Public Paddle

This journey strengthens the bond between the Upper Columbia Tribes and presents an opportunity for life-changing participation among tribal members and their families to reconnect to the traditional territories and waterways of our people and the land. This journey also provides opportunities for the transmission of intergenerational knowledge and language in a natural environment. The Salmon Ceremony and feast is a gathering of the people to pray for the return of Salmon that has been going on since time immemorial. 

For thousands of years, Indigenous Nations gathered at Kettle Falls—one of the most abundant salmon fisheries in the world. Tribes travelled from as far as Montana, Idaho, and British Columbia to harvest salmon and take part in the June Salmon Ceremony.

This way of life was deeply disrupted by colonial settlement and hydroelectric development. The construction of the Grand Coulee Dam in the 1930s flooded Kettle Falls and blocked the salmon’s migration. The dam created what’s now called Lake Roosevelt, but at the cost of salmon runs that sustained Indigenous communities for millennia.

In 1940, just before the dam was completed, the last gathering at Kettle Falls was called the "Ceremony of Tears." It was a collective mourning of what was being lost.

In 2012, the Inchelium community carved its first traditional dugout canoe, The Crying Salmon. In 2016, the Upper Columbia Tribes once again gathered at Kettle Falls in canoes. It had been over 80 years since a gathering of that kind had taken place.

The annual Canoe Journey has grown ever since. Today, it connects five Indigenous Nations and their allies across a route that spans over 400 linear miles of river. It’s about visibility, ceremony, reconnection, and responsibility—to the land, to the salmon, and to future generations.

Revelstoke is the northern starting point of the journey. As the headwaters of the Columbia River, this place carries deep importance. The public paddle on June 11 invites all community members—Indigenous and non-Indigenous—to witness the arrival of the canoes, join in the water if invited, or simply stand in support.

This is not a performance. It’s a continuation of a living story, one that predates colonization and one that will continue long into the future. Your presence matters—not as a spectator, but as part of a community learning to live with greater respect for the land and those who have always cared for it.