Paddlers take 10-day trip down the Grand River to learn about Indigenous culture

Dozens of paddlers are embarking on a 10-day trek down the Grand River to learn more about Indigenous culture and history.

Ellie Joseph and Jay Bailey, whom she calls her paddle brother, are the co-founders of Two Row on the Grand.

They brought the idea to Ontario after taking part in a similar trek along the Hudson River in 2013.

Both journeys are inspired by the Two Row Wampum – an original piece of the treaty between Indigenous and settler communities in the physical form of a belt.

“The Two Row Wampum was over 400 years old, and people were not remembering the meaning or the teachings behind it,” Joseph explained. “The Two Row Wampum is basically how we travel down the river of life. So peace, friendship and respect are the primary teachings behind it. Good words, good minds, good actions.”

The Two Row Wampum has two purple parallel lines. One represents the Haudenosaunee and the other represents the Dutch, French and British.

“They came to Turtle Island and they had agreed to not interfere with each other’s ways in terms of politics, in terms of language and culture, and ways of being on the land,” Joseph explained.

Those stories, and other cultural knowledge, are part of the curriculum paddlers will take in over the next 10 days.

“Now that we have gotten to the point where [Indigenous people] have a voice again, we’re able to share our knowledge,” Joseph said.

Knowledge keepers will teach participants about the Mohawk language, nearby former residential schools, ways of being and more.

Some paddlers are doing the expedition for the first time, while others have participated in the past.

“To be able to listen and learn about the significance of the paddle, the relationship that people have with the land, our responsibilities as settlers to the land, and our responsibilities in the Two Row Wampum as settlers to support Haudenosaunee people,” explained Maryssa Barras, who’s returning for her second year.

Organizers say the knowledge keepers act as one teacher, while the river is another.

“The river teaches you patience, awareness of your surroundings, going with the flow, avoiding obstacles and using the flow as much as possible,” Bailey said.

The group will paddle in two rows when possible, symbolizing an Indigenous row and an ally row, to demonstrate the concept of the Two Row Wampum Treaty.

Grand River on July 24, 2024. (Stefanie Davis/CTV News)

Passing down knowledge

For the first time this year, students taking part from the University of Waterloo and McMaster University will get credits.

Bonnie Freeman and Trish Van Katwyk have been taking part in the row since it started nine years ago. Freeman is an associate professor at the school of social work and Indigenous studies at McMaster, while Van Katwyk is an associate professor in the school of social work at UW.

They say learning outside of the classroom is beneficial for students.

“We’ve been talking about the idea for a long time,” Freeman explained. “We thought this would be a perfect opportunity to share because people go through a transformation once they start and once they finish this two row.”

They hope it also inspires schools to embrace similar events in the future.

“I think many people at our institutions are excited,” said Van Katwyk. “I think this is the first specifically land-based learning course and so there’s a lot of people at University of Waterloo who are pretty excited to see how this goes.”

With multiple generations taking part, Joseph wants everyone to leave this experience with a fresh outlook.

“My aim for this is for everyone – Haudenosaunee and allies alike – to go away with a better understanding of who lives in Canada,” she explained with tears in her eyes. “It’s very important to me that people walk away with a transformation.”

Two Row on the Grand left Cambridge on Wednesday morning.

Bailey and Joseph are already thinking ahead to next year’s event, which they hope is a big one to mark a decade of learning on the river.