Youth at the Center of the 2024 Paddle to Puyallup

When the Ahousaht First Nations announced they would not be hosting Canoe Journey 2024 as previously announced, it didn’t take long for the Puyallup Tribe to step up. A journey centered on tribal youth will have a ceremonial landing in Puyallup on July 31. Protocol will be Aug 1-5, 9am-11pm, and there will be time slots assigned so people can tell their communities when they will be on the floor.

The Suquamish Cultural Resources Dept. decided to keep the Suquamish hosting to one day to allow resources needed to repair q’al’qaləxič, one of the tribe’s two cedar carved canoes. Hosting in Suquamish will take place on July 28 only. The Suquamish canoes plan to stop at Blake Island on July 29, reaching Puyallup for a soft landing on July 30.

Puyallup organizers estimate there will be 50-60 canoes and 5,000 people participating.

Youth Focus

The focus of the 2024 journey will be on youth. At a Skippers meeting on March 17, Connie McCloud, Puyallup Heritage Division Manager, encouraged canoe families to put young people in positions of leadership during the journey. Her team will be offering a booklet on traditional teachings of the canoe, and plan a special ceremony for young people who participate.

“It takes a village to raise a child. It takes a canoe family to support one another and teach our children the positive roles and responsibilities of being on the canoe and traveling with the canoe family,” the organizers said in a statement.

Children live in a world that is moving fast, McCloud said. “We want to wrap the spirit of the canoe journey around these young people, and protect them, and we want them to carry on these ways.”

Including young people in foster care is a special priority, she said, including those who are outside the care of their community and culture. There’s a need to wrap their parents, too, and to heal our families, she said.

“We are looking forward to centering our Suquamish youth, even more so than we normally do,” said Tribal Council Treasurer Denita Holmes, who also heads Suquamish Cultural Events.

“You don’t have to be an experienced puller to go on journey — there will be practice sessions starting soon during Culture Nights,” Holmes said. “There are lots of ways to get involved, on the water and on ground crew.”

Youth and their families can contact the Family and Friends Center at (360) 394-8576 to learn more. Adults can contact Denita Holmes at dholmes@suquamish.nsn.us.

Upcoming dates:

Suquamish canoes will be woken up on April 3 during Culture Night at the House of Awakened Culture. Practices will take place during Culture nights and on Sundays at 10am and Wednesdays at 5pm. The Canoe Family will meet next on April 29.

If you want to be notified of these and other events leading up to the Paddle to Puyallup, make sure you are signed up for SUN and have checked “Suquamish Canoe Family” at suquamish.nsn.us/ suquamish-updates-now.

Suquamish is invited to cold water training on April 20 to practice safety protocols and a skippers meeting on April 21 at Swinomish.

Muckleshoot will host a skippers meeting on May 19.

Email Eventvendors@puyalluptribe-nsn.gov to sign up as a vendor. Canoe family members will get priority as vendors.

By Sarah van Gelder