The First Annual Indigenous Knowledge Underwater Treasure Hunt
How a group of divers supported learning and honoured the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Divers make headlines in pursuit if Indigenous knowledge
The underwater Canadian Geographic Giant Floor Map hosted by the Vancouver Island Dive Community and the Naut’sa mawt Initiative
Checkout this feature short and the amazing experiences the Treasure Hunt participants had!
Members of the Vancouver Island diving community, in partnership with Canadian Geographic, the RCMP Indigenous Policing Services and the West Coast Marine Services hosted a very unique event to honour the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. On September 29th, 2022 the group showcased the incredible wonders of Canadian Geographic’s Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada Giant Floor Map. This map however, was submerged at the bottom of the Nanaimo Aquatic Centre pool while scuba divers and freedivers participated in the first annual Indigenous Knowledge Underwater Treasure Hunt.
This 1000 square foot map was created to assist people in understanding the past, present and future of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. It shows the locations of Indigenous communities, residential schools, Treaty areas and more. Rather than political borders, Canada is broken up into Indigenous language groups. World record freediving champion Mandy-Rae Cruickshank and Kirk Krack, internationally acclaimed apnea coach to the stars (Avatar, Mission Impossible, Suicide Squad and The Cove) were on hand to assist divers as well as a compliment of dive instructors from the diving community. Underwater scooters were also be available for participants to try out.
In the Treasure Hunt participants were provided with a list of questions about Indigenous culture, history, languages and territories, and tasked on a quest to find the answers which could only be found on the map itself. Event organizer Bill Nadeau explained that “divers had to swim down and explore the giant map to complete the quest, teams with the most gained knowledge won great prizes”. Nadeau added “this was our opportunity to do more than just recognize the call to action for reconciliation, but actually lead change by facilitating learning and promote healing. It’s more that just wearing an orange shirt or enjoying a paid holiday”.
The event, which was sponsored by DeepFathoms Advanced Diving, Sink or Swim Scuba and Performance Freediving International.
This event was the first time Canadian Geographics Giant Floor Map had been used in an underwater environment!
Freedivers and scuba divers alike used scooters to explore the map, learn questions about Indigenous language, history and traditions.