SUQUAMISH — Canoes from several indigenous nations are expected to begin arriving at the beach below the House of Awakened Culture about 3 p.m. Aug. 4 — today — for Canoe Journey celebration and sharing.

The events are open to the public.

According to a schedule provided by Suquamish Tribe public information officer April Leigh:

AUG. 4
— 3 p.m.: Canoes begin arriving at Suquamish boat ramp. Canoe welcoming by Suquamish Tribe leaders, elders, and royalty.
— 5 p.m.: Welcome, Suquamish Tribe Chairman Leonard Forsman.
— 5:10 p.m.: Blessing of meal.
— 5:15 p.m.: Salmon dinner.
— 6:45 p.m.: Skippers meeting, canoe shed.
— 7 p.m.: Protocol begins

AUG. 5
— 6 a.m.: Breakfast served by Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort.
— TBD: Canoes leave for Golden Gardens in Seattle. Canoe families will be hosted by the Muckleshoot Tribe for the rest of the week.

The Canoe Journey is an annual gathering of Native peoples from the Pacific Northwest. The first stop in this year’s journey was Birch Bay, followed by the Lummi Nation, Samish Nation, Swinomish Tribe, Tulalip Tribes, and Suquamish.

The annual gathering is rich in meaning and cultural significance. Canoe pullers travel great distances as their ancestors did, so participating in the journey requires physical and spiritual discipline. At each stop, canoe families follow certain protocols — they ask for permission to come ashore, often in their ancestral languages, and at night in longhouses there is gifting, honoring and the sharing of traditional songs and dances. Meals, including evening dinners of traditional foods, are provided by the host nations.

The 2015 Canoe Journey’s theme is youth. And at Port Gamble S’Klallam, the transfer of leadership from one generation to the next was clearly underway. Laura Price, a longtime canoe skipper, said this Canoe Journey held special significance to her because it marked the first time her husband’s young cousin, Adam Charles, would skipper the 11-man canoe — this year, from Point Julia to Suquamish to Golden Gardens.

On the beach before the canoe got underway before 9 a.m. Aug. 4, Price talked about the responsibility that comes with leading a team of canoe pullers — a responsibility that has a spiritual aspect.

“When you enter the canoe, you enter it like you’re entering a church,” Price said. “We respect it. We don’t cuss, we don’t think bad thoughts. I discourage bad jokes even, because it’s like entering something that is very spiritual. To be a leader and a skipper, it’s a tough job, because you have to humbly look after everybody and try to share those teachings with others. Not everybody’s going to agree with them, but you have to do your best to make those teachings live in the canoe, because you’re protecting the canoe, which protects the people. You’re responsible for the protection of every person in this canoe. It’s a huge responsibility.”

The route from Point Julia is rich in cultural significance. Charles and his crew departed Point Julia, home of an ancestral village and site of a commissioned totem pole that Charles is carving with his cousin, Jimmy Price. They passed the former mill town of Port Gamble, which Charles’ ancestors knew as Teekalet. They rounded Twin Spits, followed the north shores of the Kitsap Peninsula, and stopped at Point No Point, which the ancestors knew as Hahdskus, and where the leaders in the grandparents’ grandparents’ generation signed the Treaty of Point No Point, making land available to the United States for non-Native settlement. Then they set off for Suquamish, where many of them have relatives.

The 2015 Canoe Journey is one of four this year.

The Ahousaht First Nation presents a Traditional Territorial Canoe Journey annually to, according its website, “bring the youth, parents and elders out to show our territory and where we come from and what each part of the territory means and what it is about, [and] what has been done in each place.” The journey also promotes a healthy, alcohol- and drug-free lifestyle. The first Traditional Territorial Canoe Journey took place in 2009.

The Semiahmoo First Nation hosted its annual Pulling Together Canoe Journey July 2-11. The journey started at the Sts’ailes First Nation (Harrison Lake) and will continue down the Fraser River from to Semiahmoo Bay.

The Sliammon First Nation hosted an Honoring Our Youth Canoe Journey for First Nations on the coasts of Vancouver Island and mainland B.C. Canoe families traveled down the coast of Vancouver Island and across to Powell River, arriving at Willingdon Beach on July 17. Two days of cultural celebrations followed on July 18-19.

23rd Canoe Journey
2015 is the 23rd year of the annual Canoe Journey, a gathering of Northwest indigenous nations. The annual journey was sparked by the Paddle to Seattle in 1989, which was organized by educator Emmett Oliver, Quinault, as part of the State of Washington’s centennial celebration. Since that first journey, the journey has grown to include more than 100 canoes and the participation of people from other indigenous canoe cultures, including Ainu, Alaska Natives, Greenlandic Inuit, Maori, Native Hawaiians, and indigenous peoples from Brazil and Mexico.

The 2016 Canoe Journey will be hosted by the Nisqually Tribe. The 2017 journey will be hosted by the Sliammon First Nation.

Members of the Port Gamble S’Klallam canoe family pause for photos before departing Point Julia for Suquamish early Aug. 4. Photo: Richard Walker / North Kitsap Herald

From right, Joe Price presents a hand-carved skipper’s paddle to his cousin, Adam Charles, at Point Julia Aug. 4. The paddle was made by Price’s brother, Jimmy. The other side features a design painted by Price’s wife, Laura, in red T-shirt, and daughter, Nizhoni, in pink jacket. Photo: Richard Walker / North Kitsap Herald