Outside the Sliammon Salish Centre, Tla’amin First Nation, Sergeant Wally Argent sits perched amid a sea of papers on the bumper of a white hatchback. It’s just after lunch on June 12 but the 32-year veteran of Vancouver Police Department still has food on his mind.
Argent may be the commander of a team of highly-trained police officers back in Vancouver, but come July 3, he will be directing a group of volunteers and amateur cooks for eight days in the Salish Centre’s kitchen. His mission: planning, calculating and organizing two meals and a packed lunch per day for the 270 participants in this year’s Pulling Together canoe journey.
Fast forward two weeks and that day is nearly here. On Tuesday, Argent will be metres from his car and miles from his home in Vancouver. And he couldn’t be happier.
Pulling Together is a special event, almost indescribable it seems, “until you just pick up a paddle and experience it for yourself.” At least, that’s according to Argent, and he’s been doing this for a while.
“I joined in about 10 years ago,” he said. “I came to paddle one year and then they found out I wasn’t a bad cook and organizer and I’ve been cooking ever since. I absolutely love it. It’s the most worthwhile thing I’ve done in policing. What makes you keep coming back is watching the attitudes change.”
Pulling Together aims to improve relations between RCMP, first nation youth and their communities. Moving forward from the mistakes of the past is not always easy, and peeling back layers of resentment and replacing them with new layers of trust can take time.
“It’s a slow progression of building trust,” said Argent. “That’s all we’re looking for. I’m not going to affect everybody’s life. Some people still walk away...If I can’t change your attitude, I’m sorry, but some I do.”
Pulling Together Canoe Society president Jolene Andrew has experienced this change in attitude first-hand. She began as a youth representative on the journey seven years ago and has since taken the leadership reins of the society that co-organizes it with Collingwood Neighbourhood House and the RCMP.
“It actually did change my perspective of police and what their role in the community is,” she said. “Being an aboriginal youth in the Okanagan and in Vancouver where you see the mistreatment of aboriginal people, especially young aboriginal people, it gets quite frustrating and you kind of lose sight of what the greater efforts are of our public service agencies like the police.
“I’ve come to really respect their work and how difficult it is, but also outside of that in witnessing the work that’s being done,” she added. “Not only are the journeys a relationship-building opportunity to...create a better and deeper understanding of two different cultures, two different ways of living coming together and learning from each other, but it’s the spiritual part of the journey that really changes a lot of people’s lives—sharing that experience and sharing that spiritual connection alongside others who are feeling that same spirit. That’s where people start to break down the walls or become open to learning why police might do what they do or try to understand why first nations people have such a big gap between the non-aboriginal population in socio-economic ways and other ways.”
Argent said the journey has changed the attitudes of his officers as well. “I get officers that work the Downtown Eastside but they grew up in West Vancouver or somewhere else. Their notion of a native Indian person is the drunk that they pick up on the Downtown Eastside or what they see in the city. [These officers] have never stepped onto a reserve.
“So when they come [on a journey] and have their first time in a longhouse and all the rest of it, when they go back to work downtown they have a different empathy and a different way of talking.”
Empathy is truly the foundation of the journey and the reconciliation it strives for. Respect isn’t too far behind. Since the first Pulling Together journey in 1997, organizers have placed great care in closely following the traditions and protocol of the various nations visited on the journeys each year.
The last time Pulling Together took place on Tla’amin territory was in 2006. Paddlers made only a brief overnight stop before continuing on to other communities. Each canoe family presented their canoe in the traditional way and asked permission before coming ashore. Argent said that in some communities, this has often been the first time the proper protocol has been followed in decades.
This year, the journey will stay in the Powell River area for its entire eight-day duration and paddlers will be housed and fed in Tla’amin. Participants will cover an average of 20 kilometres per day over five paddling days—Okeover to Lund, Lund to Tla’amin, Tla’amin to Powell River, Powell River to Palm Beach, and Palm Beach to Saltery Bay. Tla’amin will have three canoes participating in the journey this year.
Tla’amin Chief Clint Williams said he was looking forward to the journey’s return to the community. “We’re excited for this event...and we want to be good hosts and see it be very successful. We’re excited to share our culture, songs and most of all the beautiful scenery around here.”
Argent did little to hide his own excitement. “We’ve never been hosted like this, ever,” he said. “This is like a dream come true.”
But the dreams don’t end there. Argent said he hopes that at least one youth participating in the journey will discover that there is another side to the RCMP, or even another side to his or her own self. Over the years, many youth have come to build a better relationship with the officers on the journey and a few have even been known to give them a hug on the final day, as long as no one is looking.
Others have even gone on to become RCMP or Department of Fisheries and Oceans officers themselves.
“That’s a biggie around here,” Argent chuckled. “But those are the legacies that happen on these journeys. It stems from the baby steps that start here. That’s what it’s all about, that’s why we keep coming back.”
For more information on the Pulling Together journey, interested readers may visit the organization's website. Spectators are welcome, particularly as canoes reach the shores of Willingdon Beach at 2:30 pm on Friday, July 6 and the shores of Palm Beach at 3 pm on Sunday, July 8. Volunteers and financial donations are also encouraged and residents who would like to lend a hand or sponsor a meal may call the Tla’amin band office at 604.483.9696.
