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Prince Rupert, Metlakatla, and Hartley Bay

In early 2009 Chris asked me if I would be interested in going to Prince Rupert with him to take pictures for this book. I thought it would be a unique opportunity to visit first nations coastal communities with someone who the native people knew, never mind the fact that I had never been to Prince Rupert, let alone been to places like Metlatakla or Hartley Bay. Just as many of us don’t know our neighbours well, it is perhaps a sign of our times or educational system that I don’t know much about our B.C. coast or our first nations communities in it. I thought I would be foolish not to go.

Having popped a half dimenhydrinate tab, and driving Chris’s car to the airport to avoid carsickness, we met Bob Needham at Vancouver’s domestic terminal, and took our Air Canada Jazz flight aboard a Dash 8. It was March 29, 2009 and our flight left at 8:00 am. Where was starbucks?

The view looking west on the way to Prince Rupert.	The weather was unusually clear so we were even able to see Mt. Waddington on the flight up. We landed on Gill Island and took the free bus over to Prince Rupert, itself on another island. We were met by Betty Ciccone and her friend Susie Nelson who drove us to Betty’s home where we were to stay while in Prince Rupert. Chris had made use of his previous contacts with Betty and her husband Peter Loy and had arranged that we could stay with them. They were more than generous by allowing us to stay with them for that length of time. As we arrived at Betty’s house, we were met by Paul and Laurie Mercer from New Aiyansh, who had just arrived and we immediately started to learn about the Nisga'a First Nation. We sat around sipping tea and coffee and soon got invited to New Aiyansh to visit. As it turned out, the day we were to go and visit, fresh snow made driving there inadvisable. Perhaps another time. :-)
The view east from Metlakatla	That evening Betty generously introduced us to herring roe on kelp as well as provided us with some wonderful smoked salmon. The herring roe, for me was going to have to be an acquired taste, but the smoked salmon was immediately wonderful, as always. On Monday we took the ferry to Metlakatla with Susie. (http://www.coasttsimshian.ca/splash.asp) Through her generosity, we were introduced to most of the people who worked in the band office and even had lunch with the staff. We learned of their cooperation with Lax Kw’alaams (Port Simpson) and the establishment of their territorial boundaries. We also learned more about the struggle of the first nations people in dealing with the 21st century world. What with the history of being abused in various ways by different government agencies they seem to be working hard to establish a meaningful place in this world.
Aboard the Gordon Reid	The next day we walked about Prince Rupert and took pictures. Down at the wharf the coast guard vessel “Gordon Reid” was fueling. It had accompanied the flotilla of canoes during the Tribal Journeys/Vision Quest trip to Victoria in 1997 that Chris was part of. With this knowledge, Chris got us invited on board and we met with Cptn. Micheal Shuckburghand and got a tour of the ship. That was very nice to be able to do. That night Chris was interviewed by a reporter from the local paper concerning his efforts to write the book. (Outside shot of the Gordon Reid on my flickr site.) ( An "Out of Bounds" image of the Gordon Reid on my flickr site) Once going to my flickr site, click on the browser's back button to return to this page.
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