How the uniquely Canadian sport of war canoe got its name

Nine lanes of canoes, fifteen athletes resting on one knee, paddling with fierce determination as they make their way to the finish line. While technically called C15, this Canadian sport is more commonly called war canoe.

But where did that name come from, and how is it linked to Canada’s colonial history?

Dr. Janice Forsyth, a professor in Indigenous land-based physical culture and wellness at the UBC School of Kinesiology, was contacted by Canoe Kayak Canada (CKC) to help answer that very question.

When and how did war canoe become a sport?

According to Forsyth, on the Queen of England’s birthday in 1864 Frederick Seymour, BC’s first united governor (a position now known as lieutenant governor), ordered all Indigenous nations to gather in New Westminster and participate in a war canoe race, which later became an annual event. 

“He mandates them to do a war canoe race because, in his mind, this is what Indigenous people do,” said Forsyth. “In his mind, it would demonstrate their acquiescence to Britain’s control over the Indigenous nations.”

In reality, Seymour’s demonstration of Britain’s control had quite a different effect.

While the Indian Act prevented Indigenous groups from gathering and participating in potlatch ceremonies and other group events, annual war canoe races were permitted since they were viewed as being in line with colonial sports and competitions.

“It’s still a way for you to gather and tell your stories and practice your songs and share some of your cultural knowledge, so you can hand that down from one generation to the next,” Forsyth said. “From the Indigenous point of view, it became a thing of cultural survival.”

Over time, it seems as if there was a gradual separation between Indigenous war canoe races, which focused on culture and community, versus CKC’s competition-driven version of the sport we see practiced today. The exact details of why this happened remain a key focus of Forsyth’s research.

Where did the name war canoe come from?

Two and a half years ago, CKC contacted Forsyth to help them uncover the origins of the name of “war canoe.”

The partnership has since turned into an extensive, ongoing research project to understand the CKC’s colonial heritage and what it means for Indigenous communities. 

The first part of the research focuses on the Indigenous history of the war canoe. Forsyth has been conducting oral interviews with Indigenous war canoe families, primarily in BC, to grasp a better understanding of the sport’s history and name origin.

When a variety of British, French, Portuguese and Spanish settlers arrived to colonize the what’s now known as Canada, they were met with the sight of many Indigenous men in large canoes.

“[Europeans] would call it a war canoe, and then that would help to justify their behaviour towards the Indigenous people there,” said Forsyth.

The second part of the project focuses on CKC’s history as an organization and with the sport of war canoe. Formerly part of the American Canoe Association, CKC formed in 1900 and emerged as an entity for settlers to practice war canoe.

“These men wanted to do war canoe, and they wanted to do it so badly that they felt they needed to break away from the American Canoe Association,” Forsyth said.

Forsyth also said competitive war canoe can sometimes perpetuate stereotypes of Indigenous Peoples.

“This idea of war canoe is rooted in that colonial history where non-Indigenous people have appropriated that idea [that] they want to embody all of the strength that Indigenous people had in order to defend their own lands from domination,” she said.

“And so people that mobilize that idea for competition … is a problem because it then positions Indigenous people as being warrior-like, as being resistant, as being different and that then becomes a problem when Indigenous people are standing up for themselves.”

Working toward decolonization in sports

In 2016, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) issued 95 calls to action in order to advance reconciliation. Five of them focus on sports — ranging from federal funding and policies to public education on Aboriginal athletes — but Forsyth said they don’t get enough attention compared to other calls.

“Sport is so far behind the curve in terms of reconciliation,” Forsyth said. “But then you get leaders like Canoe Kayak Canada that have created this Indigenous Advisory Council, and it’s not just performative.”

The Indigenous Advisory Council consists of several Indigenous leaders from across the country. The council was developed with the goal of ensuring the CKC is working towards meeting the TRC’s calls to action.

“This is the first sport organization that has reached out to me in all of my time to do this kind of work, and I didn’t realize how colonial sport still is until Canoe Kayak Canada did that,” said Forsyth. 

“There needs to be more sport organizations like Canoe Kayak Canada that are doing this work, that are doing this really, really hard work in putting themselves out there, knowing that they have to sit and look in the mirror and then think very carefully about how they want to build new relations with Indigenous people.”

At UBC, Forsyth teaches KIN 368: Indigenous Sport and Physical Culture in Settler Canada and KIN 484: Advanced Seminar in Indigenous Sport, Physical Activity and Health, two courses that delve further into decolonization in sports. Forsyth described KIN 484 as the “final preparations” before sending students out into the field of sport and physical activity, equipping them with the necessary tools to discuss these topics and issues in the workplace.

“I think we all live in a world where we’re expected to find a solution right away in order to show progress. But I think people forget that understanding is a sign of progress, and that takes time,” said Forsyth.

Forsyth is continuing her work with CKC and said she’s “really excited to see where this project goes.”

“I think it shows the importance of understanding the roots of physical activity practices in Canada and how embedded they are in our relationships to each other and how that needs to be unpacked for us all to be a much healthier society.”

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