“Canoe Journey 2006, Past and Present: Pulling Together For Our Future”

The three part story follows a number of canoe journey routes from reservation to reservation along the waterways or ‘highways of the ancestors’, to the culmination of this year’s journey, on the shores of Lake Washington, Seattle, Washington, hosted by the Muckleshoot Tribe. NWIN reporters Niki Cleary and Doreen Manuel go in-depth to learn the importance and meaning the canoe journey holds for the various Native bands and tribes along the Pacific coast and inland waterways. More than 70 canoes and thousands of canoe family members make the journey from as far away as Oregon and Alaska. Every year the event grows in size, scope and importance and has become one of the largest annual ‘Indian country’ events to take place in North America.