1st ocean-going canoe in decades being built in BC First Nation

On a grey autumn weekend in early October, Kitamaat Village is the picture of tranquility.

The waters of the Douglas Channel of B.C.'s North Coast are so still, they perfectly reflect the mountains above them and the fishing boats moored to docks at the southernmost end of the village.

The occasional pickup truck winds its way through the community of about 700 people, but only one sound consistently disrupts the calm— the rhythmic and resounding thunk coming from Kah Kah neese Baba’o Tomé Cordeiro’s front yard.

He’s barely visible, hunched over as he carves out the base of the cedar canoe, his face in shadow under a woven cedar bark hat. It’s a labour of love and importance in a First Nation that, like many across Canada, has had to work too hard to pass on its traditions through the crippling impacts of colonization.

He's one of two men revitalizing an ancient craft, building what's believed to be the first ocean-going canoe built in the Haisla Nation in 30 years. Elizabeth McSheffrey has more on their labour of love and reclamation.

For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/10005495/haisla-nation-canoe-building-bc/

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