2004 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient

Manny Sampson

Born in 1934, Manny is now an Elder of the Chemainus First Nation and lives on Shell Beach . The Sampson family is one of the traditional canoe making families of the Coast Salish territory. Manny's father Eli Sampson taught Manny, and his brother Elmer, how to build traditional dugout canoes made from red cedar. He carved his first dugout when he was 10 years old. He sold his first canoe at the age of 15 for $35.00. The traditional dugout canoes were about 12 feet long, and 28" or 2 feet wide. Manny says he built his first dug-out for "rowing around," fishing and local races. He started racing at age 15 and rented a canoe "St Catherines" (52 feet long and 30" wide) from Sechelt Nation. Now over 45 years later he has built many canoes over 50 feet in length. "Too many to count!" he says. Actually he has built about 8 fifty footers and numerous smaller canoes.

Originally used for fishing, hunting, ceremonial purposes and pre-contact tribal wars and travels, the contemporary models are used for the tribal canoe races in the Coast Salish communities in BC and Washington State. Manny now builds mostly 50' war canoes that will command a sum in excess of $10,000. In the last decade, the resurgence of the canoe societies and Tribal Journeys, as well as cultural tourism, the demand large traditional ocean going canoes is high.

In his shed he is presently restoring "The Mermaid," 47 feet, 30" wide and 14" high, the Mermaid has seen a lot of history in the inland waters. It was built in 1937 and owned by Jimmy Sampson from Squamish Nation in North Van. He is filling in the large cracks on the bottom, the gunwales are dramatically decayed and the fiberglass on the hull has disintegrated. The inside needs to be grinded and painted.

The Chemainus First Nation "Crown" is an 11 man racing boat that Manny built in 1965. His wife Mona and daughers Freda and Fay raced the canoe at in Lummi, Neah Bay , Squamish, Cultus Lake , the Gorge, Cowichan, Esquimalt and Kulleet Bay/Chemainus First Nation. They raced it for about 15 years and garnered many titles. Chemainus Band Councilor, George Harris was skipper.

Manny's humble countenance is disarming, as he proudly details the arduous nature of his work at his canoe shed located off Shell Beach Road in Ladysmith. Manny just completed a single man17-foot canoe that will be raced in local war canoe races. His shed is packed with modern day tools of his trade; outside cedar logs are in various stages of preparation. Button saws and axes are now used for cutting the outside, an adze for carving the inside. Even then, it takes about four weeks to build a small boat. He also just completed an ocean going canoe for his son-in-law Arnie Robinson. 40 feet long and 30 inches wide. Arnie will be transporting workshop participants in his canoe from Transfer Beach to Shell Beach , along with the Salty Dog Voyageurs.