“All Trails are Indigenous. Revealed by the footpaths of deer as they
cross the land looking for food or shelter, the ancient trading paths of
Indigenous cultures, or built by mountain bike enthusiasts with an eye for a
great line or descent. They are
indigenous in that they are an expression of the form and pulse of the land. Revealing and travelling along a trail
connects us to a specific place; they are an expression of relationships
between people and the land.”
 |
| Tom Eustache (Centre) and Leon Eustache (Front) Secwepemc Warriors and Riders |
In
the latest installment of the Riding Turtle Island series, a collaborative
project between Tree Meter Productions and the Aboriginal Youth Mountain
Program, we meet Tom Eustache and his nephew Leon Eustache. Both men are avid mountain bikers and trail
builders from the Simpcw First Nation, a Secwepemc community located in the North
Thompson River Valley just north of Barriere and approximately 80km northeast of
Kamloops.
As a
councilor for the Simpcw Nation, Tom strongly believes there is a need for more
recreational opportunities for his people and for the youth in particular. In
previous years the community built a network of hiking trails in the forests on
a ridge above the band office, but they had fallen into disrepair and disuse. Tom, who had raised his own children to
become passionate riders, believed that riding could be a means for engaging
the youth and inspiring his people to get outdoors, reconnect with nature and
the land, and live healthy active lives.
Over
the next several years, the two men worked together to clear and rebuild the
trails into a network of trails crisscrossing the ridge providing a diverse mix
of fast and flowy trails that started getting the attention of people in and
outside the community.
In
the summer of 2014 Martin Littlejohn, from the Western Canada Mountain Bike
Tourism Association (MBTA), first visited the community on a tip from a
colleague. He was immediately impressed
by what he found. Taken on a ride by Tom
and Leon, he could feel their passion and pride as they guided him out on the
trails. “The trails were rough but
fun. They were teaching themselves to
build and they clearly had the passion and the drive.”
“Every day we’re not working or riding, we’re
out building trail.”
Tom stated with conviction.
Martin
knew he had found something special. 
Ask anyone about mountain biking in British
Columbia and you’ll likely get an earful about loamy trails that cut through
temperate rainforests like a ribbon of silk.
Beneath this there are deeper issues at play including a dark history of
colonialism and cultural genocide. With
the recent completion of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission and a
growing list of court victories, the First Nations of BC are asserting their
Aboriginal Rights and Title and their role as the caretakers and stewards of
the land.
For the mountain bike community this means
acknowledging that the trails we love, in many cases, have been built and used
without the consent or involvement of the First Nations on whose territories we
ride. Many riders and trail builders are
rising up and embracing this as an opportunity for building relationships and
creating a legacy of mountain bike recreation development that can serve as a
source of inspiration around the world.
Partnering
with the Aboriginal Youth Mountain Bike Program, the Simcpw Nation and the MBTA
initiated the McBride to Barriere Mountain Bike Tourism & Recreation
Project. The goal of the project is to
work with the communities throughout the region to develop a plan to support
trails and recreation and to identify strategies for the Simpcw Nation to take
on a leadership role in the mountain bike sector. The goal is to develop a model for
development that will serve as a source of inspiration and best practices
throughout the province.
This culminated in a two-day trail building workshop hosted by the Simpcw
Nation and led by Mark Wood from the NSMBA North Shore Trail Builders
Academy. The workshop included people
from throughout the region and from as far away as Valemount and Vancouver, as
well as members from other First Nation communities including the Adams Lake
and Nisconlith Bands.
For
Tom, the most important element of the project is the opportunity to develop
new friendships and understanding. You
can hear the excitement in his voice and see the passion on his face as he
talks about how the trail projects have brought people together “All of us working here, we all get together
and we all have a common goal of building something. You can hear the laughter in the trees. We all have something in common. I can go talk to anyone of those people that
I probably didn’t know much about but we can sit and talk and that’s pretty
neat.”
For
Leon, the trails and mountain biking is about understanding cultural and
spiritual connections to the land. “It’s the healing properties of nature that we try
to promote all the time. When I bring
people out on the land I explain all the different plants out here so that they
get an understanding of what we used to heal ourselves. So there’s not just a mental part, but a
physical part.”
As the trails have grown, Tom has seen a growing
number of people out and moving about. “People are excited. We’ve even got a new running club in the
community. People keep asking when we’re
going to have another workshop, when we’re going to build more trails.”
Across Canada, people are grappling with what authentic
and meaningful reconciliation looks like. Tom and Leon stand on the ridge
watching as the trail reveals itself below them. Laughter rises up from the group as everyone works together, throwing dirt, throwing dirt, cutting and digging,
discussing routes and descents, swapping jokes and stories. At the end of the day, Leon leads the group
in a song, singing and drumming to bless the completion of the trail that
traces the ancient footpaths of their ancestors. With the beat of the drum still reverberating through
the trees, Tom leads everyone on a group ride down through the trees, the path
showing us the way forward.
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