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.