The Orcas Island Historical Museum is pleased to announce “Sacred Journeys,” an evening of film and information on tribal journeys by canoe. It features a presentation by Sharon Kinley, Director of the Coast Salish Institute at Northwest Indian College, and a showing of the film “Glwa: Resurgence of the Ocean Going Canoe.” The event is 3 p.m. at the Seaview Theater on Sunday, Nov. 11. This is an important fundraiser that supports capacity building at Orcas Island Historical Museums for cross-cultural events and also the upcoming “Sacred Journeys” traveling exhibit on ancient canoe culture and today’s canoe resurgence.

The film’s website describes it as, “Tribal Canoe Journeys is an annual indigenous cultural gathering on the Northwest Pacific Coast. Over the last three decades, the gathering helped the Heiltsuk Nation of Bella Bella, B.C. heal from intergenerational traumas and revitalize their culture, which was nearly lost as a result of colonialism and the Residential School system. Since its unofficial beginning in 1986, the gathering has grown and now involves hundreds of canoes and thousands of participants paddling to different host communities all the way from Alaska to Oregon.

‘Glwa: Resurgence of the Ocean-Going Canoe’ follows Frank Brown and a group of Heiltsuk youth as they paddle down the coast of Washington State to honor the invitation of ancestral groups of the Nisqually Tribe for Tribal Journeys 2016. Over a period of twelve days, the journey helped youth learn and revitalize their cultural songs, dances, stories, language, teachings, and other traditions. On the journey, youth also reconnected with the natural environment and with other coastal Indigenous Nations, and began to reverse intergenerational trauma.”

The ticket price is $25 for non-museum members and $20 for members. The ticket price includes appetizers, the film and the discussion. You can get tickets at the Historical Museum, online at orcasmuseums.org, or by calling 360-376-4849.