Indian Boats at Alert Bay

In the old days the Indians of British Columbia built boats from huge cedar trunks. This was their main means of transport amid thousands of islands of the coast. They paddled the boats to hunt whales or make war on another island or to accept an invitation from another island to a potlatch – great feast with a lot of food and dances. These days modern boats made of modern materials are much easier to purchase and operate. Also making war on another island is illegal and so is whaling. Potlatch was also illegal for some time in Canada, although this ban was revoked recently. Anyway paddling the great canoes came out of use

However, in 1986 Bill Reid, a Haida Indian who revived the totem carving tradition, made a brand new cedar trunk canoe using the old traditional methods. This triggered a revival of paddling Indian canoes in the sea, not as a means of transport but as a sport. Every so often there is a big rally and many reservations sent their boats with young people paddling. I bumped into such a rally when I was at Alert Bay in summer 2014. It was pretty spectacular I must say.