RCMP collaborate with Indigenous youth to complete year long dugout canoe project

July 9, 2025 - Powell River, British Columbia
From: Powell River and Texada Island RCMP

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On June 24, 2025, students and staff from the qathet school district’s Gije (Land) Academy, members of the RCMP and Tla’amin community members met at Mowat Bay to launch a cedar dugout canoe (chaputs) that the students had completed after working on it for the past year.

Cst. Bakker of the Powell River RCMP stated, this was an amazing day. I don’t think the students will ever forget this day and the culmination of all their hard work, the teachings they received, and the satisfaction of doing an amazing project from start to finish. The students were so proud of what they had done and what they had learned along the way.

Corey Gordon, the teacher at the Gije Academy, approached Cst. Bakker in 2023 to plan the project and to work on securing funding for it. Several contributors, including Tla’amin Nation, qathet School District, Thichum Forestry and the RCMP Indigenous Policing Services were able to provide funding in 2024 to make this idea a reality.

Joe Martin, a Tla-o-qui-aht elder and master canoe carver came to the community to work with the students to teach them how to carve and to provide teachings on canoe carving.

Corey Gordon said, we couldn’t have completed our Chaputs project without the support of Chris Bakker and the RCMP—it was a genuine act of reconciliation, and for that, I am truly grateful. Carving a dugout red cedar canoe and learning the process from Elder Joe Martin is an experience these students will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

To honor the teachings taken from this journey, the Gije students burned the Four R’s of the Gije Academy onto each seat of the Chaputs: respect, reciprocity, relevance, and responsibility.

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