Elmer Sampson, the 86-year-old master carver from Stz’uminus First Nation, has built many canoes in his lifetime. But one he finished this summer may be one of the most memorable for many reasons.

That log has many stories.

The prime 40-foot cedar had sat for years on the foreshore outside Elmer’s home and workshop at Shell Beach. Over one year ago, the 350-year-old log crossed the Salish Sea to its new home at the Musqueam Indian Band. Songs were sung as it was named the ‘Old Woman’ log. Elmer mentored carvers and helped awaken the spirit of the canoe culture at Musqueam, as an ocean-going ‘journey’ dugout was built.

There are stories within these stories.

The ‘Old Woman’ project really began over a decade ago when Corrina Sparrow, now the social development manager at Musqueam, met Shelly Johnson at the University of Victoria. The two women rekindled their friendship in Vancouver a few years ago when Sparrow returned home to Musqueam and Johnson joined the UBC School of Social Work as an assistant professor.

They combined forces to help win an Insight grant competition from Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to realize Sparrow’s dream to build a carving shed and facilitate a Tribal Journey canoe for her nation’s youth.

A Musqueam advisory council was established. UBC forestry and other departments came on board. And the “Awakening the Spirit: Revitalization of Musqueam Canoeing Project” began.

Elders began to search, from Vancouver Island to Alaska, for a proper cedar log. Specifications were laid out for a carving shed.

The search ended when the log was found at Shell Beach. It was brought to Musqueam and laid on the foreshore for three days until arrangements could be made to bring it into the community.

On Sept. 11, 2015, witnessed by Musqueam political, social, and economic leadership and community members, songs were sung to awaken the spirit of the ‘Old Woman’ log – so named to acknowledge the circle of women that had brought the research project from an idea to a reality.

Sparrow said the canoe-building project would “awaken the spirit of canoe culture at Musqueam once again.”

A three-year old told his grandparents about witnessing the log move. He said, “An old lady log is going to be made into a canoe, and we all need to take care of her”.

Master carver Dick Louis worked under the mentorship of Elmer Sampson from April 2016. He said the last time a canoe was carved at Musqueam was in 1985.

For the first time in 30 years, the Musqueam Indian Band has carved a ‘journey canoe’ from a 350-year-old cedar log. The canoe took three months to carve and is part of a cultural revitalization project between the Musqueam band and several indigenous professors at UBC.

The project seeks to In September, the Musqueam community and other project participants from UBC and beyond turned out to see the ‘Old Woman’ launched into the Fraser River. There were memories of other canoes and hopes of revitalizing more of Musqueam’s culture and teachings.