8
AUGUST 15, 2012
Smoke Signals
AUGUST 15, 2012
(MOKE 3IGNALS
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Grand Ronde Canoe Family member Kim Roybal, carrying har four-month-old
tha shawl song during tha family's protocol for Paddla to Squaxin 201 2 at tha
Wash., on Wadnasday, Aug. 1.
Photos by Michelle Alaimo
daughter Eva Rosa Jurado, dances to
Squaxin Island Community in Kamilche,
JOURNEY continued
from front page
family who come every year and
to every location along the way in
support of the journey.
"Physically, it's pretty rough,"
said Cristina Lara, 28, a Youth
Prevention staff member and one
of the polers. "You definitely have
to have some endurance. It can get
really painful, but when you get to
your destination, it's well worth it.
The physical stuff goes away. Your
heart's lifted."
"It gets tough," said Kyoni Mer
rier, 14, "but I keep praying and
thinking about what our ancestors
went through. There are Elders
nowadays (to remember) who are
in wheelchairs, and they can't ex
perience it."
A Grand Ronde crew of about
75 came together on shore. They
included those from the canoe and
support boat, the shore-bound sup
port crew, many staying the night
in a tent, Elders and children,
and a delegation of three from the
30,000-member Maori nation of Te
Aupouri from the far north of New
Zealand.
The festivities also included West
Linn, a city that normally does not
allow overnight camping in this
park. The city made an exception
for the Tribe to make a larger
point.
"One of the things we're really
trying to do," said West Linn Coun
cilor Jody Carson, "is to get people
aware of our history. This river goes
by this town. Here's this huge natu
ral phenomenon, a gathering place
for Tribes back to time immemorial;
an integral part of our history; and
half the people in town don't even
know there's a falls here."
Poler Heyaza Brien, 15, had an
eagle feather he found in the water
"two or three corners down." He
was planning to put it in the back
of a cedar headband.
"It feels nice and peaceful out
when you are paddling," Brien said.
"You hear the fish and the birds
jumping out of the water. You see
a deer sometimes; eagles, turkey
buzzards, a whole bunch of turkey
buzzards."
Brien has participated in two pre
vious canoe journeys. "Year after
year, I feel a little more connected
with the water and the birds."
"I think it's cool we're in the Wil
lamette, in one of our waterways,"
said Tribal Council member Chris
Merrier, who was out to welcome
the Canoe Family.
"Sometimes, we grow up not
knowing where we belong," said
Lara, "but when I first did the
journey, I was hooked. I saw all the
canoes coming in at Suquamish,
and I was immediately ... I felt this
is where I need to be. This is where
I know I belong."
'They say that us teens are a re
flection of our ancestors," said Kyoni
Mercier, also poling that day.
West Linn City Councilor Jody
Carson, second from left, says
a few words after Tribal Council
member Chris Mercier, left, gifted
her a necklace during her visit to
the Grand Ronde Canoe Family's
overnight stop at Willamette Park
in West Linn on Tuesday, July 24,
while on the Paddle to Squaxin 201 2
Canoe Journey.
Lara and Mercier each have par
ticipated in previous Grand Ronde
Canoe Family journeys; Lara for
seven years and Mercier for all
eight that the Tribe has partici
pated in.
"Each year is different," Lara
said, "even though it's the same.
You're traveling with different
people. The kids are growing up
and now they have a role. We have
to take care of the Elders and take
care of the children in the best way
we know. Everyone has to help.
Everyone has a role."
"It's good seeing the little ones
come in," said Kyoni. "It feels amaz
ing. This year, six were on hand who
have participated in every previous
canoe journey: Dave Fullerton, the
Tribe's Social Services manager;
Travis Mercier, a Tribal Education
staff member, and Canoe skipper
Bobby Mercier, a Cultural Resourc
es staff member; Bobby's daughter,
Kyoni; Pam McDaniel; and Raven
Harmon, Fullerton's stepdaughter
and daughter of Crystal Szczepan
ski, who is head teacher in the
Tribal Chinuk Wawa Immersion
program.
"We're still brand new to it," Lara
, - -I riv .'V--"! -
irrr' - 1 Trrr:....rz. i
Tribal Elder Frank Simmons, middle sitting, listens and watches as the Grand
Ronde Canoe Family performs a veterans song to honor veterans during
their protocol for Paddle to Squaxin 2012 at the Squaxin Island Community
in Kamilche, Wash., on Wednesday, Aug. 1 .
Grand Ronde Canoe Family member Anna Jeffers dances during the family's
protocol for the Paddle to Squaxin 201 2 Canoe Journey at the Squaxin Island
Community in Kamilche, Wash., on Wednesday, Aug. 1.
,ftvN ill
said. The Grand Ronde
Tribe first participated in
the northwest Tribal canoe
journey in 2005. The event
has been ongoing for 21
years.
The cultural exchange
with the Maoris, an ex
change in its fourth year,
has brought the two ab
original peoples closer
with the sharing of gifts
and lifeways.
"A lot of what is hap
pening here is happening
where we live, too," said
Chappy Harrison, a Maori visiting
Grand Ronde for the first time. 'The
same spirituality and the same con
nection to our ancestors."
"When you're paddling, you feel
like your ancestors have come with
you," said Rotchal Kite, also in his
first year from New Zealand. "Lis
tening to Bobby at the longhouse,
it seems your culture is very much
like ours."
Joe Conrad, who is back for the
second year and leads the cultural
exchange for the Maoris, said that
the wakas in New Zealand and
canoe journeys here have this in
common: they are part of the pro
cess of "maintaining the links that
our ancestors have given us."
Those links also include estab
lishing relationships with all the
other aboriginal groups that live on
the Pacific Ocean, he said.
Wakas, in New Zealand, and
canoe journeys here, he said, "go
a way to fulfilling the responsibili
ties to our children. I've seen the
v o
ii ii i i ii ; r 'j
AsW W Jl
Si jym
Grand Ronde Canoe Family members, from left, Kyoni Mercier, Andrea Grijalva, SuSun Fisher and Raven Harmon dance a
co-ed dance during the family's protocol for Paddle to Squaxin 2012 at the Squaxin Island Community in Kamilche, Wash., on
Wednesday, Aug. 1 .
VMuh&rrihes
page to see more phonos
benefits of changed lives; I've seen
some of our children who have been
thrown on the trash heap by our
justice system become leaders in
their communities.
"Why can't our system give these
children a second chance? This
(canoe journey) is their second
chance."
Elder Dolores Parmenter "started
going on journeys to honor my
grandmother, Mary Esther Jones
LaBonte. When I was a child, she
helped raise me in a log house 20
miles up Little River on Thunder
Mountain, near the town of Glide.
"A lot of our culture is lost, so
I'd go to other territories to learn
maybe how we were, and how we
did." The canoe journeys, with the
joining of many Tribal cultures, are
part of that. "The Maoris have been
coming and it's good to learn about
their culture.
"Every year, we try to make
something from our culture to give
to them."
Last year, Parmenter made a
dentalium hat as a gift. She also
gifted a texturing adze. Brian
Krehbiel, she remembered, made
a miniature paddle out of bone as
part of a necklace which he gifted.
"Everybody has their own cul
tural gift," Parmenter said.
"I would like to raise my hand and
give thanks to the people that take
us on this journey: Dave Fullerton,
Lisa Leno, Kristi Petite and many,
many that are not mentioned. It is
because of that support and their
sacrifices that we can all go on this
journey. This is for everybody, but
most important for our youth. Com
pleting a long journey takes a lot of
strength and teaches lessons from
beginning to end. It's important to
know these things in this life. In
doing that, they're honoring our
MMTnTlliiiiiiii"'i'"i;TTniBri
Stankiya, the Grand Ronde Canoe Family canoe, fourth from right, lines the shore with canoes that traveled a similar
route on the Paddle to Squaxin 201 2 Canoe Journey during Landing Day protocol in Olympia, Wash., on Sunday, July 29.
ancestors," said Parmenter.
"As an Elder on the journey,"
she said, "maybe I can show them
how to walk in life. How to carry
yourself. Have respect. Honor other
people and listen to them."
Shannon Stanton, 44, has been
one of the Canoe Journey's regular
cooks. "I just wanted to be more
active in the community," she ex
plained, "and the culture."
"It's hard to explain unless you
go and do it," said Jade Unger,
34. This was Unger's first year
as a poler, although he has come
in support of polers before. "It's
healing. From the daily grind, ev
erything going so fast, here, you're
singing songs, enjoying nature.
It's the best therapy I can think
of. Makes you feel connected with
everyone."
"I love canoe journey," said Raven
Harmon, who at 12 is already one
of the old-timers with the canoe
journeys. "I get to be around all
my friends and family. They make
me happy. It's a huge campout, but
better."
She acknowledged, however, that
Canoe Journey is not as easy for her
as it once was.
"It gets harder every year because
I'm getting older," she said. This
year, she did a little paddling but
"mostly hung out in the support
boat."
On Wednesday, July 25, the Ca
noe Family stopped at Kelly Point
Park in Portland on their way
northward across the Columbia
River.
In four more days, on Sunday,
July 29, the canoes landed at Olym
pia, Wash., and traveled several
miles to Kamilche where days of
protocol awaited.
On Wednesday, Aug. 1, with
songs and gifts, the Grand Ronde
Canoe Family renewed connec
tions in the traditional ways during
protocol. B