This year, NIȽ TU,O Child and Family Services Society (NIȽ TU,O) canoe ŚW̱ELO₭E (family) participated in our second Tribal Journeys, creating a powerful opportunity for the youth NIȽ TU,O supports to stay connected to community and culture.

NIȽ TU,O provides Family Strengthening and Support Services to the youth and families of SC’IȺNEW̱, BOḰEĆEN, W̱JOȽEȽP, SȾÁUTW̱, Songhees, W̱SÍ,ḴEM and T’Sou-ke. NIȽ TU,O works to ensure all services are culturally safe, and provides plentiful opportunities for youth and families to connect to culture through craft events, language lessons and more. Recently NIȽ TU,O added Tribal Journeys one of these opportunities.

Tribal Journeys is an annual canoe journey event that connects relatives across communities and revitalizes culture. Every year, Tribal Journeys canoe families from communities across the region paddle hundreds of miles through Coast Salish territory to a shared destination. Participants stop at communities along the way to practice protocol, share meals and build relationships.

The journey to NIȽ TU,O’s participation in this important traditional practice began in 2023, when NIȽ TU,O began building its two canoes: SW̱EW̱OET (Thunder) and XENEḴT E TŦE SW̱EW̱OET (Lightning).

Coast Salish carvers and artisans Len Morris, Luke Marsden and Chazz Elliott crafted and painted the canoes, sometimes with the help of the children attending NIȽ TU,O’s culture camps. Each canoe is carved from raw cedar logs and painted to depict elements of the traditional W̱SÁNEĆ Great Flood Story.

In 2025, NIȽ TU,O held a Blessing Ceremony for the canoes and, in 2024, TELTÁLEMOT shared a song for the NIȽ TU,O canoe ŚW̱ELO₭E to sing together when paddling.

After much planning and practice, NIȽ TU,O paddled the canoes in Tribal Journeys 2025 for the first time. NIȽ TU,O’s land crew and paddle crew included staff members, several youth NIȽ TU,O works with, community members, skippers, Elders and family members. The NIȽ TU,O canoe ŚW̱ELO₭E participated in three days of Tribal Journeys, traveling to Tsawout, Fort Rodd Hill and, finally, SĆIȺNEW̱. Despite encountering challenges along the way, including a tsunami warning, the paddle was a success. In the words of Ashley Morris, NIȽ TU,O’s Executive Director:

We learned so much by participating in our first Tribal Journeys last year — the kids and staff all had a blast learning together! It was heartwarming to see so many of the youth grow over the weeks of practice and then paddling as a team through the stages we joined.

This year NIȽ TU,O participated in Tribal Journeys once again, this time with the benefit of the many learnings from the 2025 paddle. The NIȽ TU,O canoe ŚW̱ELO₭E, made up of NIȽ TU,O’s staff and youth who wanted to gain experience on the water, practiced weekly to prepare and had Elders and experienced canoe ŚW̱ELO₭E members provide important support and knowledge.

NIȽ TU,O’s participation in Tribal Journeys 2026 took place on two sections of the journey, arriving in SȾÁUTW̱ on the first day and then SC’IȺNEW̱ on the second. The NIȽ TU,O canoe ŚW̱ELO₭E left from Tulista in the early afternoon and traveled the calm, glassy waters towards SȾÁUTW̱, where approximately 40 community members waited for the ŚW̱ELO₭E’s arrival under bright, blue skies. Spirits were high on the canoe as SȾÁUTW̱’s shores came into view. The ŚW̱ELO₭E received a warm greeting with drumming and singing from SȾÁUTW̱ community members.

SȾÁUTW̱ hosted a celebration for the paddlers at the SȾÁUTW̱ Big House. Roughly 250 people gathered, some in full regalia, for a feast, protocol, storytelling, dancing, and drumming.

The second day’s journey from SȾÁUTW̱ to SC’IȺNEW̱ was a long one. The crew was welcomed ashore by community members, enjoyed an evening meal with fellow paddlers, and spent time in the SC’IȺNEW̱ Big House for protocol before making their weary way home to rest up.

Through participation in Tribal Journeys, youth learned to paddle together, reconnected with relatives and culture, and built discipline, confidence, and determination. As Kathy Horne, one of NIȽ TU,O’s Elders in Residence, shared during NIȽ TU,O’s preparation for Tribal Journeys 2025:

Tribal Journeys is such a wonderful celebration for all of our Tribes, all of our communities. It brings all of our Tribes together, all of our Nations together to share our paddling culture and strengthens our youth so they can have the self determination and power to be who they are and celebrate who they are. It’s a very wonderful gathering. It’s very uplifting. Bringing our youth together like this is a very powerful thing and I really am proud to be part of NIȽ TU,O. They are always looking forward to the future for all of the youth.

To stay up to date on this story and NIȽ TU,O’s ongoing work supporting Coast Salish children and families to stay connected to community and culture, be sure to sign up for the NIȽ TU,O newsletter.