PORT ANGELES — The border between Canada and the United States doesn’t separate the native peoples of the Pacific Northwest, said the skipper of the Leaping Wolf, the first canoe to reach Hollywood Beach as pullers arrived for a stop on the 2009 Tribal Canoe Journey on Wednesday.
“For us, there is no international border,” said Richard Gene of the Ahousaht tribe of Vancouver Island, as he asked from thecanoe for permission from the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe to come ashore.
“We are all brothers and sisters,” he said. “We are all one.”
After being welcomed in the Klallam language by Lower Elwha Klallam tribal members while spectators lined the beach and pier, the 11 pullers of the Leaping Wolf were told, “Come ashore. Come ashore.”
Tribal members on Hollywood Beach near City Pier greeted the pullers of each of the 25 canoes that arrived Wednesday, most having traveled from either the West End or Vancouver Island, with a traditional welcome song after a tribal representative on each canoe followed the traditional protocol by asking permission to come ashore.
Three additional canoes pulled in at the Elwha River mouth.
Approximately 300 pullers on the canoes came to rest for two days at the Lower Elwha Klallam reservation west of Port Angeles before they continue on a journey to the Suquamish tribe’s Port Madison Reservation in northeast Kitsap County.
Jamestown Beach on Friday
Three Lower Elwha Klallam canoes will join them on the journey when they leave Friday, headed for Jamestown Beach north of Sequim, where they will be welcomed by the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe at about 2 p.m. and will be hosted by the tribe at the Sequim High School.
On Saturday, they are expected to arrive at Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend at about 2 p.m., where they will be hosted by the Lower Elwha Klallam, Jamestown S’Klallam and Port Gamble S’Klallam tribes.
The canoes will come ashore on the beach south of the Fort Worden pier, near the campground and Port Townsend Marine Science Center. Pullers will camp in the park.
Today, another group of canoes — 21 from the Skokomish, Nisqually, Chehalis and Squaxin Island tribes traveling up the Hood Canal — are expected to arrived at Brinnon between noon and 1 p.m. and pull onto the beach next to Hjelvik’s Store just north of town.
Of the canoes that arrived in Port Angeles, about 10 were from the West End tribes — the Hoh, Quileute, Makah and Quinault.
Each of those canoes were escorted from Pillar Point, through what historically was Klallam territory, by two canoes from the Port Gamble S’Klallam tribe.
Most of the pullers and their support crews, totalling between 800 and 1,000 people, are camping at the Lower Elwha reservation west of Port Angeles.
The tribe will provide breakfast and dinner for the travelers as well as shuttle service into town to do laundry, said Georgianne Charles, canoe journey organizer for the tribe.
As of Tuesday afternoon, only the West End tribes had confirmed that they would be landing at Hollywood Beach.
The Canadian tribes “were really concerned about being out there with the heat,” said Frances Charles, Lower Elwha Klallam chairwoman.
On Wednesday, not one tribe cut its trip short despite the warm weather.
Long, hot journey
Sam Chester, of the Ditidaht tribe on Vancouver Island, said the 11 pullers on his canoe went through more than 20 bottles of water while crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Beecher Bay.
More than 20 cases of bottled water, as well as coolers full of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, were waiting for the pullers at Hollywood Beach.
First aid volunteers were also on hand in case anyone suffered from dehydration.
This year’s canoe journey, which Suquamish Chairman Leonard Forsman said includes between 80 and 90 canoes from 40 to 50 Western Washington and British Columbian tribes, marks the 20th anniversary of the first canoe journey, which was to Seattle.
Each year, the gathering is hosted by a different tribe.
Forsman and other Suquamish tribal members arrived at Hollywood Beach in one of their own canoes. He said they are escorting the other canoes along the Strait to their reservation.
All the canoes are expected to land at Port Madison on Monday. Celebrations will last five or six days, Forsman said.
Protect tribes’ rights
The purpose of the first canoe journey was to protect the tribes’ rights to travel the marine waters of the northwest, said Sandra Charles, 58, of the Lower Elwha Klallam.
The tribes had to show that they were still using their traditional waterways in order to keep those rights, she said. They chose to do so by organizing the first canoe journey.
Sandra Charles said her son, Sam White, who is now the Neah Bay police chief, was one of about 10 Lower Elwha Klallam tribal members who participated in the first canoe journey.
“We needed our canoe boats in the water,” she said.
“It’s part of our heritage, and we need to protect our heritage.”
Reflecting upon the first canoe journey, Sandra Charles said, “I felt a lot of pride in the tribe, in my people, in my son and pride in myself.”
Guy Louis, of the Ahousaht tribe, said the canoe journey has contributed to the resurrection of tribal cultures and helped him overcome alcoholism in 1997.
Louis, 50, said he lost much of his culture when he was sent to a residential school as a child.
“In the beginning, for me, it was a healing journey,” he said.
“I didn’t know my culture.”
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
