Paddle to Nisqually welcomes everyone

As you are reading this, a major Native American cultural event is occurring in the southern Puget Sound area. It’s the Paddle to Nisqually 2016 Canoe Journey — an inter-tribal celebration and annual gathering of Northwest Indigenous Nations. Canoes have paddled from their home territories for weeks and canoe families are now gathering on the Nisqually Reservation ceremonial grounds.

The annual tribal journey in the Pacific Northwest was sparked by the Paddle to Seattle in 1989, part of Washington State’s Centennial celebration. Since then, the journey has grown to include over 100 canoes, with participants from many native canoe cultures, including Native American tribes, First Nations peoples of Canada, Alaska Natives, and sometimes other peoples from across the world.

A similar event was held in 2012 in the Squaxin Island Tribe’s territory. Younger readers or those new to our area might think that these huge cultural events, as well as all the Tribal economic activity we see around us, is how it has always been. But, they would be wrong.

The Nisqually story is typical for most Indian Tribes in the Puget Sound area. Tribal members lost over 2/3rds of their reservation land in 1917 and were scattered widely. The remaining reservation was neglected and, amazing as it seems today, did not receive electricity until 1968. Many Tribal members lived in poverty and even in the mid-1970s the Tribe owned no land, other than one small cemetery.

That’s why fishing rights on the Nisqually River were so important. It was a vital means to earn a living and also a way for fishermen to express their cultural and identity as Nisqually Indians.

These fishermen fought hard for their fishing rights and in 1974 these rights were affirmed by the well-known Boldt decision.

I review this history so that you might understand the context of what can only be considered a major cultural and economic revival for our Native American neighbors. In 1976, only 40 years ago, Nisqually Indians lived scattered around the area, many living in poverty. Their main economy was based in fishing, and that economy had been under constant attack. They had no hatchery, no Tribal Center (and no real community center at all), and certainly no casino or other economic development.

For the rest of us (and I’m now talking to readers pushing 60 or older), the Indian community was largely invisible. You may have known a Nisqually Indian or read newspaper articles about fishing rights or the Boldt decision, but you probably did not feel that Nisqually Indians were a vital part of the community. And the same pattern held, I suspect, for other Tribes and communities up and down Puget Sound.

What a difference these past 40 years has made; what a renaissance has come to pass in the Nisqually and other Native American communities. The Nisqually Reservation is now home to over 150 Nisqually families and the community is thriving. It provides social, health, education and law enforcement services to the community, services based right on the reservation itself.

The Tribe has a comprehensive natural resources management program, with hatcheries that produce many millions of young salmon. As well, the Tribe takes the lead a program to protect and manage the Nisqually Watershed.

The Nisqually Tribe has economic enterprises that employ many hundreds and, between its enterprises and its government, the Nisqually Tribe is one of the largest employers in Thurston County. There is no doubt — the Nisqually Tribe, and all the Pacific Northwest Indian Tribes, are no longer “invisible.” Rather, they have taken their rightful place in our state.

Now there is something to celebrate!

And, a part of that celebration is occurring right now. I hope you will join in. The event area is along Highway 510, about mile 10. Dances and other activities are happening all day and evening. Everyone is invited, including you!

This story was originally published August 4, 2016 at 5:01 AM with the headline "Paddle to Nisqually welcomes everyone."