandy.

Through hundreds of years of colonialism and exploitation, Aboriginal people —or as they’re called in Canada, First Nations— have experienced the steady loss of their traditions and culture. One of those traditions is war canoe racing. Paddling competitions were vital for Aboriginal people after British settlement because they allowed them to circumvent the prohibition to gather in large groups. In the past few decades, though, canoe racing has faded due to Aboriginal migration to cities. Regardless, there are those who still fight for the survival of traditions. The Tsleil-Waututh people are one example. They are determined to revive canoe racing in the Nation.

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One of the key elements in the Nation’s plan to bring canoe racing back is the Whey-ah-Wichen Canoe Festival, a two-day competition in which Aboriginal people from all along the West Coast of North America compete in canoe races. The festival is held in Tsleil-Waututh land. “I think [the festival] is really important because we’re reviving something that this community did years ago in hosting other communities to come here and to compete in healthy traveling and healthy racing together,” explains Angela George, the woman leading the efforts to reestablish canoe racing.

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Fading away

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