Brave New Worlds: Journeys into Aboriginal culture
Whether it’s the opportunity to sleep overnight in a teepee, paddle by an ancient Aboriginal village, join hands in a Pow Wow celebration or listen to tribal elders share ancient myths around the campfire, embarking on an Aboriginal cultural adventure will change the way you see BC.
Peak oil, recession, crazy weather, and trouble all around. These are strange days indeed, and the urge to get away from it all is strong with British Columbians.
Cowichan Valley mask, Vancouver Island
(Photo by Todd Curran)But along with everything else, the squeeze on international travel is tightening, leaving us to ponder our own doorstep as a holiday destination over such traditional Canadian favourites as Mexico, Cuba and the Caribbean. In that sense, we’re especially fortunate out here on the West Coast. Getting to know BC is cheap, easy and rewarding, and Coastlines has investigated many of the local tourism options available in Vancouver and Victoria.
Economic considerations are only one part of the picture, however. At the same time that the Tourism Association of Canada is noting a sharp decline in numbers—both in and out of the Great White North—one modest sector in BC’s tourism industry is in the midst of an unforeseen boom.
Aboriginal cultural tourism has taken off in the last few years, something that Aboriginal Tourism BC CEO Keith Henry says he first noticed when it spiked around 2004. And it doesn’t appear to be slowing down.
“It has been growing strong in the last few years,” he tells Coastlines. “It’s really been changing. Right now in BC, we have thirty-eight of what we call international market-ready operators with an additional eighty or so in the developmental stage, and we’re working with all of them to either market the ones who are ready, or provide business support for secondary development.”
Salmon are preserved traditionally-by smoking or
wind drying—a staple food to sustain Aboriginal
peoples through the cold winters
(Photo by Gary Fiegehen)Along with a general sense that holidaying far and wide is becoming a less affordable luxury, Henry believes that growing environmental awareness has further stoked the curiosity of the largely European and Asian communities that dominate BC.
“I just think people are recognizing that we need to look at the way other cultures have lived,” he says, “and First Nations communities have such a strong will to protect the earth in their traditional ways. I think people really want to research that, and it’s certainly having a real impact on the growth of the Aboriginal tourism industry here in BC.”
“There’s such a rich cultural heritage and so much history to the province, it’s a good way to educate,” he adds.
Equally, Henry notes, to the true first people of the Pacific Northwest—a region where carbon dating has established the remnants of 9000-year-old communities—the benefits are enormous. Henry speaks excitedly of “a real recognition within the First Nations communities that this is an economic development opportunity.”
Fresh-caught salmon at Xats’ull Heritage
Village just north of William’s Lake
(Photo by Aboriginal Tourism BC)“A lot of the communities themselves are getting more organized and creating businesses and adventures, becoming operators and putting services out that are really very impressive,” he says.
The official response to this surprise growth sector has been swift and decisive. In 2007, the government of BC pledged five million dollars of investment money to the Aboriginal Cultural Tourism Blueprint Strategy, and last year, those funds were matched by the feds.
The results of this ongoing development can be found at the Aboriginal Tourism BC website (www.aboriginalbc.com), which offers a “quality assured” one-stop guide to those excursions offered by Aboriginal-owned and operated companies who provide jet boating, kayaking, canoeing and hiking opportunities with a cultural-historical bent, along with guides to cultural centres and galleries, cultural interpretive tours and cruises, and the best options for food and drink.
Norman Price, master carver of the frontal pole for Carving House at Haida Heritage Centre near Skidegate
(Photo by Aboriginal Tourism BC)
Adventures in living history
A quick Coastlines guide to some of those highly-rated packages would begin close to home (if you’re a Vancouverite), with Indian Arm—a body of water extending roughly 20 kilometres from the Burrard Inlet, flanked on one side by North Vancouver, and Belcarra on the other. Indian Arm doglegs through this portion of southern BC before eventually narrowing into the Indian River, while civilization thins into nothing on both banks. Only the fabled, century-old WigWam Inn (once an illegal gambling house) sits at its far north end, while on the west side, legendary trail builder Don McPherson—one of the co-architects of what came to be known as the Grouse Grind—has fashioned an Indian Arm trail through the murderously rugged environment. But experts need only apply for that.
For the rest of us, Takaya Tours (www.takayatours.com) offers a relaxed if no less enlightening alternative. Owned and operated by the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, Takaya Tours goes out of its way to reassure potential clients that its various tours are “low intensity”, and free of any “prerequisites” (like the type of survival skills practiced by Don McPherson, for example).
Instead, visitors climb into a 25-foot, traditional ocean-going canoe while guides from the Coast Salish Nation present a cultural history of the region through stories and song. It’s not just a rendezvous with nature, but also a potent journey into the past. And your starting point? North Vancouver or Port Moody, incredibly.
Canoeing was the main mode of transport for the
Squamish people. An average canoe was 45ft,
carved from a single old growth cedar and could
carry 15 to 20 people (Photo by Gary Fiegehen)In 1997, representatives of the Lil’wat Nation met with the Resort Municipality of Whistler to discuss ways to promote the region’s indigenous culture. Last year, those discussions blossomed into the stunning Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre (www.slcc.ca)—perched within walking distance from Whistler Village—where visitors are immersed in interactive histories of both the Squamish and Lil’wat people.
Canoe-building and weaving are central to the experience of the SLCC, along with art and other contemporary and historical exhibits, live music and dance, traditional foods and more, while the ‘Cultural Forest Walk’ puts everything in its proper context (“For us, the forest is like a church,” reads the SLCC’s website). As of Spring 2009, a traditional Squamish Longhouse, outdoor barbecue facility and ethno-botanical gardens will be among the new features added to the Cultural Centre’s already comprehensive set of attractions.
In general, the mainland Coast Mountain region is chock-a-block with museums, galleries, and interpretative centres situated on native land, all of which can be accessed with a minimum of fuss from downtown Vancouver.
Featuring a 4000-square-foot cedar longhouse with gallery and gift store, the Xá:ytem Interpretive Centre (www.xaytem.ca) sits in Mission, on the site of the extraordinary Transformer Stone, or “Hatzic Rock”: an implacable grey monolith that symbolizes the Stó:lo fable of three chiefs who angered the creator and were turned to stone for their troubles.
A hop, skip, and a jump to Chilliwack, meanwhile, lands you at the auspicious Stó:lo Artisan Centre (www.stolocf.com), with its diverse selection of native artwork, while somewhat further along is Agassiz’s splendid Ruby Creek Art Gallery (www.rubycreekartgallery.com)—which is one of the principal clearing houses for the best Northwest First Nations artists. Everything from limited edition prints, to cedar carvings, drums, textiles, soapstone and jewellery is available there, while closer to home is the Khot-la-cha Art Gallery & Gift Shop (www.khot-la-cha.com), seated rather conveniently on a Reserve next to the Lions Gate Bridge.
Kwets’ím (Keith Nahanee) follows the
traditional Coast Salish design in all his
works from wood to textile – pictured
here carving the Squamish spindle
whorl for the entryway at the Squamish
Lil’wat Cultural Centre
(Photo by Gary Fiegehen)And of course, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the Bill Read Art Gallery (www.billreidgallery.ca) in downtown Vancouver, dedicated to the legacy of the Haida master who passed in 1998, as well as the preservation, promotion and appreciation of Northwest Coast Aboriginal art and work.
Meanwhile, over on the Island, the possibilities for cultural adventuring are almost limitless, with the Tseycum First Nation of North Saanich offering the excursion closest to Victoria with its Tseycum Canoe Tours (www.tseycumtours.com). This wildly popular trifecta of canoeing, whale watching and cultural-interpretive adventuring is designed for all age groups and fitness levels, starting with a gentle sojourn through the Saanich peninsula in a 30-foot dugout canoe. A similar package extends even further along the southern coast of what, for many centuries, was called the “Salish Sea”, with a ‘Traditional Canoe and Medicinal Plant Walk’ that introduces visitors to the flora and fauna used by the Coast Salish for cooking and healing ceremonies. Slightly more strenuous is the ‘Gulf Island Adventure’, in which you’re plopped into a kayak, propelling yourself along a coastline dotted with ancient village sites and shell middens.
There are fewer places in North America with the allure of Tofino. It is, all at once, a mysterious and powerful expression of British Columbia’s super-nature, a vast chill-out zone for surfers, post-millennium bohos and transgressively independent thinkers, and the traditional, ancient home to the Tla-o-qui-aht people. Gisele Martin runs Tla-ook Cultural Adventures (www.tlaook.com) from her Tofino base, budged up against Clayoquot Sound in one of the most spectacular settings on earth.
The least expensive and snappiest tour on the Tla-ook menu, the ‘Sunset Paddle/Harbour Explorer’, is rather shrewdly scheduled for the sunset hours, for a maximum dose of life-affirming beauty (although they’re happy to do it anytime of the day, if you ask). Visitors are guided by handmade canoe through Tofino Harbour and around Stubbs Island, while simultaneously treated to an oral rundown on the region’s native history.
Designed to evoke a traditional Squamish
Longhouse and a Lil’wat Istken (pit house), The
Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre overlooks
Whistler and Blackcomb mountains
(Photo by Gary Fiegehen)Old growth forest can be explored more extensively on the four hour ‘Meares Island Tour’, while the jewel in the Tla-ook crown is the ‘Cluptl-Chas’, or ‘Full Day Adventure’. Starting in Tofino, participants paddle across Tla-o-qui-aht fishing grounds and clambeds, before drifting off to Echachist Island on little more than the pull of the tide. There, Martin or one of her cohorts marches visitors through the unmolested old growth forest where Cedar and vitamin-rich Hemlock trees, salal berries, blue huckleberries and other wild fruits still thrive, after centuries of providing sustenance. And if you’re really lucky (or unlucky, depending on your perspective), a Sasquatch encounter isn’t entirely unheard of, either.
It all ends back on the beach with a traditional seafood blowout of Wild Salmon, crab or Sea Urchin, Bannock, and seasonal fruit and salads. As one visitor remarked in the Tla-ook guestbook, “Thank you for the fairy tale perfect day!”
That’s just one out of an impressive collection of testimonials, and with a quick visit to the Tla-ook website—including video files to further whet the appetite—Aboriginal cultural adventuring of this calibre starts to look pretty irresistible.
These are only a handful of the options available, here in BC. Could there be a better way of embracing the living history of this small but extraordinary portion of our world?
