Community Spirit

Pulling Together

Pulling Together is an annual joint First Nation/Police journey along the traditional waterways and paddling routes of BC. Pulling Together originated to help break down some of the perceived barriers between First Nation peoples and the policing agencies of the province, and acts as a teaching tool educating First Nation people and police officers about each other, and thus in becoming more comfortable in dealing with each other. It also provides an opportunity for policing personnel to learn about First Nation traditions, culture, and some of the protocols which can make you more effective with dealing with First Nation people on a day to day basis.

Pulling together puts First Nation people together with police members shoulder to shoulder, undertaking a difficult, physically exhausting journey using the traditional “Highways” of the First Nation people. Every day, the journey moves through and stops in the traditional territories of different groups of First Nation people and enjoys their hospitality. Traditional protocols are observed in coming to the different territories and in the longhouse, and everybody takes part.

Police personnel learn about First Nation culture and gain insight about building relationships and interacting with First Nation people, and First Nation people learn that police are (actually) people too, not just a faceless element to be feared. (It’s not always bad when a cop talks to you!) Through this knowledge comes respect, and an ability to work together in far better ways.

In addition, the journey focuses on building relationships with First Nation youth, including those that are at risk, and those that really in touch with their cultural heritage. Some of those youth will be the leaders of tomorrow, and in addition to learning a new comfort level with police officers, they grow immensely as young men and women as they speak and/or perform on the longhouse floor.

While working together in this environment, all participants come away with something different. Some of the First Nation participants are overcoming addiction issues, and the completion of the physical journey is as important as the immersion in cultural teachings that this journey offers. Some youth get that teaching for the first time on this journey, and some youth and the elders who take part become the teachers of what they have learned in their traditional smokehouses, passing it on to those who take part in the journey. In this way, every police officer learns a bit about the people that they are responsible for.

Over the years the journey has grown in scope, and similar journeys now take place in Ontario and in the Maritimes. Locally, First Nation participants now come from all over BC, including the Urban Native Youth Association, The Circle of Eagles, the Okanagan and many Coastal 1st Nation communities. Some individuals come from other diverse parts of North America. Police participation includes current and retired members from the Delta police, Vancouver, Abbotsford, West Vancouver, Oak Bay, Fisheries & Oceans and the RCMP, amongst others.

The journey is a lot of fun, and a lot of work. The 2008 journey covered 189 km of paddling over 7 days, travelling down the Fraser river from Hope to Vancouver, and across to Gibson’s Landing on the Sunshine coast. Past years have seen the journey travel down the coast from Sliammon (Powell River) to Vancouver, and from New Westminster across the Straight of Georgia to Cowichan to Victoria.