Students and staff from qathet School District’s Gije (Land) Academy, members of the Powell River RCMP and Tla’amin community members met at Mowat Bay on June 24 to launch a cedar dugout canoe (chaputs) that the students had completed after working on it for the past year.
“This was an amazing day,” stated RCMP constable Chris Bakker, in a media release. “I don’t think the students will ever forget this day and the culmination of all their hard work, the teachings they received, and the satisfaction of doing an amazing project from start to finish. The students were so proud of what they had done and what they had learned along the way."
Corey Gordon, the teacher at the Gije Academy, approached Bakker in 2023 to plan the project and work on securing funding for it. Several contributors, including Tla’amin Nation, qathet School District, Thichum Forestry and RCMP Indigenous Policing Services were able to provide funding in 2024 to make the idea a reality.
Joe Martin, a Tla-o-qui-aht elder and master canoe carver, came to the community to work with the students, teach them how to carve and provide teachings on canoe carving.
“We couldn’t have completed our chaputs project without the support of Chris Bakker and the RCMP; it was a genuine act of reconciliation, and for that, I am truly grateful,” stated Gordon. “Carving a dugout red cedar canoe and learning the process from elder Joe Martin is an experience these students will carry with them for the rest of their lives.”
To honour the teachings taken from this journey, the Gije students burned the Four R’s of the Gije Academy onto each seat of the chaputs: respect, reciprocity, relevance and responsibility.
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