In 1997 I participated in a life altering experience. Together with about 100 other people I traveled by canoe from Hazelton all the way to Victoria at the southern tip of Vancouver Island. Hazelton is 200 miles up the Skeena River from Prince Rupert, and Prince Rupert is hundreds of miles north of Victoria. In all, in that summer of 1997, we paddled about 1,000 miles in a venture called VisionQuest.
Our group was made up of members of the RCMP, First Nations people and civilians. We lived and traveled within the beautiful culture of the First Nations people and for one whole month we were lost in another world. The purpose of our journey was to draw attention to the issues of addictions in our society. Ultimately, we hoped to build a recovery center somewhere in British Columbia, a recovery center for all people. As I compose this narrative in 2009, we have a small VisionQuest House in the Lower Mainland and we have people living in recovery and back on our streets simply because of the efforts of VisionQuest. For more information about the journey or VisionQuest see www.visionquestsociety.org. You’ll also be able to read many excerpts from my personal journal that I wrote daily on the VisionQuest journey of 1997.
Needless to say, as we traveled in those canoes, we witnessed many wonderful sights and experiences. Indeed, we became a part of the scenery at times as we relived cultural canoe journeys of old. On one sunset evening in mid July a professional photographer named Reg Mess took a photograph of one of our canoes in silhouette against the dramatic west coast backdrop. The image became the face of his Christmas card years later and when I received his card the memories of that summer of 1997 flooded back.
I asked Reg’s permission and painted this image based on his photograph. The title speaks of the dramatic scene, but it speaks too of the experience of the summer of 1997. It speaks of a time in my life that I know will be with me forever. It’s all simply wrapped up in one word – AWESOME!
