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About the Festival

Festival Afloat is a paddle-powered music festival and educational offering that brings together allied businesses and impassioned community members to raise funds and awareness for Indigenous-led legal challenges.

Attend a concert or sail with Indigenous guides aboard B.C.'s oldest tall ship!

This summer,  RAVEN is hosting a series of floating benefit concerts to raise money for access to justice for Indigenous communities.

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Summer 2023 Concert Line-Up

Sunday July 9 - Jericho Beach, Vancouver with Desiree Dawson & Khari Wendell McClelland

Tuesday July 11 - Silva Bay, Gabriola Island with Dagger Harbour

Wednesday July 13 - Ganges, Salt Spring Island with Renee Layla

Thursday July 13 - ON LAND SHOW, Victoria Event Centre, in Victoria with Logan Staats

Friday July 14 - Port Browning, Pender Island with Renee Layla

Friday, July 21 - Wild Seed Church, Salt Spring with Luke Wallace

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Summer Boat Cruises

Sunday July 9 - Afternoon Sailing cruise from Granville Island

Monday July 10 - Morning Sailing cruise from Granville Island

Tuesday July 11 - Morning and Afternoon Sailing cruises, Gabriola Island

Thursday July 13  -  Morning, Afternoon and Evening sailing cruises, Salt Spring

Friday July 14  - Afternoon Sailing cruise, Pender Island

September 9 - Vancouver Sailing cruise, time TBD

Sailing cruises are 3 hours and are guided by Indigenous knowledge keepers.
There are also 3 great opportunities to take a sailing journey aboard the Providence: from Vancouver to Gabriola on July 10th, from Gabriola to Salt Spring on July 12th, and from Salt Spring to Pender on July 14th.

Our first year started with just one show, but it planted a seed that has continued to blossom! In 2020 we raised $6000.

That seed burst open in 2021 and we raised $85,000 for Heiltsuk Nation with concerts happening all over!

In 2022, we introduced the first touring festival aboard the Providence. Festival Afloat 2022: The Salish Sea Tour raised over $50,000 for Heiltsuk and Gitxaala Nations. B.C.'s oldest tall ship sailed around the Salish Sea and brought music and stories to seven different coastal communities.

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Past Festivals

Festival Afloat 2022

Festival Afloat 2022

Festival Afloat 2021

Poster for Festival Afloat 2021
Festival Afloat 2021

Festival Afloat 2020

Festival Afloat 2020 Poster
Festival Afloat 2020

Past and Present Sponsors

WE ARE RAVEN:
Changing the Landscape, One Victory at a Time.

“It’s not every day that we come across an organization such as yours that would assist First Nations with such a cause as ours. Mahsi cho for all your efforts and RAVEN for providing fundraising and support to the Peel Land Use Planning court session. It has been an honor to work with you on this initiative.”

— Chief Roberta Joseph, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in

"We are the legal agents in this world. We all have the opportuntiy to practice law: sometimes that's done by standing with Indigenous Peoples and working with them in direct ways,  but also it means in some instances providing resources to help Indigenous Peoples as they're raising their voice. And so, providing resources is actually a practice of law. It's a custom that can be used to put us in relationship with one another."

— John Borrows, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law, University of Victoria

"One of the upsides of these fights is that they have created the wonderful opportunity to bring an awful lot of good people together. And as we move forward into our history, our coalitions our alliances are becoming a lot more broad based, and collectively we are taking ownership of the fact that this is our home. And our home is worth defending."

— Saul Brown, Heiltsuk Reconciliation Negotiator