Steven Point, British Columbia's 28th Lieutenant-Governor discovered a four metre (13 ft.) long piece of red cedar, estimated to be between 500 to 800 years old, while walking on a beach. Point, a former chief of the Skowkale First Nation, had never carved a canoe before and so a staff member at Government House suggested Point show the work to her friend -- the prolific and celebrated First Nations master carver Tony Hunt Sr.

Hunt, whose totem poles are known throughout the world and who has carved seafaring canoes, volunteered his time to mentor Point. Lieutenant-Governor Steven Point is hoping to launch it in a local stream later this month and then donate it back to the people of B.C., as a rare example of an often-overlooked type of First Nations canoe.