Canoe connects Uchucklesaht citizens to their territory – Victoria – Times Colonist
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PORT ALBERNI — At the beginning of January, Hipolite Williams began carving a 35-foot ceremonial canoe for Uchucklesaht Nation. Through winter, spring, summer and fall, he and his apprentice, Cooper Styan, worked daily carving the red cedar canoe for the community.
Once complete, the canoe will be used for canoe journeys, training exercises and to promote Uchucklesaht tourism, the nation says.
The log, chosen by Williams and sourced from C̕awak ʔqin Forestry, was 45 feet long, five feet at the base, and 3.5 to four feet at the top, weighing 16,000 pounds, said Ryan Anaka, director of lands and resources for Uchucklesaht.
The work is taking place in a carving tent at the Nucii building in Port Alberni, a former elementary school that’s been transformed by the Uchucklesaht into a multi-use building.
Williams, a member of the Huu-ay-aht First Nations, said the log had a perfect “half moon kind of shape” on one side. “Each log, even if it looks perfect on the outside, changes when you open it up.”
Williams, who has been carving since 1995, said it’s difficult to get the kind of log that would have been chosen traditionally, so the primary focus is to choose one with fewer knots.
At the bow of the canoe is a thunderbird, carved from the strongest and heaviest part of the log. The weight in that location helps to carry the canoe forward, said Williams. Along the canoe is a sea serpent and a killer whale to tell the Uchucklesaht origin story.
In October, Williams and Styan tested the canoe in the water. “With just the two of us paddling, it was really fast, really stable … and went straight,” Williams said. “Ticked all the boxes.”
Wilfred Cootes of the Uchucklesaht Tribal Government said the canoe weighed about 1,000 pounds, “so they took about 15,000 pounds of material away,”
With the addition of seats, the canoe is expected to weigh roughly 1,500 pounds, he said.
Cootes said it’s rewarding to see youth tour the site and meet Williams and Styan while they bring the canoe to life.
“I absolutely love walking into the tent and smelling the cedar and it really brings so much joy,” he said. “And to see that the cultural aspect of our people come back alive again.”
Styan, a Uchucklesaht member, is Williams’s first full-time student. “I figured it’s my duty to learn, to teach,” Williams said. “That’s my favourite part, teaching. I want to teach more and more.”
Elders have said it’s likely 50 to 75 years since Uchucklesaht has last seen a community canoe of this calibre to gather around, Anaka said.
Cootes said aside from canoe journeys, the project’s goal is to try to “reconnect our citizens and our youth, especially our youth, to the lands and especially the waters. To give them those skills and bring that part of their culture back to the children has always been a dream.”
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