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A Short History of the
Dogwood Canoe & Kayak Club
The Dogwood Canoe Club was the first recreational canoe club in the lower mainland. It was formed in 1964 after Dinty Moore, a local paddler and business owner, initiated a meeting of recreational paddlers at his home in Burnaby. The impetus for this meeting was to try and start a canoeing organization to promote safety in recreational canoeing following a very bad year in which 54 small boat fatalities occurred.
"Dogwoodies" as members of the club are known to have been the backbone of organized canoeing in the lower mainland. Frans Vanlakerveld and Dinty Moore were at the first meetings of the organization that became Canoe Sport B.C. the governing body for canoeing in the province. The Canoe Sport B.C. branch of the Recreational Canoeing Association of B.C. had Frans Vanlakerveld and Bill Wilson (both members of the DCC) as officers. At that time most government grants were aimed at competitive paddling. DCC members continued to work in these organizations and the direction they took was to promote safety and recreational enjoyment.
In the early 70's DCC members Dinty Moore and Jack Wainwright were part of the four-man group giving the first course to qualify individuals as canoeing instructors. Brian Creer (another DCC member) used this as the basis for the courses he taught while at Capilano College, and these simple beginnings were the basis for much of the Recreational Canoeing courses we have at this time.
Allyson Similkameen
The Beaver Canoe club was started in 1976 when the DCC decided it was time for a second lower mainland canoe club (the number of paddlers on a given trip was very large). Jack Wainwright, President of the DCC and Neil Dockendorf of Burnaby Parks Board initiated a meeting to start the club - initially with members from the DCC as key personnel.
Now called the Dogwood Canoe & Kayak Club, it continues to promote safe and enjoyable paddling. It now is a "paddling club" welcoming both canoe paddlers and paddlers of kayaks or other craft. Day trips are run on flat water (lakes and oceans), moving water (class one rivers) and whitewater (class 2 and up rivers) each week.
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