The Comox Valley Regional District is giving $11,000 to help fund the Tribal Journeys stopover in the K’omoks First Nation.
The money is coming from the heritage conservation fund of the electoral areas.
Regional board chair Bruce Jolliffe said the event “fits very nicely” into the heritage-based conservation criteria of the fund.
Tribal Journeys is a paddling event that has been taking place for more than 20 years, linking the peoples of coastal B.C. and the Northwest U.S. It celebrates histories, cultures and families that weave them together.
Kathryn Frank, who is helping organize the event locally, told the board Tuesday that close to 3,000 people could be expected to flood the K’omoks First Nation on Aug. 2.
Apart from the financial help from the district, she said they’re looking for district officials to help greet and welcome the canoeists, for support in having the Dyke Road closed down for several hours, and in-kind donations such as the use of showers at recreational facilities.
Regional district officials have already met with the K’omoks First Nation to discuss ways to help.
The final destination of this year’s Tribal Journey event is Quadra Island and Campbell River.
The We Wai Kai Nation from Cape Mudge and the We Wai Kum Nation from Campbell River will host more than 100 canoes on Aug. 5 and 7, respectively.
The large canoes come with support crews, both water and land-based, along with family members.
And they all have to be fed, and provided with suitable camping accommodation.
Frank said the K’omoks First Nation is expecting to feed up to 3,000 people on Aug. 2 when the canoes arrive here.
The canoeists will mostly be camping at the K’omoks’ upper Puntledge reserve – which will need water stations and other facilities.
Two tribes from Washington State will look after feeding the group Aug. 3, which helps offset the costs locally, said Frank.
She noted that there are “spinoffs for the entire community” during the canoeists’ stay here – everything from using laundromats, to buying food, and general shopping.
“We’re obviously a very small community; only 80 band members are living on the reserve. We need outside help and resources to make this event successful,” Frank told the board.
Frank herself has been on several Tribal Journey expeditions, in the K’omoks’ canoe Ihos, built in 1994 for paddling to the Commonwealth Games in Victoria.
“For nations, it’s about connecting with the ocean, the people, having a cultural experience … young, elders all travelling together. Getting back to how we lived in historical times and trying to honour that way of living,” she said.
Because of the limited space at the K’omoks reserve on Dyke Road, spectators are encouraged to see the canoes arrive at the end of Goose Spit where they’ll gather as a group first before heading to the Dyke Road landing spot.