Sts’Ailes paddler hopes traditional canoes can break cycles of trauma

With financial aid from the Archdiocese of Vancouver, local paddler Tyra Point represented Canada and her Sts’Ailes community at this year’s Va’a World Elite and Club Sprint Championships 2024 in Hilo, Hawaii.

The event celebrates the sport of outrigger canoe paddling and drew thousands of paddlers from countries around the world from Aug. 13 to 24.

Point has been paddling since she was 12. Inspired to pick up the sport by her stepfather, uncle, and older brother, she said the cultural resonance of paddling brings her closer to her Agassiz-area Sts’Ailes roots.

“It’s a part of my bloodline. My people really motivate me the most,” she told The B.C. Catholic. “My family, my Sts’Ailes people, really motivate me and the younger generations to keep the sport alive.”

“It’s our inherent right to paddle in our traditional canoes and race in them,” she said. “They have been a part of coast Salish history since time and memorial.”

Point is a family and child services counsellor in Sts’Ailes, as well as a Sts’ailes Nation councillor, and she said paddling connects her “to the spirit and to our teachings. Taking care of yourself mentally, emotionally, and spiritually helps in that aspect for me personally.”

Along with her club paddling crew, Autumn Rose, she qualified for the 1,000m sprint at this year’s international Va’a championship in Hawaii.

Preparing for the competition was an exciting experience in cultural learning and openness, she said. In Indigenous cultures with maritime and rivercraft traditions, specific sacred protocols around the maintenance and care of the boats can be very private, but Point said she and the other athletes, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, attended a canoe blessing.

Because the championship has its roots in Polynesian seafaring culture, there are some specific differences between international competition and the traditional canoeing that Point is used to.

For one, the competition assigned each team a lane. And in the war canoe competitions she is used to, contact between vessels isn’t just possible, it’s encouraged.

In preparation for her competition, Point acquired a one-man Va’a – it looks like a rudderless and keelless kayak with a supporting pontoon - and she was excited about the competition.

In addition to the 1,000m sprint, she also qualified for the elite team, comprised of the 12 best paddlers in Canada – four of which she is proud to say are Indigenous athletes.

“It’s exciting putting my name out there globally and representing my fellow Sts’ailes and Indigenous people on this level for paddling,” she said. “We all come from a strong cultural background in paddling as it has been a part of our history since time immemorial.”

Point said she is grateful for the $2,000 in sponsorship from Archdiocese. “It really helps a lot with the travel costs of getting to world sprints.”  

“I’m looking forward to getting more paddlers competing and continuing breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma by taking part in events like this!”

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