It’s been almost three decades since the Musqueam community has been able to get race canoes back in the water, but competition is finally set to resume in July.
“Me and my father had the dream of restoring the canoes in our community,” Kelly Louis, who raced in the late 1980s early 1990s, told Global News.
Musqueam youth of all ages will be racing this summer, continuing an incredible history, from the dominant teams that paddled the canoe called “Point Grey” at the turn of the 20th century to the “Seven Sisters” dynasty of the 1960s early 1970s.
“The first race we went to we won, We won every race after that,” Dick Louis who raced on the “Seven Sisters,” said.
Dick and his son Kelly spent years trying to find suitable canoes. Now they have two boats, the “Endeavor” and the “Celtic Sunset.”
“That was to honour the person who built it,” Kelly said. “He was the canoe builder in this community.”
Now Dick Louis will carve the first big racing canoes in the community in 40 years, turning a seven-tonne red cedar into two 11-person canoes for future generations to race.
“To build a canoe here is really important to me,” Dick said. “Because once we lost our uncles there were no canoe builders.”
And so after a long break, the storied tradition will finally continue this summer.
“We’re more like a family than a team at this point. We’re working really well together, it’s really great,” Charles Stewart, one of the youth set to compete in his first race, said.
“It’s given me a lot of motivation and I’m super pumped,” Teammate Sylvia Miller said.
“We can’t wait, we’re counting down the days now.”