As we pull across the Salish Sea we become more engaged with one another and even more so with ourselves. Mother Nature has provided an abundance of blessings that cascade throughout each and every one of us.

As the days go by our bodies, minds and spirits feel the wear and tear of long hard pulls against the waves, the currents and the winds. Not to mention the sweltering heat all taking its toll on everyone. On the shores of the Lummi Nation, we were joined by a dozen other canoe families and greeted by beautiful people and songs, and hundreds of smiling faces; it all starts making sense.

As with every journey of self-discovery comes more challenges than the mind and heart can handle. At times you become the challenge and can’t even recognize a way through, until the culture pulls you through each and every emotion you need to experience.

Our pull from Shell Beach to Cowichan was a sunny day filled with emotions. Our children really filled themselves with goodness as we left Stz’uminus; it helped carry us across the ocean on a very positive note. The sun, the wind, the energy and a group of hard working kids pulling together made for a special day.

The sun was shining, the kids were smiling, and uy shqwalawun filled the air as we embarked on day one of our 15 day paddle. The kids were up bright and early ready to take the waters, and everyone readied to pull together in more ways than one.

Being a part of a canoe family and having to follow on land is a different experience. Still rewarding in its own right, but it feels as though you are only 1/4 of the full family. You unload and unpack all the gear of the family, you set up the kitchen and the tents and then you wait.

From July 16th to August 1st, the Kw’umut Lelum canoe family travels from Kulleet Bay in Stz’uminus all the way to Puyallup in Washington State. This Journey takes us along the watery highway of our ancestors, in a cedar canoe carved by Luke and John Marston with help from our own KL youth.

The program brings together elders, parents and children to play, teach and learn. Kw’umut Lelum’s 4 Seasons Early Years team partnered with Tillicum Lelum to help bring this opportunity to our families in Stz’uminus and to see if this might be a valuable program to bring to our other member nations in the future.

Carver Luke Marston makes the final cut to our enormous cedar log that will eventually become Kw'umut Lelums new Tribal Journey canoe.

Slhexun’s tthu Xpey’ (Medicine of the Cedar) is a youth leadership development project rooted in Coast Salish teachings and traditions and focused on the creation and journey of a cedar canoe for Kwumut Lelum’s Tribal Journeys ahead.