Several times during the year, we Share the Plate with organizations and groups outside our walls that we are trying to support. This month, we will share our plate with the Puyallup Tribe Community Domestic Violence Advocacy Program (CDVAP).On Sunday, November 23, we are honored to welcome Tribal advocates Carolyn DeFord and Carmelita Escarcega to East Shore. Carolyn and Carmelita will speak about their work giving voice to domestic violence victims in native communities, and their work helping victims, families, and communities heal from the trauma of violence.
Carolyn DeFord has been an advocate for the issues related to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Woman & People (MMIWP) for decades. She brought the Faceless Doll Project (originally a Canadian First Nations’ project) to East Shore, including two workshops. The Dolls we created were on display in the foyer and at three local branches of KCLS in 2023.
We hope you will join us on Sunday, November 23, to learn more about Carolyn and Carmelita’s work with the Puyallup Tribe Community Domestic Violence Advocacy Program. Anything you add to the plate that day – or indicate online in November as Share the Plate – will go to the Puyallup Tribe CDVAP. Learn more here .
If you are interested in the work of the Indigenous Connections Team, team members gave a presentation at GA in 2025 that highlighted our work with Carolyn DeFord and other advocates for MMIWP.
During the first week in August, Tribal Canoe Families from as far away as Oregon and Southeast Alaska converged on the land of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, just west of what we call Port Angeles.
The annual tribal canoe journey began in 1989, reviving cultural and spiritual practices outlawed by colonial governments. East Shore members may remember the Paddle to Muckleshoot Canoe Journey in 2023, when the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe hosted the final landing at Alki Beach in West Seattle. Several East Shore members gathered at the beach to welcome the canoes ashore that summer.
This year, two members of the Indigenous Connections Team travelled to the land of the Lower Elwha Klallam people. Marilyn Mayers worked in the kitchen, helping prepare meals for thousands of canoe family members and friends who attended the five-day gathering. Carrie Bowman supported a camp for members of the Kingfisher Canoe Family, led by Phreddie Lane of Lummi Nation.
After generations of advocacy, the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and their guests celebrated the removal of two hydroelectric dams (completed in 2014), as well as the safe passage of over 100 canoes. Youth welcomed canoes in the Klallam language and invited them ashore to rest and share food, stories, and dances.
This year, due to fierce winds and rough seas, many canoes were trailered or towed by boat to the final landing. The effected canoe families asked permission to come ashore during Protocol.
“Protocol” begins the day after the landing, with each canoe family allotted 90 minutes to share songs, drumming, dancing, and teachings on the main floor of a large arena. Participants wear regalia with intricate beadwork and weaving, often handmade or inherited. With over 100 canoe families this year, Protocol started at 8am and continued until after midnight, each day for five days. The term “protocol” refers to the ancient practices tribal members honor during canoe family landings, celebrations, and ceremony.
For example,
During the landing:
Canoes cannot come ashore until a paddler in the canoe asks permission from the hosting tribe (the tribe whose land includes the beach).
Canoes come ashore one at a time. Other canoes either wait offshore, or a member of the host nation holds the canoe slightly off the beach.
After coming ashore, a canoe is carried higher on the beach away from the tide zone. (At the Port Townsend landing, volunteers gathered to carry some canoes all the way into the campground because of the tsunami warning.)
During Protocol in the arena:
Members of the host tribe (usually youth) invite canoe families to the floor.
No one crosses the main floor when a Canoe Family has the floor; protocol says to walk around the edges.
The seats closest to the floor are for elders.
Before leaving the floor, a tribe asks permission from the host to leave their lands and waters and return home.
Gift giving is part of a tribe’s presentation.
The host tribe concludes Protocol on the final day, with a joyous potlatch celebration of song, dance, and gift giving.
People who are not native are welcome to attend landings and are usually (but not always) welcome to attend Protocol. Sometimes the practice is to wait for an invitation. Tips for visitors include
Ask permission before touching or photographing canoes.
Avoid walking or standing between the canoes and tribal members greeting them.
Listen, observe, and avoid interrupting ceremony or speakers to ask questions or make comments.
When asked not to record songs and dances (audio and/or video), honor the request. When taking photographs, be aware of what is allowed – sometimes asking permission is appropriate.
Always remember that this is about the Indigenous people, not about the visitors.
The experience of welcoming canoes ashore is thrilling for visitors, volunteers, and support teams. For Indigenous people, the canoe journey is healing. For members of a Swinomish canoe family, the journey this year was profound: as paddles moved through the water and songs filled the air, killer whales arrived to swim alongside their canoe. “Our paddles and our canoes didn’t hit the water for a long, long time,” Joe Williams said. “These songs hadn’t been sung, these prayers haven’t been said in generations.”….. ”The whales held that memory.”….. “We know that everything that we need is in our environment, and being a piece of the environment, not controlling your environment, is the lesson.” (from Seattle Times, Isabella Breda, August 2, 2025)
We had a great turn out for the Seattle Pride Parade on Sunday, June 29! Thank you to all who came and to the Welcoming Congregations Team for organizing. This is the second year we have marched in the parade in recent history. We marched under the banner of Unitarian Universalists of the PNW and were joined with our friends from Westside UUC, University UC and other UUs from the area. We plan to march again next year, so mark your calendars for the last Sunday in June for this great community building event that continues our commitment to being a Welcoming Congregation!
by Nicole Duff, Director of Membership Development
Members of East Shore’s Indigenous Connections Team contributed to a pre-recorded webinar that was offered at General Assembly (GA) in June. The Indigenous Connections Team represents one of many UU congregations in the Pacific Northwest that has established connections with Tribal individuals, organizations and communities, supporting environmental, cultural, legislative, and spiritual efforts and activities. In the webinar, you hear on-the-ground stories of how PNW UUs reach out, engage and support indigenous communities locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
The webinar was created through JUUstice Washington, a regional group of UUs working on ways to address challenges brought on by social and environmental injustice. Members of East Shore’s Indigenous Connections Team focus on work with advocates for individuals and communities affected by the trauma of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). Many of you participated in the Faceless Doll project highlighted in our presentation. The dolls created during the project honor missing and murdered women and were featured in our Gallery and at King County Libraries.
If you’re interested in UU action and outreach focused on our PNW indigenous neighbors, check out the recording:
If you want to jump right into the East Shore section, it starts about 37 minutes in.
On May 23 and 24, members of the Indigenous Connections Team and other East Shore members showed up to volunteer at Lummi Nation for the 5th annual potlatch for the Gathering of the Eagles canoe journey. After a week paddling through the ancestral waters of the Lummi people, the canoe families celebrated with a final night of dancing, drumming, singing, and feasting on the Stommish Grounds at Lummi. At the last minute, we learned that the Longhouse was no longer available, so we set up an indoor-outdoor kitchen (without a refrigerator) and prepared a meal for about 60-80 people. We moved around a lot of coolers! Lynn Roesch and son Andrew; Erika Jackson Kirkendall and family members Jason and Damian; and Carrie Bowman and Mike Radow worked with other UUs from Kirkland, Woodinville, and Olympia to create a mighty team. The paddlers and ground support crews were grateful. Protocol and gift-giving on May 23 lasted until 2:30 am on May 24.
The next day, the canoes launched from Lummi Nation and landed at the mouth of Whatcom Creek in Bellingham, a place where tribal members traditionally fished more than a century ago. Now the site of two parks, the canoes came ashore at Waypoint Park and were carried up to Maritime Heritage Park. Our kitchen crew had hot chowder, salmon, and sandwiches to share with anyone who came by – elders and canoe families were offered food first.
East Shore folks experienced the canoe landings as profoundly moving. Everyone noticed the deep sense of community, the faith that things will come together, and the openness to everyone who wanted a meal, including unhoused folks.
We hope you can join us on July 18 at East Shore when we welcome a totem pole carved by the Lummi House of Tears Carvers as a gift to the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. The totem pole will be presented to the Tribe as hosts of the 2025 Paddle to Elwha intertribal canoe journey, and in recognition of their decades-long effort to remove the dam on the Elwha River.
For the January 26 service, ESUC’s Indigenous Connections (IC) Team invited the Duwamish Solidarity Group (DSG) to come share their experience working with the Duwamish Tribe in Seattle. The DSG is a group of non-indigenous volunteers who work in various ways to support Duwamish Tribal Services providing assistance to tribal members, cultural programming, maintenance of the Duwamish Longhouse, and restoration of tribal lands and the Duwamish River.
The service led by Rev. María Cristina focused on being “In Solidarity with the Duwamish .” Rev. María Cristina spoke eloquently about establishing right relations with indigenous people and other marginalized groups. She called on the congregation to live out its commitment to the church’s Land Acknowledgement as a spiritual guide to action:
Representing DSG, Kate Carrington explained the work and approach of the DSG including the impact of “Real Rent” as a concrete way of supporting the Duwamish tribe. By collaborating with and listening closely to tribal members, DSG is in a position to support priorities established by the tribe.
Following the service, a potluck lunch brought the three DSG Outreach members present and interested congregants together to share food and ideas. As we individually and as a congregation deepen our understanding of indigenous histories and the impact of US policies on native and other marginalized communities, may we indeed live out our commitment to what we profess in our Land Acknowledgement.
All “Share-the-Plate” donations collected at the morning service were dedicated to Duwamish Tribal Services. For those interested in finding out more about “Real Rent“, please visit https://www.realrentduwamish.org. For ideas about other ways to engage with the Duwamish and other tribal communities, talk with East Shore’s Indigenous Connections team members. We would lot to have you join our team!
In closing thanks to all who brought food to share or expressed interest in learning more about DSG and cultivating our connections with the Duwamish!
