Source: CBC News

The lieutenant-governor of British Columbia, Steven Point, has spent hundreds of hours carving a piece of driftwood he found on Ross Beach in Victoria, B.C. Point was enchanted by the red-cedar driftwood that tapered at both ends and resembled the shape of dug-out canoe.

“My brother who is a canoe builder came and looked at this. He thought that the canoe log, this log, could be anywhere from 500 to 800 years old," Point told CBC reporter, Jeff Davies, earlier this year.

Point and B.C.’s master carver, Tony Hunt, have clocked countless hours, over nine months, completing the canoe in a small non-descript shed behind Government House. Although Point had never carved something as grand as a canoe, he believes that he was meant to finish the work of the ancient carver who for reasons unknown couldn’t complete the project.

Canoes have always been part of B.C. history. "In the old days, there weren't no highways, there were no airways, there were only canoe ways. So when you got old enough, you didn't get a car, you didn't get a horse, you got a canoe."

The canoe, which has been named Shxwtitöstel, meaning safe place to cross the river, will be given as a gift to the people of British Columbia upon completion. The lieutenant-governor, believes that the canoe will help reconcile the relationship between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people.

"I've had this belief for some time that if people see our world like a canoe — like we're together — we're not individuals in separate canoes. We're in the same canoe it's called the Earth, the world. It's like we're travelling through space. We have to try and work together, paddle in the same direction. Maybe we can accomplish something."

Photo: Michelle Meiklejohn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net