Tribe hosts canoe cultural day to help connect youth with bay

The first Passamaquoddy Canoe Cultural Day, held at Split Rock, Pleasant Point, on August 2, was hosted by the Sipayik Action Team to help connect the tribe's youth back to Passamaquoddy Bay and teach them how to canoe as their ancestors did and how to be safe while canoeing.
For two tribal members, the day was particularly meaningful and poignant. Cyril Francis says she and Dute Francis both came to the event to honor their son, Majik, who died in a canoeing accident in Half Moon Cove in November 2015. Cyril, who also is a member of the Sipayik Action Team, says that while it was a sad time for them at the event it is also "something I support -- wearing life jackets when out on the water."
After their son's death, she had asked Senator Joyce Maker and Passamaquoddy Rep. Matt Dana II to sponsor legislation that would require the wearing of life jackets while canoeing. She was very disappointed that the measure failed when it was considered by the legislature in 2017 and points out that at the hearing on the bill 13 spoke in favor of it and only two in opposition. Since then there have been a number of drownings of people who were not wearing life jackets, she notes. She was pleased, then, to be part of an activity that promoted wearing life vests when on the water.
During the event, Minquansis Sapiel, a member of the Sipayik Action Team, stated that the team's mission is "to reclaim our cultural knowledge and skills within our community to instill a healthy, confident Passamaquoddy identity." Sapiel stated, "This event is about helping to connect our youth and our community back to the Passamaquoddy Bay, so our kids will have the skills and the knowledge to be safe while they are out on their canoes enjoying the water like our ancestors did so long ago."
The team's long-term goal is to strengthen leadership development in the community and "to provide protective factors such as community involvement of enjoying the great outdoors for the prevention of substance abuse."
To further that effort, the team has received a Maine Community Foundation grant for the Rising Eagles Project for the upcoming sixth grade at Beatrice Rafferty School. The project will focus on building a positive cultural identity, leadership skills and teamwork by having the students participate in canoeing, wall climbing, snowshoeing and sailing while learning about teamwork, giving back, perseverance and overcoming challenges. Assisting the team with bringing outdoor adventures to youth has been Scott Fraser, director of the Outdoor Adventure Center at Washington County Community College. Also helping have been the Pleasant Point Health Center, the behavioral health team, the tribal government, Beatrice Rafferty School and WCCC.
During the event, Gracie Davis sang "The Water Song" in Passamaquoddy, and Ed Bassett related some of the Passamaquoddy stories about canoes, including ones involving Koluskap, who taught the Wabanaki how to build canoes and how to canoe. In one story Koluskap sailed a stone canoe to England and France.
Bassett was taught how to make birchbark canoes by William Commanda, an Algonquin elder, in Maniwaki, Quebec, and has built a number, including models, over the years. He pointed out that every family used to have canoes, and the water was the highway. The streams and rivers that flow into the bays almost touch each other at their source, so the Wabanaki could travel by them, portaging between the streams, to reach different communities in other watersheds. He noted that each tribe had different designs for their canoes, with the Passamaquoddy building long, wide and deep ocean-going canoes for porpoise hunting. They would have sites all along the points of the coast where they would stay. Bassett also offered some tips on canoeing and hoped the knowledge would be passed on to others.
Madonna Soctomah then sang the "Float Coat Song" or "Alokutahat Optan Lintuwakon," as children performed the movements of the song to learn the importance of wearing life vests. They then were taken out in canoes with adults to learn more about how to canoe safely.