In the mid-1970s Bruce Stewart took his camera down to North Vancouver’s Cates Park and captured these fabulous images of the annual Canoe Festival hosted by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation.
The Whey-ah-Wichen (Cates Park) Canoe Festival kicks off today (July 4) in North Vancouver and runs until Sunday. It’s a chance to see one of the largest Indigenous sporting events of the year, and one of the most interesting, as rowers compete in traditional dug-out canoes.
The annual event is hosted by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. The Tsleil-Waututh Nation are the “People of the Inlet” and the heart of the community is now centred on səlilwət (Burrard Inlet), between Maplewood Flats and Deep Cove.
TWN member Kevin O’Neill says canoe racing is deeply rooted in their culture, and they spend several months planning the event. “We have 24 canoe clubs registered to join us this weekend, we haven’t had that many in a long time,” he says. “They come from the Island all the way up the Fraser River and down into Washington State.”
O’Neill says last year’s event attracted over 500 people and they’re expecting more this year. As well as canoe racing, there will be food trucks, and vendors selling handmade Indigenous jewelry and handcrafts.
According to TWN’s website: “canoe racing has been embedded in our way of life since time out of mind. Racing enjoyed a revival that began in 1910, when former Chief George Sla-holt carved a canoe he named “Earwigs” that soon earned a reputation as an exceptional racing vessel.”
Some years these sleek, narrow racing canoes are dwarfed by massive oil tankers, in other years they might share the inlet with the whales.
The health of the Burrard Inlet is also improving. The clams are returning after a kelp restoration project began last year, and O’Neill says they now see orcas two or three times a month in the inlet.
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Wonderful to see Bruce’s work capture the moment in time 🙂 I work at ABC Photocolour, and meet him through Brian S.
Would like to get in contact 🙂
Hey, Janice!
Been awhile sine we sat down with the airbrush and enjoyed your wonderful lasagna together! I no longer see Brian, but he was there for my Dollarton show at Presentation House Gallery and again at SFU Gallery a few years earlier. I am now old and retired to Victoria area and am ‘Photo-illustrating’, combining traditional film and digital platforms. I rarely get out of the house – my wife Denise keeps working on that problem! I have not been to Vancouver for almost ten years and no longer travel anywhere. I have found a brand-new birth family I never knew I had and we connect all the while via zoom calls and email. I would like to hear from you and am surprised and delighted you are still working for ABC! Drop a line! Cheers-bruce
I know people on some
Of these photos… what beautiful captures!! Thanks for sharing !!
My pleasure, I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
These photos are a real treasure.
Looking around at historic local race photos and these are exceptional images. What a joy to see the details so spectacularly from 56 years ago, in the pre-autofocus and amazing film era. Did Bruce shoot any other canoe races in North Van?