Our elders, who have firsthand experience told stories about how people travel by canoe in the fall to harvest caribou in the barren lands, collect hides for clothing, equipment, and shelter. They talked about travel back below the tree lines and lived with abundance of caribou in the winter. In the spring, our elders told stories of travel to familiar fishing grounds by birch bark canoe.
The Tłı̨chǫ continue to keep the tradition alive by traveling with canoe to the Tłı̨chǫ Annual gathering. Traveling by canoe, our youth honor their ancestors and experience the traditional spirit that will carry on with them for generations.
The youth learn skills required to survive this lifestyle and be connected to mother earth. The lifestyle of traditional travel by canoe with support of our elders are working together to maintain our way of life. The canoe trips we have taken are always considered to be a vision to re-trace our past and see it through the eyes of our elders.
The canoe trip was a lot of hard work but at the end, it was always a good feeling of great accomplishment and achievement. The youth shared their feeling with fellow team members and families about their once in a life time experience of traveling with canoes on the land.
The Tłı̨chǫ Canoe Journey is to ensure our youth develop a respectful relationship with the land, our spirituality, our ancestors, and experience personal growth. We need our elders to teach us our way of life to regain our identity, retrace our path and develop skills required to be successful.
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