SINIXT CANOE JOURNEY VISITS REVELSTOKE

from Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine July 2023 issue

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A SINIXT CANOE

EXPEDITION DOWN THE COLUMBIA RIVER STOPPED IN REVELSTOKE FOR AN EVENING GATHERING AND A MORNING LAUNCH AT CENTENNIAL PARK

A flotilla of Sinixt paddlers travelled down the Columbia River in Revelstoke in mid-June, stopping to overnight in Revelstoke. They hosted a dinner at the Revelstoke United Church then launched their dugout canoes, a sturgeon-nosed canoe and contemporary canoes from Centennial Park.

Shelly Boyd, Arrow Lakes Facilitator at Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, was the main spokesperson and organizer at the church event and the morning launch.

She said the journey was an important part of reconnecting from the region after being cut off for years due to a federal government extinction declaration.“When we are paddling together it really is following a dream that will go all of the way to the mouth of the Columbia River," Boyd said.

“At the end of the day the salmon were taken away from this area at the same time our people were taken away from the area," said Boyd, speaking of both the damming of the Columbia that prevented salmon migration and of the federal government extinction declaration. The result was “a salmon people who never got salmon," she said.

The next morning at the boat launch, over 100 people gathered to watch the launch. The Sinixt paddlers were joined by a Secwépemc contingent for the journey south from Revelstoke. Elementary school children gathered to watch the launch. The large dugout canoes were put into the river, then standard canoes and a sturgeon-nosed canoe.

As the journey's start approached, the paddlers gathered for a smudge ceremony and a speech from Shelly Boyd before beginning the day's journey south.