Travelling the River Towards a Skookum Surrey Research Project

Paddling Together

Towards a Skookum Surrey

We have to see each other as human first.

Skookum Participant

Paddling Together towards a Skookum Surrey is an experiential learning and cultural safety project that demonstrated the need for stronger, more humanizing relationships among Urban Indigenous Peoples and health/social services providers in Surrey, B.C.

In partnership with Surrey Urban Indigenous Leadership Committee (SUILC), SFU Assistant Professor, Lyana Patrick, invited participants to learn about the teachings of paddling together over the course of approximately one year.

The teachings culminated in a two-day canoe journey to Gambier Island where participants deepened their connections by sharing food and stories, and paddling together.

Experiential learning actively engages students in an experience that will have real consequences and, as a result, construct knowledge, skill, and value from direct experiences. Experiential and place-based initiatives “have become a major factor in education, as many Indigenous communities move toward greater autonomy and self-determination”.

Chiaxsten (Wes Nahanee) jumping into the canoe before taking the canoe full of Skookum and health/social services provider participants on a guided one-hour tour of Chá7elkwnech (Gambier Island) coastline.

Paddling Together towards a Skookum Surrey, originally named Travelling the River Towards a Skookum Surrey, seeks to create safer experiences for urban Indigenous community members when they access health and social services in Surrey by:

Highlighting the wide-spread racism and discrimination Indigenous peoples in Surrey continue to experience when accessing health and social services
Creating opportunities for urban Indigenous community members to access land-based teachings and ceremonies in support of their well-being

The project is grounded in a relational accountability model. As described by Kathleen E. Absolon (Minogiizhigokwe), Margaret Kovach, and Shawn Wilson, the relational accountability model ensures ethical and meaningful engagement with Indigenous communities and requires establishing appropriate relationships between people as well as with the lands, waters and “more than human” occupants of the air, lands, and waters.

Land-based teaching is an essential component of the relational accountability model, and deeply embedded in Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing. It has long been acknowledged that the well-being of Indigenous peoples is intimately connected to the land. This has implications for the over 60 percent of Indigenous peoples in Canada who live in urban areas and may have limited opportunities to connect with the lands and waters.

Place-based and experiential learning have strong connections to the relational accountability model. Kim Tallbear, a professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of Alberta, argues that “scholarly theories of relationality are simply inadequate for capturing the ‘vibrancy’ and ‘spirit’ of Indigenous relationships with our non-human relations in these lands”. Therefore, Paddling Together Towards a Skookum Surrey embeds experiential and place-based experiences within a framework of relational accountability to capture the vibrancy and spirit of Indigenous relationships to land, water, and air.

Reflection Moment & a Message from Lyana

I’m grateful you’ve joined us today in this virtual circle. We encourage everyone to come together in a spirit of curiosity and humility, to learn from and alongside each other. We recognize that everyone brings something to the circle, and we hope that you will share your gifts while being open to the stories and experiences that will be shared with you on this journey.

We invite you to take some time now and throughout your journey on these pages to reflect. Feel free to journal, meditate, discuss with your colleagues, or use any other format that calls to you.

How did you arrive at this page?

What communities are you connected with?

Two Skookum participants of the Travelling the River Towards a Skookum Surrey canoe journey pose for the camera while holding their paddles and wearing life jackets.

Seven Travelling the River Towards a Skookum Surrey participants sit on a large piece of driftwood on a rocky beach at Chá7elkwnech (Gambier Island).

A Skookum Surrey elder wearing a life jacket smiles while doing an interview.

A Travelling the River Towards a Skookum Surrey participant teaches other participants how to weave roses from cedar while at a gathering at Beecher Place.

A lot of us Indigenous folks really face a lot of judgment, and a lot of hurt to heart.

Skookum Participant

Racism and discrimination continue to be wide-spread in Surrey’s health and social services. Research shows that Indigenous culture, such as access to teachings, participating in ceremonies, and engaging in cultural activities on the land and with Elders, plays a strong role in self-reported health and well-being. These cultural resources, however, remain challenging to access for many urban Indigenous peoples in Surrey.

For example, although the population of Indigenous peoples in Surrey has grown significantly in the past two decades, many culturally appropriate services still reside primarily in Vancouver and travelling to access them poses transit, child-care, and financial constraints, rendering services inaccessible.

With many urban Indigenous folks experiencing a disconnection to culture, there is a need for more land and water-based cultural activities in Surrey. Paddling Together towards a Skookum Surrey seeks to address this need while also deepening relationships between knowledge holders, health and social service providers, and community members.

When I was having surgeries, because they messed up all my medications. I was on Demerol and they’re supposed to wean you off of it, and they didn’t. They took me cold turkey off of Demerol and started me on Tylenol threes, and I just about died. Yeah, and when I called the nurse, she says, Oh, that’s normal. You’ll be okay. Bullshit, right?

Skookum Participant

Don’t treat Indigenous people who come and access your services as if they don’t deserve to have them as a fundamental right. Like our elders shouldn’t be going to the hospital and turned away because they might have had alcohol in their system, like they still deserve to be treated with care and dignity. And like, for me, it feels so sad that I’m like, I really hope that they took that away from the weekend, because it shouldn’t be that, it shouldn’t be that basic.

Skookum Participant

Reflection Moment

Take a moment to reflect on the following questions.

What comes up for you as you read and listen to these experiences?

How do your identities shape the way you understand and engage with Indigenous health and social service equity?

What kinds of culturally appropriate services are available at your workplace?

It’s a special and important relationship to invest in. I’m clearing my headspace to meet those that are willing to do the same.

Skookum Participant

Participants from the canoe journey pose at the Horseshoe Bay dock before boarding a water taxi to Chá7elkwnech (Gambier Island).

Paddling Together towards a Skookum Surrey took place over the course of approximately one year in three phases: gather, practice, and paddle. We’ve set up this immersive, multimedia site so that you can experience your own canoe journey and learn alongside us as we share our hopes, fears, and learnings. Take your time as you read, listen, and watch each section, pausing along the way at key moments to reflect.