Hokulea makes first stop in Canada as part of voyage around the Pacific | News, Sports, Jobs

Hokule‘a is seen off the coast of Haida Gwaii, an archipelago of British Columbia, on Tuesday. It’s the voyaging canoe’s first stop in Canada after two months of sailing through Alaska. Michael Wilson / Polynesian Voyaging Society photos

Hokule’a arrived in British Columbia, Canada, on Tuesday evening after two months sailing through southeast Alaska, the Polynesian Voyaging Society announced Wednesday.

The transit from Hydaburg on Tuesday morning took about 12 hours, with fair weather, excellent wind and following seas allowing the canoe and crew to sail up to 8 knots, the voyaging society said.

Arriving at the Haida village of Old Massett (Gaw) in Haida Gwaii, an archipelago of British Columbia, Hokule’a was greeted by tribal leaders and hundreds of community members, who performed song and dance, gifted them with cedar bark headbands and treated them to stew and salmon sandwiches.

According to the Old Massett Village Council, the lands and surrounding waters of Haida Gwaii, along with parts of southern Alaska, are the unceded, ancestral and traditional territories of the Haida, who have occupied, governed and responsibly managed Haida since time immemorial. Before the arrival of Europeans, they numbered in the tens of thousands, with many of their town sites scattered across the archipelago. The arrival of Europeans brought foreign diseases like smallpox, measles and typhoid, and their numbers fell to 600 in the early 1900s.

Community members aboard a canoe welcome Hokule‘a and the crew to Haida Gwaii, an archipelago of British Columbia, on Tuesday.

As the Haida population dwindled, their people migrated away from their ancestral villages and eventually settled in either Old Massett or Skidegate. Today, Haida Gwaii is home to 5,000 full-time residents, with Haida people making up about half of the population.

Old Massett Village is the Haida community located on the north side of Haida Gwaii and is home to Xaada families who previously lived in a number of different villages in their territory. Each village had its own dialect and there are five different dialects currently spoken by Old Massett residents.

Weather permitting, Hokule’a is scheduled to make additional stops in British Columbia, including Prince Rupert, Hartley Bay, Bella Bella and Port Hardy.

The canoe and crew are in the first months of a 43,000-nautical-mile, four-year journey around the Pacific Ocean as part of the Moananuiakea Voyage.

For the latest updates and to track the voyage, visit hokulea.com.

Hokule‘a is seen off the coast of Haida Gwaii, an archipelago of British Columbia, on Tuesday. It’s the voyaging canoe’s first stop in Canada after two months of sailing through Alaska. Michael Wilson / Polynesian Voyaging Society photos Community members aboard a canoe welcome Hokule‘a and the crew to Haida Gwaii, an archipelago of British Columbia, on Tuesday.

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