X’oots kuye’ik awakened: Tribal citizens go ‘paddles up’ in canoe created by the late Marvin E. Oliver

Dec 15, 2023

A crew paddles the Ketchikan Indian Community canoe X’oots kuye’ik (Brown Bear Spirit) through Bar Harbor during the Canoe Awakening and Launch Celebration on Friday, June 2, 2023.

Staff photo by Christopher Mullen

More than 100 people participated in the awakening and launch of the new Ketchikan Indian Community canoe X’oots kuye’ik (Brown Bear Spirit) on Friday. Tribal citizens blessed the new 36-foot canoe with cedar boughs. Attendees witnessed the canoe's naming by Richard and Willard Jackson of the Taant'a Ḵwáan (Tongass Tribe) Teikweidí (Brown Bear) clan.

The ceremony honored the life and work of Marvin E. Oliver, who created the 36-foot fiberglass canoe in Haida style with formline designs of running salmon on the bow and stern. Oliver, who was born in 1946 and died in 2019 in Washington, was a world-renowned Indigenous artist and carver who belonged to the Quinault and Isleta Pueblo tribes, and created sculptures, prints and large-installation art in traditional Northwest Coast styles.

In 1989, Oliver's father, Emmett Oliver, established the Paddle to Seattle that affected a resurgence of canoe carving and travel for Indigenous people in the region and set the stage for the annual Tribal Canoe Journey that a different Native nation hosts on the northwest coast each year.

Brigette Ellis, Gianna Willard and Marilyn Oliver Bard share about artist Marvin Oliver, who created the Ketchikan Indian Community's X’oots kuye’ik (Brown Bear Spirit) canoe during the Canoe Awakening and Launch Celebration at the KIC Tribal Health Clinic building on Friday, June 2, 2023.

Staff photo by Christopher Mullen

Oliver's family participated in the canoe-naming and blessing on Friday. Family included his sister Marylin Oliver Bard, his children Brian, Isadora and Sampson Oliver and his spouse Brigette Ellis. Isadora Oliver, who belongs to the Chinook Indian Nation and the Isleta Pueblo people of New Mexico, told the Daily News that she was a part of a recent Tribal Canoe Journey from Puget Sound to Lummi Island.

"I'm grateful that my dad's legacy lives on and brings awareness to the Indigenous community," Oliver said before the ceremony.

KIC purchased the canoe when Oliver offered in 2018 to sell one of his canoes to Gianna Willard, who was serving as KIC Tribal Council president at the time. Willard inspired the Council to purchase a canoe so that tribal citizens in Ketchikan can participate in regional journeys such as the Tribal Canoe Journey or a voyage to Juneau for the Celebration that Sealaska Heritage Institute hosts every other year.

A blessing with cedar bough is given to the Ketchikan Indian Community canoe X’oots kuye’ik (Brown Bear Spirit) during the Canoe Awakening and Launch Celebration at the KIC Tribal Health Clinic building on Friday, June 2, 2023.

Staff photo by Christopher Mullen

KIC is working to become an Alaska host for the 2027 Tribal Canoe Journey between Northwest Coast tribes, which could draw between 3,000 and 5,000 participants to Ketchikan, according to KIC information.

Beginning the 1 p.m. ceremony on Friday, KIC Tribal Council member Gloria Burns acknowledged the Taantʼá Ḵwáan and Saanya Ḵwáan Tlingit people respectively. Burns said that a land acknowledgement is "a first step, that moment of having a conversation about the histories and the people and the love of place."

"We specifically recognize these people – we’re so thankful that we’re able to make our home here in your traditional homeland and that we have the opportunity to take care of the land in the way that you have taken care of this land for generations," Burns said.

KIC Tribal Council President Norman "X’aakw" Skan thanked the people who stepped up to work on acquiring and awakening a canoe "and in a sense, make us whole as a tribe."

"We already have our dance, we have our arts, subsistence foods and this is just another component of the wholeness that we are slowly becoming," Skan said. "We live on the coastline … we have seen so many other tribes with their own canoe ... so we went ahead and got our own and it is going to be such an important component of our culture."

Skan thanked Council members such as Gianna Willard who worked to bring a canoe to KIC, event coordinators who have been meeting to plan the canoe celebration for months, maintenance and facilities crew, KIC staff and volunteers who cooked, prepped, set-up and tore-down for the event.

"We have been very methodical, and we wanted to make sure that all of the right things were in place before the official launch today," Skan said. KIC published a 22-page guide for canoe journeys that explains the tenets of "Our Way of Life" and includes guidance for logistics, protocol, safety, equipment and first aid.

Gianna "SaanuGa" Willard spoke about the life of Marvin Oliver, who created the canoe. She said that Oliver "pushed his way up the ladder," becoming a Professor of American Indian Studies and Art at the University of Washington and creating, curating, spreading and selling art throughout the country and world.

"I’ve known him my whole life and we’re really blessed to have his canoe as a part of our team," Willard said. She said that Marvin helped manage Alaska Eagle Arts Gallery on Creek Street, where his artwork is sold in Ketchikan and which his spouse, Brigette Ellis, owns.

Ellis next thanked her immediate family and her "canoe family" of community members who have paddled and journeyed together.

"It is a momentous day to launch and celebrate Marvin's vision for all of you," Ellis said.

The Ketchikan Indian Community canoe X’oots kuye’ik (Brown Bear Spirit) is carried from the KIC Tribal Health Clinic building to Bar Harbor during the Canoe Awakening and Launch Celebration on Friday.

Staff photo by Christopher Mullen

"The first thing I want to share with you is that you never say the 'b-word,'" Ellis continued. "It's spelled 'b-o-a-t' but we don't say the b-word. In traditional canoe culture, a canoe is always a canoe, and never the b-word. It is said that if a paddler speaks of the vessel as a b-word, that paddler will be thrown into the water. You learn really fast to call it a canoe at all times."

Ellis said that the canoe Marvin Oliver created is "situated in the traditional form of an ocean-going canoe of this area." She said that the design of "running salmon down the bow and the stern of the canoe celebrates and honors the eternal significance of the salmon to our culture."

"Each canoe can hold 10 pullers and a skipper and more in the middle," Ellis said. "They are functional and able to traverse the strong Southeast waters just as traditional canoes did. Oliver attributes his connection to canoes to his own Salish heritage and through his father's creation of the annual canoe journey that continues to uplift potlatching culture throughout the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Marvin also envisions a canoe that would last generations of time with little or no upkeep.

The Ketchikan Indian Community canoe X’oots kuye’ik (Brown Bear Spirit) is carried from the KIC Tribal Health Clinic building to Bar Harbor during the Canoe Awakening and Launch Celebration on Friday, June 2, 2023.

Staff photo by Christopher Mullen

"The canoe revitalization will empower the youth, that's what he and I had in mind, to carry these important traditions forward," Ellis said. "It's the canoe that fosters a healthy sense of identity among young Indigenous people. Those youth that struggle emotionally come together and say ‘canoe culture is a life-changing event.’ We also say ‘paddles up.’"

Marylin Oliver Bard spoke about her father Emmett Oliver's legacy creating the 1989 Paddle to Seattle that sparked the annual Tribal Canoe Journey and traditional ceremonies that surround it.

"My father was the coordinator for the Paddle to Seattle in 1989 when there were only about 20 canoes that landed on the beach in Washington state," Oliver Bard said. "In 2012, there were 103 canoes that landed in Olympia. We are getting ready for the Paddle to Muckleshoot that will be landing at Alki (Beach) on July 30 and so far, there are 70 families and 120 canoes that will be landing on that day. You can see what this has created for the future."

Oliver Bard told the Daily News that seven days of traditional protocol will follow the Canoe Journey landing at Alki Beach this year.

"What I want to tell you today very simply is that tribal journey is all about pulling together physically, mentally and spiritually," Oliver Bard told the crowd on Friday. "Strong in culture, a personal journey, smiling with pride and a sense of hope for the future. I wish this for your canoe families and for your community. We look forward to 2027 Paddle to Ketchikan."

Then, Skan introduced Ahl'lidaaw Gitnack'angeak who led a spoken prayer in Sm'álgyax (Tsimshian) "welcoming our new relative" the canoe.

"Shining chief of the skies, stand beside us as we honor this amazing canoe and thank you to the red cedar, our tree of life for giving us everything that we live in and wear and our beautiful canoes on the sea," Ahl'lidaaw Gitnack'angeak said. "Awesome canoe, thank you for coming to this village. For far too long, you sat on the hill. We will remember your family, the good people of the Coast Salish and the Quinault Nations. We will remember your brother, Marvin Oliver, who brought so much joy and light to our community. … We know you are fast. Take care of our youth and elders and take care of those who ride in you. We have a lot of love and respect for you."

People sang a blessing song, blessed the canoe with cedar boughs and placed a cedar ring on the bow of the canoe.

Before naming the canoe, Willard Jackson spoke about carrying a canoe 200 yards over boulders when he departed Angoon for a canoe voyage.

"Today we’re just carrying it on the blacktop to the water," Jackson said. "It's a beautiful day to be putting this boat in the water. It's getting blessed by the name as well as by you."

A canoe X’oots kuye’ik (Brown Bear Spirit) is carried from the KIC Tribal Health Clinic building to Bar Harbor during the Canoe Awakening and Launch Celebration on Friday. See related story below.

Staff photo by Christopher Mullen

Jackson led the crowd to repeat the Lingít name for Brown Bear Spirit, X’oots kuye’ik, three times.

"The Lingít name for this canoe is Brown Bear Spirit," Jackson said. "Brown Bear Spirit, the way I see it, it's a brown bear watching over you as you make your journey. He is your protector on the water. He is your protector on this canoe."

Richard Jackson spoke about welcoming canoe voyagers to Saxman, and helping people select spruce logs that were used to build traditional canoes for the Polynesian Voyaging Society.

Willard Jackson gives instructions as he stands in the Ketchikan Indian Community canoe X’oots kuye’ik (Brown Bear Spirit) as it is carried from the KIC Tribal Health Clinic building to Bar Harbor during the Canoe Awakening and Launch Celebration on Friday, June 2, 2023.

Staff photo by Christopher Mullen

With the Canoe Awakening Celebration on Friday, KIC also anticipates the arrival of the Polynesian Voyaging Society's Hōkūle’a crew in Ketchikan on their 47-month, 43,000-nautical mile Moananuiākea Voyage (Voyage for the Earth) aboard two traditional Polynesian voyaging canoes.

According to KIC information, the Hōkūle’a crew is currently set to arrive in Ketchikan on June 30. KIC tribal citizens will welcome the Polynesian paddlers by canoe outside Ward Cove, according to Skan.

Richard Jackson also spoke about the name of the canoe, X’oots kuye’ik.

"When I think of the canoe I think of my mother Esther Shea," Jackson said. "She wrote a song that we will sing. The song she wrote was the bear stands up because the bear was in his den sleeping, hibernating, kind of representative of the clan. In 1989 he woke up. … and we helped put up the Kadjuk Pole (for the Kadjuk House of the Raven Clan) … in honor of the Fog Woman."

Drummers for the Tongass Tribe gathered and sang a song dedicated to the Lingít concept "wooch.een" or "working together and pulling together."

A crew paddles the Ketchikan Indian Community canoe X’oots kuye’ik (Brown Bear Spirit through Bar Harbor during the Canoe Awakening and Launch Celebration on Friday, June 2, 2023.

Staff photo by Christopher Mullen

Gianna Willard gave instructions for people who would volunteer to carry the canoe.

"We’re going to pick up the canoe and march it across the street as you’ve been told," Willard said. "We’re going to have some volunteers, some very strong, able-bodied people ... line up on both sides of the canoe. Before we lift it over our heads, we’re going to need to pick it up and put it on the ground. Once it's on the ground, we’ll pick it up and we’re going to go straight from the ground over our shoulder.

"If anything feels unsafe or unsturdy make sure you yell it out so everybody knows so we can fix it or find a way to solve it," Willard said. "We’ve done this before, but usually it's on barnacles and mud and not pavement."

Dozens of people hoisted the canoe as others maneuvered a trailer out from underneath it.

The congregation of more than 30 people struggled under the weight of the heavy fiberglass canoe as they carried it down from the parking lot outside of the KIC Tribal Health Clinic, across Tongass Avenue and through the Bar Harbor parking lot and down the ramp to the water. People swapped in and out when they needed a break or noticed that help was needed to support a section of the canoe.

People called out:

"Anyone else want to jump in and help?"

"Hold strong!"

"Let's go!"

"Hold my hand!"

"To the right!"

"You’ll feel more weight on the bow!"

"There you go!"

"In the water!

"Haw’aa!"

A first group of a dozen paddlers entered the canoe.

The group shouted in call-and-response before paddling.

Hoo haa! Hoo haa! Hoo haa! Hoo haa! Hoo haa! Hoo haa! Heeeee! Heeeee!

Clint Schultz directed the paddlers.

"Paddles up! Push off! Buoys in! Paddles out! Left right pull!" Schultz said.

They paddled and glided west past the breakwater.