Interfaith Water Ceremony hosted by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation

Join us for the Interfaith Water Ceremony hosted by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation!

As the Trans Mountain pipeline nears the commencement of its commercial service, we invite you to join Rueben George, Charlene Aleck, and TWN Sacred Trust to come together to witness an interfaith water ceremony held on the morning of Sunday, June 9th at Whey-ah-Wichen / Cates Park in North Vancouver. We are inviting you to join TWN, honoring many faiths, to paddle together – one heart, one mind, one prayer. The pipeline is built but together we have faith. We recognize that the completion of the pipeline represents a new stage in this work; we offer this invitation to share ritual together to renew our commitment to care for the air, lands, and waters.

The event will start early in the morning with a paddle across the inslet to the site of the Burnaby terminal. On the water, faith and spiritual leaders will be invited to share prayers and offerings. We invite you to bring your own canoes, kayaks, paddle boards etc., and join us out on the water.

We will then re-group on land and share a meal together. Please RSVP using Evenbrite so we can provide enough food for all attending. After we share a meal, we will then hear from the various faith and spritual leaders who helped to shape the event.

Please share this invitaion broadly! This is a kid friendly event :)

Event timeline:

8:30 am start for those going on the water

9:00-11:00 am on the water in canoes

11:00 am brief press conference once the canoes return to the shore

11:30-12:30 pm lunch provided

12:00-1:45 pm teachings from each spiritual community

More about the pipeline:

Over 31 billion taxpayer dollars have been spent on this dangerous pipeline and tanker project that puts the water, fish, salmon, orcas and human health at risk. Climate impacts with more frequent and intense storms, floods, landslides and wildfires only make this project increasingly vulnerable to a spill that would devastate the surrounding land and water. As part of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s own assessment of the proposed project, leading risk assessment experts from Simon Fraser University put the risk of a spill at 79 – 87 percent over a 50-year period, meaning the expansion is a direct threat to the Tsleil-Waututh community and way of life. You may read the assessment in full here.

In this moment, we invite our faith and spiritual leaders to work together in caring for our lands and waters. We invite you to come together with us in prayer to create this interfaith ceremony, sharing our various cultural teachings and responsibilities to water.

We thank you for your time and we look forward to doing this work together.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Cates Park, 4141 Dollarton Highway, North Vancouver, Canada