I’ve listed online paddling info here before….but I’m working on a demo of canoe paddling….and I thought I’d post some of this info again….plus some new info I found….so here is an overview of paddling….beginning one stroke at a time:

From Webspace.webring.com: Canoeing Strokes:

Basic Strokes

Bow Stroke – This stroke is used to move the canoe forwards in a straight line.  The stroke itself is simple.  The paddler reaches forwards and places the paddle in the water.  The paddle is then drawn towards the stern, in a line parallel to the keel.  To recover the paddle is lifted from the water and swung forward in a circular motion.  If done in reverse this will propel the canoe backwards.

Canadian Stroke – If the bow and stern men both do the bow stroke the canoe will turn slowly due to the leverage created by the paddlers.  To correct for this the sternman uses the Canadian stroke.  This is essentially the same as the bow stroke, except the blade is pushed slightly away from the side of the canoe at the end of the stroke.  This counteracts the  leverage created by paddling.  The sternman will need to use the Canadian stroke once for every three to four bow strokes in order to maintain a straight course.

J-Stroke – This is a more sever form of the Canadian stroke, which is used by the sternman to turn the canoe towards the side that the sternman is paddling on.

Draw – This stroke is done by  extending the paddle outwards, and drawing towards yourself.  If this is done on opposite sides of the canoe by both the paddlers the canoe will rotate rapidly.  If this is done on the same side by both paddlers the canoe will move sideways.

Pry/Push away – This is the opposite of the draw.  The paddle is inserter into the water by the canoe, and pushed outwards.  This has the same effect as the draw, but the result will be in the opposite direction.

Check – This is a simple stroke used for stopping.  Simple insert the paddle in the water beside the canoe and hold it in place.  This will slow the canoe.

Sweep – This stroke turns the canoe in a circle away from the paddling side of the canoe.  To do this stroke place the paddle in the water as far in front of you as you can.  Pull the blade in a wide semicircle until the paddle is behind you.  This can also be done in the reverse direction, which will rotate the canoe towards the paddling side.

Putting It Together:

Going Straight – To go in a straight line the bowman should use the bow stroke, and the sternman should use the bow stroke, with enough Canadian stokes mixed in to keep the canoe traveling in a straight line.

Weak Turns – To make a weak turn towards the bowman’s paddling side several Canadian strokes can be used in a row.  To turn away from the bowman’s paddling side the sternman can stop using Canadian strokes, or curve his/her stroke towards the keel.

Medium Turns – To make a medium turn sternman can use a ‘J’ stroke on the appropriate side of the canoe, while the bowman maintains the bow stroke.  The sternman can also use short draws and pry’s to make medium turns.

Strong Turns – To make strong turns several things can be done.  The sternman can use pry’s and draws to move the stern rapidly.  The bowman can use prys and draws to move the bow rapidly, or both paddlers can use combinations of these strokes to achieve a strong turn.

Moving Sideways – There are three ways to move a canoe sideways.  The first is for both paddlers to use a draw on the same side of the canoe.  This will draw the canoe towards the paddling side.  This is good for moving sideways towards an object.

The second method involves both paddlers using pry’s on the same side of the canoe.  Controlling the canoe is difficult when doing this, but it is good for bringing the canoe alongside a dock or another canoe.

The final method relies on one person using a draw, and the other a pry, on opposite sides of the canoe (see picture below).  This is good for situations where the canoe needs to be moved sideways when  there is not  enough time for one paddler to switch sides, and a turn is impractical (i.e. dodging a rock in white water).

Rotating – There are two way’s to rotate in place.  The first is for both paddlers to draw or pry on opposite sides of the canoe.  This will rotate the canoe in the direction of the pry/draw.  The second method involves using the sweep stroke on opposite sides of the canoe.  This will rotate the canoe in the direction of the sweeps.

Techniques:

Entering the Canoe – Although this seems like it should be simple, its not.  If you are not careful you’ll flip the canoe and end up in the drink!  To properly enter into the canoe take your paddle and place it across the gunwales.  Next place one foot directly onto the keel, and shift your weight so it is directly over  the keel.  Now bring your other foot into the canoe and place it as near to the center as you can.  Slowly lower yourself into a kneeling position and you’re done.  To exit the canoe reverse this procedure.

Posture – Although canoes have seats you’re not supposed to sit on them as you would a seat.  If you were to do this you’re center of gravity would be too high and the canoe would be prone to tripping.  Instead you kneel on the bottom of the canoe and rest your behind on the seat.  This lowers your center of gravity.  This can be hard on the knees, so its a good idea to have some sort of pad to kneel on.

The Bowman – The bowman’s role is to look out for objects and to fallow the sternmans instructions.

The Sternman - The sternman role is to guide the canoe, which includes telling the bowman what strokes to use.

From  the now defunct Wild Survive: Canoeing Tutorial – Stroke Techniques:

Canoeing Tutorial – Stroke Techniques (written by BB)

This segment covers the theory, and techniques used in the core strokes: Forward, reverse, turn, and move sideways. Although I am paddling solo from the heeled-over position for the demonstrations, the same form should be used in any position, solo or tandem.

 When most people learn how to play the piano, they take a lesson from a parent or in school and they learn the correct way. They learn where to place the hands and the fingers, they learn what keys to hit with which fingers. And they learn to play the scales. These are the basics of typing. If you learn them, really well, thru repitition and concentration, then for the rest of your life you are a better pianist. The same is true with paddling.

One of the things a lot of novice paddlers do when learning how to canoe is they get in the habit of “lily dipping”. This foul habit can be traced to one simple, relatively obscure problem/cause. The cause: The cause of lily dipping is incorrect paddling form, where the top arm (the one used to hold the grip) is left to lazily hang down in the lap while trying to paddle. Like this:

What happens here is that with the paddle at that angle, you can never get an efficient stroke.  The blade will have a tendency to sweep out and away from the boat turning it, rather than propelling it straight forward. The most efficient stroke form would include having the paddle blade perpendicular to the water surface for as long a draw as possible. By keeping the blade perpendicular in both both plains – fore/aft and side-to-side, the blade will “hold” as large a “pillow” of water as possible, and will be less likely to uncontrollably dump some of the pillowed water and make the paddle “wiggle” thru the water.

 Also, by trying to keep it straight up-and-down thru the stroke, you reduce the tendency to push down at the beginning of the stroke, and to pull up at the end. By reducing the push/pull force on the boat, you will smooth out the ride and reduce the dolphining up and down thru the water. When taking a forward stroke, the power phaze is nearely complete when the shaft reaches your hip. At that point, you shoul ease up on the power and gradually let the paddle feather thru the water almost drifting to the surface where you can then bring it forward for another stroke.

Don’t be a lily dipper.

 The opposite of lily dipping is “being and Arnold”!! Or, in other words, putting so much brute force in a stroke where it overpowers the water and it splashes all over the place. If you bury you paddle blade in the water, completely, it’ll take a lot of effort to “break the water”, but a lot of people try to place misguided trust in strength and completely disregard finesse. All that splashing around is just a waste of energy. Think- ”nice smooth entry”, and  smooth-strong pull close to the side of the boat, and “float the paddle to the surface”. No splashing, no noise, no wasted energy, no dolphining… and you look like you know what you’re doing!!!

 One last thing. When returning the paddle from the conclusion of one stroke to ready it for another stroke, you do not have to lift the paddle waaaaaaay up in the air with hands and paddle raised like you just won a race. Try to keep the paddle down in your lap, don’t bring your grip-hand up above your chin. The higher you hands raise above your heart, the harder your heart has to work. The higher you raise the paddle out of the water, the more you fight gravity. Give yourself a break and keep this motion low and smooth. Feather the blade back across the surface of the water. Again, low and smooth.

Get your arm out across your chest. Line up your grip hand with the blade of the paddle vertically. Like this:

This is proper form and this should be maintained thru the entire stroke.

 The ready position at the start of the forward stroke. Notice my whole body is bent forward from waist up making the motion a whole-body thing, rather than just a shoulder and arm thing. Yes, I know my paddle is not straight up and down, it is from the front though!! While I do conscienciousely try to maintain proper form I do sometimes stray.

When your forward stroke reaches the point where your grip-hand is at your hip, you are now ready to add the “correction” into the motion. By propelling the boat forward on, say, the left side, the boat will move forward but the bow will also be forced slightly over to the right.

 To correct this right-swinging motion there are two common method. The first is the “Rudder Stroke”. At the conclusion of the forward stroke, leave the blade fully immersed in the water with your grip hand at your hip, and then rotate your grip hand so that your thumb sticks straight up. The paddle shaft should rotate smothly around in the light grasp of your lower shaft-hand. When you thumb is completely vertical, the paddle blade will now, also, be vertical. At this point, leaving the blade in the water, gently pull in with the top grip-hand, and at the same time push out with the lower shaft-hand placing water pressure on the outside of the paddle blade. Hold this steady pressure until the bow swings back to its proper direction. Now, begin a nother stroke.

The Rudder Stroke – Thumbs up.

What you have just done was to take a forwward stroke with the “power-face” of the paddle being towards the stern. You then changed the power face to add the correction. This is a very effective stroke, but that power-face change will become a hindrance when trying to learn other strokes.

 The alternative to the rudder stroke, is the J-Stroke. This is the stroke that nearly ALL other strokes are based off of. Learning to do a smooth J-stroke is a pleasure, and a door opened up to lots of other stroke possibiklities and combinations. This stroke is as simple as the Rudder Stroke but because it seems awkward at first sometimes people dismiss, or disregard it.

 The only real difference in mechanics is that at the conclusion of the forward stroke leave the blade fully immersed in the water with your grip hand at your hip, and then rotate your grip hand so that your thumb starts to turn down.. The paddle shaft should rotate smothly around in the light grasp of your lower shaft-hand.the hand is rotated so the thumb points all the way straight down- that’s the awkward part. You really have to roll your wrist way over in order to get the blade vertical in the water. It will feel strained at first, but you’ll get used to it. The image in your head for this stroke should be that of carving a long, well…”J” in the side of the boat – albeit a long one.

It should look like this:

J-Stroke – Thumbs down.

Now, with the blade, and your wrists in this position, you can pull out with bottom shaft-hand, and pull in with the top grip-hand. This will place water pressure on the outside of the blade. Hold this until the bow swings back to the correct point.

Both the Rudder and J-Stroke should be practiced on both sides of the boat until you can do them without thought. They are like the pianist’s scales – practice them ALL the time.

(NOTE: Some people refer to the Rudder stroke as the Goon stroke….for good reason….try learning the J-stroke instead.)

From Wild Survive: Canoeing Tutorial – Solo Paddling Position:

Canoeing Tutorial – Solo Paddling Position (written by BB)

There are several options for positioning when paddling solo, each have pros and cons, related to different weather conditions, load size, speed, tracking, maneuverability, etc.

SEATED IN THE STERN SEAT

 This is the position I commonly see employed by “novices”. Seated in the srern seat, knees together, feet pulled up under the seat, and stiff as a board!!

 Whats happening here is that the paddler is just doing what comes naturally- sitting in a seat. And, it is logical to sit in the rear seat, because everyone knows that’s where you steer a canoe from. The problem with this position though, is manyfold: - The paddler’s center of mass, weight, is now very high, making the center of balance in the canoe very high and unstable. In an effort to stay balanced the paddler will constantly using the hip muscles to help correct the balance…. tiring them and making for very sore hips. - By being so high in the boat, the paddler is now far above the water requiring him/her to “reach” waaaayy down to the water for each stroke. This will have the tendency to rock the boat, further upsetting balance, and requiring undue movement and energy from the paddler. – If using this position when paddling tandem, your paddling partner, whether in stern or bow, will have to compensate for this additional movement in the canoe and also have to expend energy to compensate for balance.  - Seated in this position, you have a greatly restricted range of motion back and fore, and side-to-side as well. You are unable to reach way forward to gain better control, more power, or greater maneuverability. You are unable to reach backwards ’cause youl fall over backwards. This position also restrics several large, powerful muscles in the hips and back from working properly, placing the strain on the already, stressed and tired hips. – One of the big problems with position, seated in the stern of the boat, is that if you have no gear, or weight in the bow of the boat, them you become a weather vane in the wind. At times, in high wind, it is impossible to paddle in any direction but downwind. The wind just catches the bow and spins you around. So, ultimately, you just end up paddling backwards on a windy day.

An improvement on this position is to place your feet out in front of you, slightly lowering the center of balance. The next step would be to kneel with legs and feet under the seat and your butt resting on the seat edge. Use a foam pad to cushion your knees and feet. You have now moved slightly forward, considerably lower, and now have much greater range of motion and use of powerful muscles in the hips and back.

KNEELING IN THE CENTER

 The next step is to move further forward to the center of the canoe. This will require either gumby knees, a lot of stretching, or some sort of weight support- a rolled up foam pad, a stuff sack of old clothes – stradled and under your butt. When carrying lots of gear across a lake or down a wide river, this is the position I choose with the gear all in the forward end to evenly weight, or “trim” the boat. The boat has a long water line so its fast, and tracks well in a straight line, and I have easy access to paddle on either side.

What this position does is to get the paddler close to the center of the canoe reducing the weathervane effect. But it also puts the paddler at the center axis of the canoe alowing for greater, easier turning. The image in your head should be of one of those spinning seats at the counter of an old diner. Pull on the left and you go spinning clockwise, pull on the right and you go the other way. By the same token- pushing, rather than pulling, will have the opposite affect.

However, one problem with this position is that, being in the center of the canoe, you now have to reach waaaayy over to the side of the boat in order to get your paddle in the water and make an efficient stroke. Its just awkward!!

That said, this is also about the most stable postion in the canoe for running rapids or encountering heavt surf. it is the position I choose when paddling in those conditions.

The remedy for the problems of kneeling in the center, is to move over to one side, the side you would most comfortably paddle on – your “on” side. In adition to all the benefits of paddling in the center(fore/aft), you now have the advantages of being very close to the water surface so you don’t have to reach down to put your paddle in it, very close to the edge making an efficient paddle stroke, close to your body, much easier, but you now have increased its straight-line tracking ablilty and its agility/maneuverability. Oh, and you have also made the craft, with you in it, the most stable it can be.

For support in this position and for the next position I use a sling seat that I made years ago out of flat nylon webbing and two sheets of leather.

OFF TO ONE SIDE

HEAD ON SHOT OF SOLO

As I mentioned previously, this position can be tough on the knees and ankles, but with some stretching and practise, it becomes much easier to stay in for much longer. Notice in the last shot how the upper body is in line with the hips (well, almost), and with the center axis of the canoe. From this position I can reach with my paddle blade nearly to the bow and stern making stearing strokes very effective. This is the position I choose to paddle almost all the time whether on a day trip with a small bag, just out putzing around, or actually dancing the boat.

The obvious requirement of this position though, is that all of the strokes must be done on the “on” side of the canoe. With sound, basic stroke technique, this position affords much greater control and maneuverability than any other position.

From the now defunct Wild Survive: Canoeing Tutorial – Omering:

Canoeing Tutorial – Omering (written by BB)

I get a lot of comments about the way I paddle a canoe…you know all tipped over on one side, and spinning ’round and ’round in circles. Kind’a like I’d had one or two to many shots of the good stuff!! I paddle a style that is know in Canada as “Classic Canadian Solo”, a name attributed to Becky Mason and her famous father Bill Mason. It is also known as “Omering” in the US, linked to a man named Omer Stringer. You can Google search this name and find a lot of info on him and his adventurous life, but he is also generally regarded as the “father” of this style. Here is a short explination of Omer and his paddling style.

Omer Stringer began his paddling career as a wilderness canoe guide in the Algonquin Park region of Ontario (and elsewhere) during the 1930′s. Back in his time the practice employed by guides was to transport their “sports” or clients across lakes to a campsite or hunting ground and then send the young guides back for what gear could not fit on the first run. Since many of the lakes in the area are HUGE and often quite rough, they would fill burlap sacks with rocks and place the sack in the bow of the canoe in an effort to weigh down the bow, as the paddler sat in the stern. This effectively eased the solo paddle across the open water as wind and wave action would not catch on the bow of the boat like a kite. Upon reaching the far shore the sacks would be emptied and gear would then be piled in for the trip back to the camp. To this day one can still find piles of rocks at the head of large-lake portages in the region.

Well, Omer didn’t think to kindly of paddling sacks of rocks around all day so he set about devising a better way to complete the chore. After watching the Algonquin, and other regional natives, paddle from the center of the canoe he believed this was the key. So, with a bit of practice he became quite adept at this style and felt he was on to something, but still was not satisfied. Ya see, while paddling from dead center of the boat does trim out the canoe, fore and aft just fine, it also forces the paddler to reach waaaay out to the side to effect an efficient, powerful stroke, rapidly tiring the paddler. So, while the boat was now less affected by wind than by paddling in the stern, it was still tough on the paddler.

After a fashion, Omer found that he was gradually inching over to one side of the canoe to get his paddle into the water at a more efficient angle… straight up and down. Soon, he realized that he was kneeling up against the gunwale in the center (fore/aft) of the canoe, and that the boat was now listing way over on its side, but that he now had VERY effective control of the boat, and that it was actually easier to maneuver the boat. In this listed state, the “roundest” portion of the hull is now in contact with the water, shortening the waterline, and making it extremely easy to turn, but also to track straight ahead.

Soon, he was teaching other guides this style and, in a manner, revolutionizing the way “sports” and gear were transported thru the wilderness. Word got around, and bach to the big cities of the US.. in particular Philidelphia where canoeing was becomming very populr. Saturday evenings at the local boat clubs were often highlighted with a parade of boats in front of the clubhouse, where boat owners would show off their finest craft and rowing/paddling style. Some of the club members were former clients of Omer Stringer who had since learned his unique style of paddling and brought it back home with them. They began to employ the new style during these boat parades and it became very popular due to its grace and fluidity. It wasn’t long before its popularity spread throughout the canoeing country of N America.

The interesting aspect of the origions of the style is that as soon as just one person deemed it to be “beautiful”, or “gracefull”, a shift in the paradigm had occured. It was then, no longer canoeing for work, it was now recreation. That is what the style is today… a form of recreation, where people have taken the basics of the style and torked it to its fullest. These days, people “dance” their canoes to music, or syncronized with another canoe. The goal is to make it seem like the paddler is doing NOTHING and the canoe is in motion of its own accord. In the eyes of a seasoned Omerer, even the slightest twitch of the upper gunwale is seen as a mistake… even the slightest splash of the paddle or knock of the paddle against the hull is a mis-step. Effortlessness, efficiency, and grace are the hallmarks of the style today.

Bow-pries, one-handed skimming bow pries, on and off-side one-handed skulling, submerged circular strokes, on and off-side shifts, reverse one-handed skimming stern pries, and a variety of other strokes and stroke combinations are employed to fortify the illusion of the boat and the paddler, and the water all working as a single gracefull marriage.

Well, I could go on, and on, and on, and…… But, I hope I have given you a idea of the style, and that it all makes sense.

*The last three photos are a series shot over about 15 seconds. They show me doing a sculling draw to move my canoe sideways toward the camera across a 50 foot cove, keeping in line with the tree behind my head the whole way.

Here’s a link to the Omer Stringer Story.

Here’s a pretty poor series of shots showing me doing a 360+ spin with one circular stroke. This spin takes about 5-8 seconds, and should be done while keeping the canoe perfectly steady, on axis(as if stuck on a pin) with no off-center drift, and with minimal, graceful movements of the paddle and paddler. And NO splashing or other noise.

For even more on Omer Stringer’s paddling technique….especially in the wind see Solo Paddling In Wind (Omering).

Also check out Maine Canoe Symposium: Paddling Styles Primer (by Shawn Burke). It is more than just a sampler of paddle strokes….but also covers some of the basic factors of canoe design and construction.

Finally no article on paddling would be complete without thinking of Bill Mason and his daughter Becky:

Path of the Paddle by Bill Mason

To me  the Path of the Paddle series by Bill Mason is the definitive work on paddling….even today, years after their release, this series is still fresh and innovative….the description of the strokes….the filming of each, including animated patterns of the actual paddle stroke….the scenery….the wood canvas canoes….all of these add up to a great film series….of course this was Bill Mason in some of his favourite elements: film and canoeing….and thankfully the National Film Board has these entire films online for free.

Path of the Paddle: Solo Basic

This short film from canoeist Bill Mason illustrates the joy and poetry of paddling solo. All the basic strokes used to control the canoe are rendered with perfect clarity through animated lines.

Path of the Paddle: Solo Basic

Path of the Paddle: Doubles Basic

This short film from canoeist Bill Mason demonstrates the basic doubles paddling strokes and how to apply them in various combinations. The application of each stroke in rapids is shown briefly and the emphasis is always on working as a well-coordinated team.

Path of the Paddle: Doubles Basic

Path of the Paddle: Solo Whitewater

This short film from canoeist Bill Mason explains clearly how to locate a deep water channel by reading the rapids and how to apply paddling strokes and manoeuvres to steer the canoe where you want it to go. It also depicts what happens if you “wipe out” in a turbulent rapid and shows you how to survive the swim.

Path of the Paddle: Solo Whitewater

Path of the Paddle: Doubles Whitewater

This short film from canoeist Bill Mason shows how to read the rapids and plan a course and follow it, with complete control of the boat, using the basic paddling strokes. Running rapids will always be a calculated risk, but risk diminishes with skill and knowledge. The strokes can be used in endless combination to reduce the risks of whitewater canoeing and increase the sheer joy and exuberance.

Path of the Paddle: Doubles Whitewater

Becky Mason: Selections From Classic Solo Paddling

Becky learned a lot from her Dad….actually in my opinion she is a much better paddler….she is also a great teacher, doing courses and demonstrations….she created a DVD called Classic Solo Paddling….here is how this DVD is described on the Mason family website,  http://www.redcanoes.ca/becky/canoe/solovideo.html:

Classic Solo Canoeing is a superbly crafted DVD that is both informative and beautiful to watch. Becky’s extraordinary skills coupled with some spectacular scenery and Ian Tamblyn’s original sound track make this a unique and charming production.

Becky Mason, in this innovative instructional canoeing DVD, takes you along in her red cedar canvas canoe to some of her favourite places where land and water meet. You’ll learn to apply the classic solo paddling strokes simply and gracefully, master the art of the portage, and pick up tips on canoe safety, maintenance, and equipment selection.

So what is Classic Solo Paddling???? According to Becky: Classic Solo Canoeing, sometimes also referred to as Omering or Canadian style paddling, centers on the practical aspects of canoeing. It’s a well-rounded, relaxed, traditional paddling style providing you with all of the skills you need so you can travel safely for an afternoon paddle or a month long adventure into the wilderness.

Canoe Ballet

Sample clip from Becky Masons DVD, “Classic Solo Canoeing”. www.redcanoes.ca.

Front Sweep

A sample of Becky Mason’s video “Classic Solo Canoeing” Here she demonstrates the front sweep. www.redcanoes.ca.

Canoeing Pry Sideslip Demonstration

A short clip of Becky Mason’s video, “Classic Solo Canoeing” Here she demonstrates the Pry Slideslip. www.redcanoes.ca.

Hopefully these clips whet your appetite for more….see www.redcanoes.ca for more details on this fantastic DVD.

NOTE: I’ve included these video links before to both Bill Mason’s Path of the Paddle series….as well as those of Becky’s. But they are certainly worth repeating. Since her original Classic Solo Canoeing DVD, Becky has come out with a newer/revised DVD set called Advanced Classic Solo Canoeing, which includes more advanced paddling technique, as well as incredible underwater shots….also included is the original Classic Solo Canoeing DVD, Solo Reflections music video, and Classic Solo Moments, a series of out takes. See Advanced Classic Solo Paddling.

In Advanced Classic Solo Canoeing Becky Mason takes you for a wild spin in her cedar-canvas canoe on the crystal clear waters of Lac Vert, Quebec. The advanced strokes and manoeuvres she shows are fun to watch and learn. Bonus features include a short video called Solo Reflections where Becky teams up with internationally renowned recording artist Ian Tamblyn to create an amazing collaborative musical paddling performance. Also includes Classic Solo Moments and the original Classic Solo Canoeing from 2000. Read more http://www.redcanoes.ca/becky/canoe/solopaddling.html.

The Advanced Classic Solo Canoeing dvd can be purchased at http://www.redcanoes.ca/store/dvds.html.

Here are some scenes from the production of the advanced DVD:

Paddles up until later….and remember that it is only one stroke at a time to get to wherever you’re going….even becoming a better paddler.

Here are some photos of recent art work from the past few months:

People are like stained – glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within. - Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

This is one of my favourite stained glass windows:

 Métis artist Christi Belcourt’s design for a window in Centre Block in Parliament building in Ottawa to commemorate the legacy of Indian Residential Schools. (Aboriginal Affairs website)

 Detail of window designed by Christi Belcourt.

For more info see CBC News: Residential Schools Window Dedicated On Parliament Hill.

First, the canoe connects us to Ma-ka-ina, Mother Earth, from which we came and to which we must all return. Councils of those who were here before us revered the earth and also the wind, the rain, and the sun – all essential to life. It was from that remarkable blending of forces that mankind was allowed to create the canoe and its several kindred forms.

From the birch tree, came the bark; from the spruce, pliant roots; from the cedar, the ribs, planking and gunwales; and from a variety of natural sources, the sealing pitch.

In other habitats, great trees became dugout canoes while, in treeless areas, skin, bone and sinew were ingeniously fused into kayaks. Form followed function, and manufacture was linked to available materials. Even the modern canoe, although several steps away from the first, is still a product of the earth. We have a great debt to those who experienced the land before us. No wonder that, in many parts of the world, the people thank the land for allowing its spirit to be transferred to the canoe.

Hand-propelled watercraft still allow us to pursue the elemental quest for tranquility, beauty, peace, freedom and cleaness. It is good to be conveyed quietly, gracefully, to natural rhythms….

The canoe especially connects us to rivers – timeless pathways of the wilderness. Wave after wave of users have passed by. Gentle rains falling onto a paddler evaporate skyward to form clouds and then to descend on a fellow traveller, perhaps in another era. Like wise, our waterways contain something of the substance of our ancestors. The canoe connects us to the spirit of these people who walk beside us as we glide silently along riverine trails. – Kirk Wipper, in foreword to Canexus (also published as “Connections” in Stories From The Bow Seat: The Wisdom And Waggery Of Canoe Tripping by Don Standfield and Liz Lundell, p. 15) 

“The traditional way of education was by example, experience, and storytelling. The first principle involved was total respect and acceptance of the one to be taught, and that learning was a continuous process from birth to death. It was total continuity without interruption. Its nature was like a fountain that gives many colours and flavours of water and that whoever chose could drink as much or as little as they wanted to whenever they wished. The teaching strictly adhered to the sacredness of life whether of humans, animals or plants.” - Art Solomon, Anishinaabe Elder

“Native people feel they have lost something and they want it back. It doesn’t necessarily mean that when I talk about going back over there, that we stay over there. You have to get those teachings and pick up those things that we left along the way. The drums, the language, the songs are all scattered around. We need to bring them into this time. You need these things to teach your children today in order to give them that direction and good feelings about who they are. They need to know where they are going. It doesn’t mean we have to go back to living in teepees. You can be a traditionalist and be comfortable wherever you are.” - Art Solomon, Anishinaabe Elder

Traditional people of Indian nations have interpreted the two roads that face the light-skinned race as the road to technology and the road to spirituality. We feel that the road to technology…. has led modern society to a damaged and seared earth. Could it be that the road to technology represents a rush to destruction, and that the road to spirituality represents the slower path that the traditional native people have traveled and are now seeking again? The earth is not scorched on this trail. The grass is still growing there. - William Commanda, Mamiwinini, Canada, 1991

As William Commanda, Elder from the Algonquian Nation and keeper of the sacred wampum belts, said in the opening of his June 10, 2010 message to the Algonquins of the Ottawa River Watershed:

I have been blessed by the guidance and strength of the Sacred Wampum Belts of our Anisninabe ancestors to assert their presence over the past forty years, and many, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, have been awakened to our history, wisdom and relevance in these times of unprecedented global uncertainty and chaos. But in our traditional way of thinking, the individual is only a cornerstone of a community, and we must bring our individual strengths together to recreate the strong communities we developed in the past. I have often said that Indigenous Peoples are the only ones who have never gone elsewhere to make new homes, we are at home here; we maintain the sacred unbreakable connections with Mother Earth, and we have to assert this reality with even greater vigour and perseverance in these times of war and strife, climate change and environmental crisis. Without doubt, Mother Earth’s voice is loud now, and she is calling urgently to draw us back to her. We have a crucial role to play in restoring balance on Earth, and our Earth based and cyclical ways of thinking have a vitally important role to play in human evolution and growth. We can all see the huge deficit and spiritually bankrupt legacy looming in the global landscape.

Let me finally add these words of William Commanda:  “we need this old knowledge in our teachings to get through this new age”.

From Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign:

Epic Canoe Trip

From July 27 – August 9

A focal point of the year-long educational and advocacy Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign will be a symbolic “enactment” of the treaty in the summer of 2013. We will bring the treaty to life with Haudenosaunee and other Native People paddling side-by-side with allies and supporters down the Hudson River from Albany to New York City. These two equal, but separate rows will demonstrate the wise, yet simple concept of the Two Row Wampum Treaty. 

Itinerary and Map

Our itinerary is set for the 13 day trip down the Hudson River this summer.  See below or download the Schedule (pdf) At each of our stops, we will need logistical assistance from local supporters.  Below the list of ideas for ways to provide support is the current, nearly-final itinerary.  If you can help at a particular location, please contact the appropriate person directly.  If you have more general ideas/suggestions/offers of assistance, you can contact Andy Mager or Lena Duby. We will generally be leaving each morning as the tide is going out which will typically be between 10 and 11 daily.

Ways You can Help

• Provide and/or arrange for housing for people who aren’t able to camp
• Identify potential overflow camping areas if we fill up our spots
• Assist with on the ground logistical support, setting up for events/camping, directing people to park, running errands, setting up signs, be part of our “leave no trace” cleanup crew…
• Raise funds to help support the journey
• Solicit donations of food from area stores and farmers
• Bring food and/or arrange for others to do so to our breakfast, lunch or dinner spots
• Assist with transport/pickup of new people joining us, help identify places where cars can be left
• Help with publicity and media relations, both before and during the event. Contact Lindsay Speer.
• Help organize an event for us in your community when we arrive, including seeking support and welcome from local leaders
• Help fill two specific requests:  A pontoon boat or other boat with a flat deck -and a captain!- to assist the media team, and a solar device-charging station.  (Keeping media team’s computers, cell phones, and cameras charged is a key logistical challenge)

Our Itinerary

Revised 7/19/2013

Saturday, July 27 Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign Send-off Celebration Festival* Festival @ Russell Sage College, 65 1st St, Troy, NY (map) 10 am – 5 pm Key contact: Kevin Nephew or Lori Quigley Camping Site: River St. and Division St. Troy, NY (map)

Sunday, July 28: From Rensselaer Boat Launch  (Gather 10 am, launch 10:45) Launch @ Rensselaer Boat Launch 20 Forbes Ave, Rensselaer, NY (map) Lunch @ Henry Hudson Park, Barent Winne Rd & Lyons Rd, Selkirk, NY 12158 (map) Land @ Schodack Island State Park, 1 Schodack Island Way, Schodack Landing, NY (map) (arrive 4:30 pm) Camping site @ Schodack Island State Park For launch, Key contact: Andy Mager Key contact for site: Allison Smith

Monday, July 29: From Schodack Island State Park  (launch 10 am) No lunch stop: Lunch on the river Land @ Coxsackie Village Park, Betke Blvd & S. River St (arrive 4:30 pm) Camping site @ Coxsackie Village Park Sharing the River of Life, 7 pm Key contact: Allison Smith, Local Contact: Vernon Benjamin

Tuesday, July 30: From Coxsackie Village Park (launch 10 am) Lunch @Athens, 2nd St & N Water Street Athens, NY Land @ Dutchman’s Landing, (map) (arrive 4:30 pm) Camping site @ Dutchman’s Landing Protecting the River of Life, 7 pm, @ Catskills Point Park 1 Main St, Catskill, NY 12414 Key contact: Allison Smith, Local contact Sue Rosenberg

Wednesday, July 31: Launch from Catskill (launch 10 am) Lunch @ Malden-on-Hudson, End of Riverside Drive Land @ Sojourner Truth/Ulster Landing Park Co Rd 37/Ulster Landing Rd (entrance) 934 Co Rd 37 / Ulster Landing Road, Saugerties, NY 12477 (map) (arrive 4:30 pm) Camp site @ Sojourner Truth/Ulster Landing Park Indigenous Rights and African-American Freedom Struggles, 7 pm. Key contact: Allison Smith, local contact Sally Bermanzohn

Thursday, August 1: From Sojourner Truth/Ulster Landing  (launch 9:30 am) Lunch and Event @ Hudson Maritime Museum, Kingston*, 11-2:30 50 Rondout Landing, Kingston, NY (map)‎ (paddlers arrive about 12:30 pm) Land @ Margret Norrie State Park, 9 Old Post Road, Staatsburg, NY 12580 (map) (arrive 6:30 pm) Camping site @ Margret Norrie State Park Key contact: Terry Eckert, local contact Tania Barricklo and Karin Wolfe

Friday, August 2: Launch from Margret Norrie State Park (launch 11 am) Land @ Poughkeepsie at Hudson River Rowing Association Dock, 270-272 N Water St, Poughkeepsie, NY (map) Camping site @ Hudson River Rowing Association Dock Lacrosse: The Creator’s Game Presentation, 5:30 pm Key contact: Jack Manno, local contacts Paul Gorgen and Stephanie Santagada Wells

Saturday, August 3: Launch from Poughkeepsie* (launch 10 am) Event @ 9:30 am: Welcome on the Walkway Gathering to Welcome Paddlers and Unity Riders to mid-Hudson Valley: Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park, Poughkeepsie Entrance: 61 Parker Avenue Poughkeepsie, NY 12601; Highland entrance: 87 Haviland Road  Highland, NY 12528 website: http://www.walkway.org Lunch @ Marlboro Yacht Club, End of Dock Road, Marlboro, NY website: http://mycboatclub.com/ Land @ Long Dock Park, Beacon, NY Directions to landing site: from Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, go 1.8 miles south on Route 9D, right on Beekman St., Right on Red Flynn Drive then immediate left on Long Dock Rd. Beacon Two Row Wampum Festival at Riverfront Park, Beacon, NY, 11 am – 8 pm (for directions, see http://beacontworow.org/directions/) Campsite @ David Eberle’s land, 35 Slocum Rd, Beacon, NY 12508 Directions to camp from Newburgh Beacon Bridge: south on RT 9D, 3.3 miles; Turn right onto Grandview Ave; Take the 1st left to stay on Grandview Ave.; Continue onto Slocum Rd, camping on the Right.

Thursday August 8: Piermont to Inwood/Yonkers (launch 10:30am) Launch @ Parelli Park, Hudson Way and Piermont Ave, Piermont, NY Lunch stop to be determined. Either at Beczak Environmental Center 35 Alexander St, Yonkers, NY 10701 OR Kennedy Marina/JFK Marina and Park at the end of JFK Memorial Drive, off of Warburton Avenue, Yonkers NY 10701 Land @ Dyckman Street landing, at La Marina Restaurant 348 Dyckman St New York, NY 10034 Poetry and Spoken Word: Two Rows and More, 6:30 pm at Inwood Hill Park, NYC CAMPING SITE IN YONKERS THIS NIGHT. (See lunch stop information)

Background

We will paddle between 9 and 15 miles each day and camp along the route. There will be educational and cultural events along the way, some large and others small. The gatherings will feature talks by Haudenosaunee leaders and allies and cultural sharing.  The itinerary is still being finalized. The current version is on the attached application, updates will be available on our website. We will arrive in New York City on Friday, August 9 to participate in the United Nations International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. The symbolic enactment and related events will draw thousands of people to the Hudson to learn and be inspired to create an equitable and sustainable future for all in the Hudson Valley and beyond. The events will attract tourists as well as residents. We aim to educate and inspire attendees to transform their relationship to the river and all parts of the natural world, incorporating a sense of historic responsibility for the environment and justice for the original inhabitants of this land.

Onondaga to Albany: July 2-14

Haudenosaunee Paddlers are en route to Albany on the first leg of the Two Row Wampum journey. They will reach the Hudson on Sunday, July 14 after which they and the wampum belt they are carrying will rest for two weeks before the second part of the journey down the Hudson to the United Nations. They are being joined by other Haudenosaunee paddlers on the route. Contact Hickory, 315-775-7548.

Full Schedule Tuesday July 2: Onondaga Nation to Bayberry. Stop at Two Row Wampum Festival on Onondaga Lake Wednesday July 3: Bayberry to Oneida Shores Park Thursday July 4: Oneida Shores Park to Paradise Cove Friday July 5: Paradise Cove to Rome Saturday July 6: Rome to Barnes Ave., Utica Sunday, July 7: Rest Day KOA Herkimer Monday July 8: Utica to Lock (E18) Herkimer Tuesday July 9: Lock (E18) Herkimer to St. Johnsville Marina Wednesday July 10: St. Johnsville Marina to Kanatsiohareke (Tom Porters) Thursday July 11: Event at Kanatsiohareke. Drums along the Mohawk Friday July 12: Kanatsiohareke to Lock (E12) Tribe’s Hill Saturday July 13: Lock (E12) Tribe’s Hill to Lock (E8) Scotia. Festival at Mabee Farm Sunday July 14: Lock (E8) Scotia to Peebles Island

Epic Canoe Trip: Symbolic Enactment

We will begin with a cultural and educational festival near Albany on Saturday, July 27 and the flotilla will set off the following morning. We will paddle between 9 and 15 miles each day and camp along the route.  There will be educational and cultural events along the way, some large and others small. The gatherings will feature talks by Haudenosaunee leaders and allies and cultural sharing. The most up-to-date version of the itinerary can be found here.

We will arrive in New York City on Friday, August 9 to participate in the United Nations International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

The symbolic enactment and related events will draw thousands of people to the Hudson to learn and be inspired to create an equitable and sustainable future for all in the Hudson Valley and beyond. The events will attract tourists as well as residents. We aim to educate and inspire attendees to transform their relationship to the river and all parts of the natural world, incorporating a sense of historic responsibility for the environment and justice for the original inhabitants of this land.

Our First Day on the Water

What a wonderful start to our epic journey!  Hundreds of indigenous and ally paddlers and their supporters gathered at the boat launch in Rensselaer in the pouring rain for our rousing send off.   The rain cleared away long enough for most of the send-off ceremony.  As Tadodaho Sid Hill gave the Thanksgiving Address from the shores of the River That Flows Both Ways, a hummingbird even came to join our well-wishers.

Local political leaders also come to send their good wishes for our voyage.  Congressman Paul Tonko, Mayor of Troy Lou Rosamilia, Albany City Councilor Dominick Calsolaro, and a representative from Senator Gillabrand’s office all offered good words and well-wishes for our journey.  Dan Dwyer, the Mayor of Rensselaer, also arrived as the last paddlers were launching and shared his well-wishes with the Haudenosaunee leaders there.

And then we were off!  It was a beautiful sight to see the two great long rows of paddlers, native and and non-native side by side setting off down the Hudson.  The rains and wind came back, but our paddlers persevered down to Henry Hudson Park for a lunch.  About six paddlers found it to be more challenging than they expected and were assisted by our safety boats and the US Coast Guard Auxillary with us safely to the lunch stop.  It is a good reminder that this is a serious river that deserves all our respect.

Despite the weather, a pair of eagles and a great blue heron joined us on the water for a while and everyone was in high spirits.   The weather cleared for our final leg and we made our triumphant entrance to Schodack Island State Park.   Jun-san Yasuda of the Grafton Peace Pagoda was there at both the launch and the send off, drumming her prayers for us.  At dinner, Etoqua welcomed us on behalf of the Mahicans to their territory, as this was the site of their Council Fire in the time of the Two Row Wampum Treaty.

In the evening, the young paddlers from Tonawanda Seneca sang for us and we all shared in social dancing.  We are all tired but determined and full of joy to be on this great journey together.

Two Row and Unity Riders

The Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign is delighted to collaborate with the Dakota People of Manitoba, Canada who are bringing their Unity Riders to the Hudson Valley this summer. They ride on horseback to spread a message of peace and healing for every nation and for humankind. This epic journey of the horsemen will cover thousands of miles from Canada to New York State and will rendezvous with the Two Row paddlers at several spots on our journey down the Hudson River.

The Unity Ride, led by Chief Gus High Eagle of the Dakota Nation, will join with the Two Row Campaign on July 27 at Sage College in Troy, on August 1 at the Hudson Maritime Museum in Kingston, on August 3 in Poughkeepsie and Beacon, and on August 9 and 10 in New York City. The Two Row Campaign will join with the Unity Riders in Woodstock on August 4 for their International Walk for World Peace.

From Community Canoe Project Campaign:

Welcome to the Community Canoe crowdfunding campaign

My name is Ranger Aidan, and I’d like to put a Community Canoe Garden in your neighbourhood!

What’s a Community Canoe Garden? As part of the David Suzuki Foundation’s Homegrown National Park Project, our plan is to take old canoes that are no longer seaworthy and repurpose them as bee-friendly garden planters.

The Community Canoe Gardens will be installed in parks along the corridor of the old Garrison Creek. And they will be filled with native flowers that are really good for birds, bees and butterflies.  Listen to our interview on CBC’s Metro Morning.

Our Goal

Our goal is to raise $5,000 so we can establish a network of 12 Community Canoe gardens. This money will be used to buy old canoes, plus soil, plants, mulch and other materials.

And we need your help. Not only will you be helping to change the landscape of the city, check out the amazing perks for your generous support (see some pictures below)!

Why are we doing this?

Well, we love canoes. And not only do they look awesome filled with native plants and flowers, the Community Canoe Garden network will support local bees, butterflies and other pollinators that help ensure our fruits, veggies and herbs are abundant and healthy.

Please join us in this project. Together, we can build the Community Canoe Network. And please note that the Community Canoe Garden Network is just the beginning. Working with residents, community groups, the city, and local paddling businesses, our grand ambition is to establish Community Canoe as a service similar to bixi bikes, but for canoes. We want to help make it easier for residents to explore Toronto’s waterfront and waterways. Imagine adding a paddle down the Humber or the Don to your commute, or taking a canoe trip along the waterfront!

Please help bring canoes back to the city by showing your support for Community Canoe – a “park service” of the Homegrown National Park.

Warmly,

Ranger Aidan Homegrown National Park Project

Check out our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Video footage provided by Greg Francis and Marianna Angotti

Check out pictures of some of the rewards:

Pins:

T-shirts:

Good News For a Change book by David Suzuki & Holly Dressel:

The Nature Principle book by Richard Louv:

Plant Guide by the David Suzuki Foundation:

A virtual high five:

One half community canoe which will become a garden:

From Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau, comes this brief description of who Henry David Thoreau was:

Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American author, poet, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, philosopher, and leading transcendentalist. He is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.

Thoreau’s books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions were his writings on natural history and philosophy, where he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern day environmentalism.

On a lazy day of August, I thought I would post some of Thoreau’s quotes:

I sailed up a river with a pleasant wind, New lands, new people, and new thoughts to find; Many fair reaches and headlands appeared, And many dangers were there to be feared; But when I remember where I have been, And the fair landscapes that I have seen, Thou seemest the only permanent shore, The cape never rounded, nor wandered o’er.”  – Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

Wherever there is a channel for water, there is a road for the canoe. –  Henry David Thoreau

Everyone must believe in something. I believe I’ll go canoeing. – Henry David Thoreau

I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life; living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartanlike as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness out of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience. – Henry David Thoreau

A lake is the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is Earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature. – Henry David Thoreau, from the chapter “The Ponds” in Walden

Generally speaking, a howling wilderness does not howl: it is the imagination of the traveler that does the howling. - Henry David Thoreau

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves – Henry David Thoreau

Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads – Henry David Thoreau

All good things are wild, and free – Henry David Thoreau

If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer; but if he spends his whole day as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making earth bald before her time, he is esteemed an industrious and enterprising citizen. – Henry David Thoreau

This curious world we inhabit…is more wonderful than convenient; more beautiful than useful; it is more to be admired and enjoyed than used. – Henry David Thoreau

In wildness is the preservation of the world. – Henry David Thoreau

We need the tonic of wildness, to wade sometimes in marshes where the bittern and the meadow-hen lurk, and hear the booming of the snipe; to smell the whispering sedge where only some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her nest, and the mink crawls with its belly close to the ground. – Henry David Thoreau

Revisting the wolf as a teacher….for my favourite Ma’iingan (wolf) kwe who has taught me much already….and has more yet to teach….

“Perhaps it was the eyes of the wolf, measured, calm, knowing. Perhaps it was the intense sense of family. After all, wolves mate for life, are loyal partners, create hunting communities and demonstrate affectionate patience in pup rearing. Perhaps it was the rigid heirarchy of the packs. Each wolf had a place in the whole and yet retained his individual personality. Perhaps it was their great, romping, ridiculous sense of fun. Perhaps it was some celestial link with thw winter night skies that prompted the wolf to lay his song on the icy air. For the Native people who lived with the wolves, and the wolves once ranged from the Arctic to the sub-tropics, there was much to learn from them. Is it any wonder that the myths of many tribes characterise the wolves not as killers but as teachers?” -  Unknown

“To look into the eyes of a wolf is to see your own soul” – Native proverb.

This is the description of David Beaucage Johnson‘s painting ‘Song For The Night Sun’:

“People often wonder why wolves howl at the moon. In this painting, the wolves are shown embracing the moon and offering song to it. The songs are in gratitude for providing light for their night hunts. The white at the bottom is the Teaching Rock, a sacred place north of Stoney Lake in the Kawartha Lakes region of central Ontario. At this sacred place, there are images carved onto a gleaming white rock. Contained in the symbols on the rock are the teachings of the Medicine Wheel and the Spirit World. Night Sun is the English translation for the Ojibwe word for moon. To the Ojibway, the wolf is known as the teacher and it is said that we can learn much by watching the wolf.” (From Whetung Ojibwa Crafts and Art Gallery: David Beaucage Johnson)

It is said that the First Nations and the wolf have come to be alike….both mate for life….both have a clan system and a tribe….both had their land taken from them….both were hunted for their hair…..and both were pushed close to destruction….perhaps Native people can look to the wolf for their future as a people….the wolf is beginning to return to this land….perhaps First Nations will also cease to be seen as a “Vanishing Peoples”….and maybe emerge to lead the way back to natural living and respect for our Mother Earth….

Miigwech.

I have been rereading Building The Maine Guide Canoe By Jerry Stelmok (this is a direct link to the online book from Google.com). This was one of the first books on building wood canvas canoes….it was followed by The Wood and Canvas Canoe: A Complete Guide To Its History, Construction, Restoration, And Maintenance that was written by Jerry Stelmok and Rollin Thurlow.

Building The Maine Guide Canoe had a foreword by Clint Tuttle, a canoe builder and instructor of wooden boatbuilding. Clint shared his thoughts on wood canvas canoes, which included the following:

A canoe must fill many unusual requirements: it must be light and portable, yet strong and seaworthy, and it must embody practical qualities for paddle, pole, and sail. It must reject every superfluity of design and construction, yet satisfy the tastes of its owner and safely carry heavy dunnage through unpredictable conditions. These demands will be met by a builder both meticulous and clever – one who, through resourcefulness and dedicated craftsmanship, can build a canoe that will be an everlasting source of joy. It will provide pleasures that continue throughout the four seasons: loving labors that extend from spring refit through a summer and autumn of hard work and play, and on through the winter layup period of redesigning, building, and improving the canoe and its auxiliary gear.

I hope the author’s text….will impart….a proper understanding of of the creation of simple, graceful canoes. It is sad that the practical knowledge and technical skill necessary to build them has remained virtually uncommunicated. One can only hope that revealing a part of this information will result in a clearer understanding of the special bond between the traditionalist canoeist and the wood-canvas canoe. For indeed, a canoe reflects the spirit of its builder and user that develops a character more akin to a living thing than to a mere object of possession….

Check out the preface in Building The Maine Guide Canoe By Jerry Stelmok (this link will take you to an online version of the book)….Jerry weaves an interesting ‘tale’ of the Cosmic Planetwright and how the wood canvas canoe came to be….and was ‘lost’, especially with the manufacturing of aluminum and sythetic canoes….even if for only a while. This has to be read to be fully understood….merely quoting from the preface wouldn’t do it justice. I truly love Jerry’s bend on wood canvas canoes.

The Wood and Canvas Canoe: A Complete Guide To Its History, Construction, Restoration, And Maintenance by Jerry Stelmok and Rollin Thurlow picks up on this theme. This book is described in a review from The Essential Wood Canoe Enthusiasts Library, which also makes up part of A Canoe Reading List, found elsewhere on this blog:

The essential reference for anyone interested in wood canoes. Mainly a building guide for new canoes, also covers restoration, history, and capsule summeries of selected manufacturers. Includes plans for Rollin’s Cheemaun, Atkinson Traveler and Whisper canoes.

The Wood and Canvas Canoe: A Complete Guide To Its History, Construction, Restoration, And Maintenance by Jerry Stelmok and Rollin Thurlow is part history, part manual for construction, restoration and maintenance of this classic and lovely type of canoe. The book does contain complete plans for building various models of canoes….but more than anything the fine drawings, photos and writing make it the last word on the subject of wood canvas canoes.

The introduction starts off with the following:

Time spent in a wooden canoe of fine lines and able handling qualities is intoxicating. Restoring vintage canoes or building such craft from scratch can be consuming. It will ruin a man or a woman for any other work. This is not to dismiss all canoe builders as rapscallions, curmudgeons, or reprobates. But in the majority of cases there are the symptoms of an addiction, or at least a suspension of common sense where canoes are concerned. We are kin to the hard-bitten trout fisherman who stands out in the wind and rain breaking ice from the guides of his fly rod for a chance at an early season rainbow, or the railbird unable to resist the summons of the bugle, knowing it will be followed by the starting gun which will launch the thoroughbreds from the gates. We all know better, yet we simply can’t help ourselves. Why else would we devote our most productive years attempting to revive an industry that has not known real prosperity since before the Great Depression? Today, at long last, wooden canoes and their construction are enjoying a quiet renaissance, and this only encourages us, adding fuel to our dreams.

As the introduction concludes, the authors hope to impart a small portion of the essence of these wonderful craft that goes beyond cedar and canvas, tacks and bolts – the enchantment of boats so well adapted to the moods of our waterways, they seem a part of them.

These two books are important additions to any paddler’s library….especially if you love wood canvas canoes. Check them out.

Paddles up until later then.

Some of the canoes from Peterborough area builders in the Canadian Canoe Museum (in Peterborough of course).

Aerial view showing the industries of downtown Peterborough, circa 1918

One of the earliest aerial photos of Peterborough, taken before this Hunter Street bridge was demolished in 1920 to make way for the current structure. Downtown Peterborough before World War I was filled with industry. Of all the industries noted here, only Quaker Oats remains: 1) Quaker Oats Company of Canada, 2) Flour mill of the Peterborough Cereal Company, 3) Peterborough Gas Works, 4) Denne Warehouse (Dewart Mills), 5) First Peterborough Canoe Company factory, 6) Freight terminal, 7) J.J. Turner and Sons, 8) Peter Hamilton Company, 9) Former Peterborough Boating Club boathouse, 10) Ackerman Harness Company, 11) Campbell Flour Mills Company and Maple Leaf Mills, 12) Second Canadian Canoe Company Factory, 13) Central Bridge and Engineering Company, 14) CPR station, 15) Calcutt Brewing and Malting Company, 16) Otonabee grain mill, and 17) Site of the Ontario Canoe Company factory. (Courtesy of the Trent Valley Archives – Stan McBride Collection)

Cover of book by Ken Brown that is very useful.

Some info from various online sources about the history of canoe building in Peterborough….which I thought might be of some interest so I’ve reproduced it here:

The following was originally on the Peterborough Museum and Archives,  http://www.peterboroughmuseumandarchives.ca/canoe.htm (but now appears to have been taken offline):

Introduction

Origins of the Industry

John Stephenson began to build and sell canoes in the late 1850s as a sideline to his main business with the Stephenson and Craigie planing mill (located at the present site of the Quaker Oats tennis courts). Gradually, he began to spend more time constructing canoes in order to meet the growing demand, first with a small factory at the foot of Lake St. on Little Lake, and later another, located on Elizabeth Street (now Hunter St.) in Ashburnham.

Birth of the Peterborough Canoe Company

A fire on May 9,1892 completely destroyed the factory and all the lumber and models of the Ontario Canoe Co. The loss was estimated at $25,000 and there was no insurance. Mr. John Burnham and J. S. Rogers decided to rebuild, and on October 5, 1892 work began on a new factory at the corner of Water and King Streets in Peterborough, on the site of the original Adam Scott mill. It opened on February 15, 1893 under the name of the Peterborough Canoe Company, and employed 50 skilled workers.

Across the street (south side of King Street on the bank of the Otonabee River) was a large boathouse built by the Peterborough Boating Club. In the 1870s and 1880s this club produced several champion rowers. The club became dormant after 1891 when the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) built a spur line along the shore of the Otonabee, effectively cutting off the boathouse from the river.

By 1892, the company offered 120 different canoe models. Besides the popular basswood and cedar rib canoes, the company also built cedar rib longitudinal strip canoes, duck boats, smooth-skin and lap-streak skiffs, sailing canoes and 20 to 50 foot steam launches . Peterborough Canoe Company also manufactured camping goods, furniture and office fittings and gradually diversified its product line to include rocking verandah chairs, hand painted decoys, and sun stop shades. (The sun shades became so successful that it eventually developed into the Ventilating Shade Company). In later years, the company also produced water skis and surfboards.

Birth of the Canadian Canoe Company

On April 25, 1893, the Canadian Canoe Company began to manufacture canoes and skiffs at its factory at the corner of Brock and Water Streets. It later moved to George and Dalhousie Streets, and then, in 1911, it moved to a new three story building on Rink Street where the company employed about 30 workers.

By 1902, the three canoe factories in Peterborough employed a total of 60 workers. The growth of the industry during the first decade of the century was reflected by the expansion of the operations so that by 1908, there were 90 people employed in the canoe factories of Peterborough. The workers sought to organize themselves and there was a brief strike at the Canadian Canoe Co. in May 1919, but the union failed to secure higher wages or recognition of the union from management.

Growing Pains…

The 1920s marked a turning point in the history of canoe building in Peterborough. Declining supplies of suitable wood in the local area, combined with the growing popularity of outboard motors, led to leaner times and considerable restructuring.

Peterborough: Canada’s Boat Building Capital

By 1930, 25% of all employees in the boat building industry of Canada worked in the Peterborough area. These companies included the Brown Boat Company and the Lakefield Canoe and Boat Company, along with the Peterborough Canoe Co., the Canadian Canoe Co., J.B. O’Dette and Son, the Otonabee Boat Works, and the Canadian Johnson Motor Co. (Boat Division). It was estimated that approximately 12% of the products were exported to markets in the United States and Europe. Although the canoe companies continued to be profitable ventures throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the employees were forced to accept significant wage cuts. According to one former employee, just prior to the World War II, the company had cut single mens’ wages in half and married mens’ wages by a third. Factory workers were now getting paid 12 cents an hour with no time and a half for overtime.

During World War Two, the Peterborough Canoe Co. produced a number of products for the war effort, including pontoons for building bridges, assault boats, RCAF crash boats, naval tenders, bomb loading dinghies and shell boxes. In early 1940, the entire production of new snow skis was shipped via Northern Quebec to Finland to help resist an invasion by the Soviet Union.

Decline of the Industry

As Canada entered the 1950s, the local canoe industry continued to play a prominent role in the local economy. As of 1949, the Peterborough Canoe Co. was employing 150 people and exports accounted for 10% of production. By the mid-1950s, 75 % of all canoes made in Canada were manufactured by four companies, and three of the four were located in and around Peterborough – the Peterborough Canoe Co., the Canadian Canoe Co., and the Lakefield Canoe Co. The Chestnut Canoe Co. was the other main manufacturer of canoes.

The diversification of the product line of the original canoe companies helped them to profit from the economic boom in the early 1950s. In 1953, the Manager of the Peterborough Canoe Co., Jack Richardson, stated that sales were “a way above the total for any recent year” and “the demand for paddles is so great…(we) can’t keep up with production.” As a result, the company began to invest in new facilities. By 1956, the Peterborough Canoe Co. was the largest single boat manufacturer in Canada, selling over 8,000 boats annually with sales of over $1.5 million.

Buoyed by this prosperity, the Peterborough Canoe Co. undertook plans for expansion. In 1947, fourteen acres of land had been purchased on Monaghan Road for the construction of a new finishing mill. The larger facilities were expected to increase production by 25%. The Peterborough Canoe Co. moved into its new facilities in the mid-1950s. Meanwhile, in 1958 the Canadian Canoe Co. moved into the old Peterborough Canoe Co. factory on Water St.

By the late 1950s however, the canoe companies were experiencing serious financial difficulties. The $1 million cost of moving into the new facilities was twice the anticipated cost.

In 1957, it was estimated that approximately 4,000 canoes were sold in Canada. However, compared with the increase in population, there were fewer canoes being sold per capita despite the greater number of people spending their holidays involving some sort of water recreation. There was much greater interest in motorboats and sales began to reflect this change in the market. The 1950s also witnessed the introduction of new aluminum and fiberglass canoe models that began to undermine the market for the wooden canoes. The latter were more expensive, as they required more skill and time to produce, and were made of more costly materials.

The canoe companies of Peterborough tried to accommodate the introduction of other boat building technologies, but met with limited success. The Peterborough Canoe Co. began to produce aluminum canoes in 1957 and fibreglass boats around 1956, but they did not go into full production until 1961. Though the craftsmen were skilled with wood, they had difficulty mastering the new skills necessary for working with resins and producing fiberglass canoes. As a result, they had to learn through trial and error as they went along, and the company began producing a large number of “seconds”, reflecting poorly on the reputation of the company.

The unionization of the employees in 1955 brought increased labour costs along with the elimination of piecework overtime. Overall, the combination of an expensive relocation, higher labour costs, questionable management practices, and the difficulties encountered in trying to adapt to the new canoe technologies, along with a more competitive market place, forced the canoe factories to close in the early 1960s.

In 1960, the Canadian Canoe Co. ceased manufacturing and filed for bankruptcy with debts of over $ 2 million. With the collapse of the Canadian Canoe Co. operations, it was decided to split up the Canadian Watercraft Co. that had acted as a holding company since 1924. As a result, the Peterborough Canoe Co. and the Chestnut Canoe Co. carried on independently of each other.

The Peterborough Canoe Co. lasted another couple of years, but it too, ended up filing for bankruptcy in 1962. The Chestnut Canoe Co. obtained the moulds, patterns and patents of the Peterborough Canoe Co. and continued to build canoes at its factory in Oromocto, New Brunswick until 1978; yet it too had to fold following a major expansion in 1974.

Additional Canoe Companies in the Peterborough Region

The Herald Canoe Company

Thomas Gordon Canoe Company – Strickland Canoe Company – Lakefield Canoe Company

Thomas Gordon was building canoes for sale in Lakefield since the late 1850s under the name of the Thomas Gordon Canoe Co., while in 1860 the Strickland Canoe Co. was established.

In 1892, Robert Strickland founded Strickland and Co. to produce board canoes. The name of the firm was changed to the Lakefield Canoe Works in 1900.

In 1904, Gordon and Strickland combined and reorganized the business as the Lakefield Canoe Co. This firm was eventually absorbed into the Lakefield Canoe and Manufacturing Co., which was established in 1918 by E.R. Tate.

In 1937, it was reorganized again and became the Lakefield Canoe and Boat Co. under the direction of George Cook. It changed to Lakefield Boats Ltd. in 1942, and was then bought out by Rilco Industries in 1962, which continued to operate until 1970.

In 1909, Gilbert Gordon, son of Thomas Gordon, began to build canoes in Bobcaygeon. Some canoes had been built there for a number of years in a boathouse operated by Dr. Thorne. In 1926, Charles Gordon began operating the business under the name of the Gordon Boatworks Co.

James G. Brown started up the Brown Boat Co. of Lakefield in 1887. He had worked with Thomas Gordon for a while before starting up his own business. Brown manufactured canvas freight canoes and cedar strip canoes. The business continued until 1938.

From the Canada Science and Technology Museum, the Curator’s Choice, Canoes: The Shapes Of Success,  http://www.sciencetech.technomuses.ca/english/collection/canoes.cfm:

Introduction

There is perhaps no technology more intimately connected to the Canadian identity than the canoe. This association stems from a variety of factors: historic, geographic and, indeed, aesthetic. Yet, for this connection truly to flourish, for the history, geography and simple beauty of the canoe to excite the collective imagination, direct contact and experience with the technology itself were essential. Commercial canoe production, beginning in the 1860s, was the catalyst for this relationship, for, with commercial production, the canoe become available to a broad and appreciative public. Canoes: The Shape of Success, the exhibit on display at the Canada Science and Technology Museum (CSTM), explores both the early history of commercial canoe building in Canada and the subsequent evolution of the canoe as a national icon.

Employees of the Herald Bros. Canoe Co. factory, Gore’s Landing (Rice Lake), Ontario, ca 1890. (CSTM 940346)

The “Canadian”

In the history of recreational boating in Canada, the canoe enjoys a place of special prominence. This is true both within Canada-where the canoe has become a fixture of summer camps, resorts and wilderness expeditions-and beyond our borders, where the distinctive style of watercraft we recognize simply as a “canoe” is in other countries known as a “Canadian.”

The basic form of the commercially built Canadian canoe was derived directly from bark and dugout traditions of First Peoples. Inspired by the innate qualities of the shape and performance of these traditional watercraft, a variety of techniques was developed to construct this superb aboriginal watercraft, first from wood and later from other materials. As production expanded to meet a growing middle-class interest in outdoor recreation, 19th-century sportsmen saw the Canadian canoe as something distinct requiring definition. Thus, one observer writing for Forest and Stream (Dec. 29, 1887, p. 456) under the pen name “Retaw,” offered this account of the salient characteristics of the Canadian canoe form: “sharp lines…broad flat floor…[and] slight tumble home of the topsides.”

Pioneers in the Field

The commercial history of the Canadian canoe began in the second halfthe19th century, notably concentrated in the region around the city of of Peterborough, Ontario. The principal players in the formative years were John Stephenson of Ashburnham, Thomas Gordon of Lakefield, William English of Peterborough and Daniel Herald of Gore’s Landing on Rice Lake. Examples of the canoes built by these men or their companies are still in evidence around the world. Yet, of these pioneers, only the legacy of Daniel Herald’s commercial operations, begun in 1862, has been preserved in any depth.

Daniel Herald, canoe builder, designer, innovator and founder of the Rice Lake Canoe Co., ca 1870. (CSTM 940349)

Canoe mould for construction of the Herald’s Patent Cedar Canoe. (CSTM 940387)

This rare material, consisting of photographs, order books, plans, certificates, trade literature, tools, and patterns and moulds, constitutes the Daniel Herald-Rice Lake collection at the Canada Science and Technology Museum. While this collection is a unique record of an important company in the commercial history of the Canadian canoe, it is also one of the finest and fullest material records of 19th-century boat building as a business enterprise in North America. As such, it also provides an important view of the social and economic history of outdoor recreation in Canada.

Explanatory drawing from Herald’s Boat and Canoe Mould patent of 1871

The Herald’s Patent Cedar Canoe

Although the canoe company founded by Daniel Herald produced a variety of canoe models, the most celebrated of his product line was the Herald’s Patent Cedar Canoe. The patent in the name, dating to 1871, refers specifically to the design of the mould used in the building of this model. Herald developed a technique of double-skin construction, in which the patent mould was key. The resulting canoe was greatly valued for its exceptional strength and smooth, ribless interior. Hunters and fishers found the latter feature was kinder to the knees and made cleaning the canoe much easier. Here it is worth noting that Rice Lake, where Herald developed this canoe, was a place much favoured for both hunting waterfowl and fishing.

Herald’s Patent Cedar Canoe, ca 1880.

Among the three moulds in the Daniel Herald-Rice Lake collection is a Herald’s Patent mould (940387*). The actual Herald’s Patent Canoe in the small-craft collection of CSTM is a painted model that dates to 1880 and is marked on the foredeck with Daniel Herald’s builder’s stamp (980007). Acquired from an individual in the United States, the canoe’s provenance suggests a lineage of four previous owners going back to the original buyer who lived in the Moosehead Lake area of Maine.

Detail of the Herald’s Patent Cedar Canoe, ca 1880, showing Daniel Herald’s stamp on the foredeck.

Building A Business

While the mould and the canoe itself most obviously embody the physical fact of production, commercial canoe manufacturing required skills and investment in a variety of areas: design (ideas and plans), construction (tools and techniques), promotion (catalogues and exhibitions), and business operations (infrastructure, record keeping). This exhibit offers material insight from the Daniel Herald-Rice Lake collection in all of these areas.

Certificate awarded to Herald Bros. at the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893. (CSTM 940332)

For example, the collection includes a fine lines drawing of a canoe (940328). Such drawings were used in developing designs. They served as two-dimensional, scaled-down plans of the intended shape. Notable among the tools in the collection are various patterns, including a set of four very fine basswood plank patterns used to trace out the boards that formed the hull of the canoe (940393). Patterns were also used for a variety of other pieces, including paddles, and a selection of these is on display.

Herald Bros. canoe catalogue, ca 1892. This and other canoe catalogues were illustrated by John David Kelly, a well-known artist and graphic designer who grew up at Gore’s Landing. He was a good friend of the Heralds as well as an avid canoeist. (CSTM L31537)

The all-important promotional component of the canoe-building business is well represented by a series of Rice Lake catalogues, and by two large diplomas from trade fairs, including one from the celebrated Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893 (940332). (Because of the fragile nature of these documents, high-quality photographic facsimiles are used in the exhibit.)

The participation and success of Canadian canoe companies at these events underline their proprietors’ desire to develop a national and international clientele. Evidence of just such a market for this quintessentially Canadian product can be found in a small sample of order books preserved in the Daniel Herald-Rice Lake Collection.

Different Strokes

Although the Daniel Herald-Rice Lake collection offers special insight into the operations of early commercial canoe builders, the business founded by Daniel Herald was just one of several pioneer canoe companies. Another noteworthy firm was the Wm. English Canoe Co’y. According to company advertising, William English claimed the honour of having opened the very first canoe “factory” in Peterborough, Ontario, in 1861. English was not remembered for a signature model, such as the “Herald’s Patent” or the fabled “Peterborough Cedar Rib,” but he was a builder whose canoes were greatly admired for their high-quality workmanship. A very good example on display is a William English Cedar Strip canoe dating from about 1896 (960360). Today, cedarstrip construction is among the best known of the early wooden canoe types. Originally developed by J.S. Stephenson in 1883, the hull is made up of long strips of cedar running stem to stern, ship-lap joined one above the other. Near the gunwales, there is an aesthetically delightful accent strip in darker wood. The hull is strengthened internally by elegant half-round ribs fashioned from rock elm and arranged on two-inch (5-cm) centres. On the beautifully fashioned butternut foredeck, the maple-leaf logo of the Wm. English Canoe Co’y is still visible.

Cedarstrip canoe built by Wm. English Canoe Co’y, ca 1896. (CSTM 960360)

There is also interesting information on the Dragonfly Canoes website. http://www.dragonflycanoe.com/id/index.html, regarding wood canoe builders, including those from the Peterborough area.

Better yet visit the Canadian Canoe Museum, right in Peterborough.

Paddles up until later then….and paddle a ‘Peterborough’ canoe if you ever get the chance.

There is usually discussion about tripping with a wood canvas canoe.

I thought I would post on some of those thoughts here….with some quotes from others:

I have always believed that the Canadian Wooden canoe is one of the greatest achievements of mankind. There is nothing that is so aesthetically pleasing and yet so functional and versatile as the canoe. It is as much a part of our land as the rocks and trees and lakes and rivers. It takes as much skill and artistry to paddle a canoe well as it does to paint a picture of it. In this painting I wanted to capture the look and feel of a well-worn travelling companion. There’s hardly a rib or plank that isn’t cracked but after a quarter of a century it’s still wearing its original canvas. – Bill Mason, Canoescapes (NOTE: This was in reference to a painting done by Bill Mason of his favourite Chestnut canoe.)

Although in later life Bill vehemently defended the virtues of his beloved Chestnut – his personal fleet included three, a 16′ Pal, a 16′ Prospector and a 17′ Cruiser – he could have been paddling any number of canvas-covered canoes built in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. In fact, there were on the market, for all intents and purposes, dozens of nearly identical models, made by various manufacturers in the United States and Canada, many of which had the model name “Prospector.” But, even as a class or type of canvas-covered canoe, the Prospector that became his favourite was entirely consistent with Bill and his view of the world. It was mostly made of natural materials – steamed white cedar ribs and planking; brass tacks and screws; cotton-canvas skin; and white ash or oak seats, thwarts and gunwales. It was solid; it was durable; it could be repaired in the field; and it moved quietly and responsively in all types of water. – James Raffan, Fire In The Bones

Wood and canvas canoes are strong, seaworthy, exceptionally responsive to the paddle and soothing to the human spirit – Hugh Stewart, master canoe builder, Headwater Canoes

Going down a river or crossing a lake in anything but wood-canvas is like floating on a linoleum rug. That’s just how it looks when you glance inside one of those types of canoes and watch the bottom flex and shimmer with the water. Whereas, in any wood-canvas canoe you have all these beautiful rich colors of the cedar planking and ribs, hardwood gunwales and decks, and caned seats. Even the smells are nice and directly relate to the environment you are traveling through. - Jack Hurley, canoebuilder

I suppose there would always be an argument for the different types of materials and canoe designs, but the wood-canvas canoe is one generation away from the birchbark canoe and was made for working and transporting people through the wilderness. It was designed and made out of materials that would stand up to miles and miles of flatwater and whitewater and portaging through very rugged and unexplored terrain. As a trip leader with kids and adults, I have safely traveled across many lakes in a wood-canvas canoe in conditions where other experienced paddlers in the new-design boats were either windbound or took on water during the crossings. - Jim Spencer, canoebuilder.

Nothing feels like a cedar-strip canvas canoe – Omer Stringer, a confirmed traditionalist

I use my wood canvas canoe to trip….and I find it interesting to have many a conversation around my personal preference of a wood-canvas canoe….and especially how many thought that such a canoe was lovely to look at….probably even beautiful to paddle…..but many were surprised I would use such a canoe for trips. Comments like: “Isn’t it too heavy? How do you ever portage it?”….“But it’s too fragile for canoe tripping”….“There’s a lot of work to those canoes, isn’t there? Don’t you have to revarnish the wood every year, repair or recanvas every year?”…. “What happens if it gets damaged out on the trail?”….“Won’t that slow you down?”….“Well you wouldn’t run rapids with it”.

I remember being at the Wilderness Canoe Symposium and hearing about journeys in wood canoes through the Arctic….“Sure but that’s all they had then” ….yes, even bark canoes had been used by earlier travellers or explorers (like David Thompson)….but wood-canvas canoes still have their place in wilderness travel just as they did when they were the main mode of travel by explorers, trappers, surveyors or prospectors, not to mention so many youth camps. Maybe wood-canvas canoes might even have their advantages over modern fiberglas, Kevlar or Royalex canoes.

On his Headwaters Canoes website, Hugh expounds his reasons for why a wood-canvas canoe, http://www.headwaterscanoes.ca/outlook.html:

We build canoes which are strong, seaworthy, exceptionally responsive to the paddle and soothing for the human spirit. Our canoes are for people to use seriously, whether paddling at the cottage, or travelling remote rivers and lakes of the north. The wood is carefully selected and our canoes well finished. The emphasis is on durability and performance rather than on “chippendale” finishes. We do not subscribe to the “fragility myth” which suggests that wood canvas canoes are too delicate to be used in remote, rugged country. With proper skills, you can travel pretty well anywhere in a wood canvas canoe. All of the intriguing routes and legendary canoe trips in Canada were done in so called fragile canoes. Although traditional canoes have been imitated in many synthetic materials, (prospector, for example) the responsiveness and efficiencies of the original designs are often lost. These ‘ high-tech’ canoes appear attractive because they are vaunted to be impervious to damage. Yet, many do not function well when you line, pole or paddle long distances with heavy loads. The concept and the magic of a canvas covered canoe is that it can have 2,3, or even 4 new outer skins in its lifetime. Since gluing and laminating are not utilized, any broken parts can be replaced at the time of recanvassing. These canoes are exceptionally recyclable and ultimately, except for screws, tacks and brass, biodegradable. Wood canvas canoes are considered by many to be “too heavy” when portaging. Using a tumpline, a technology given to us by aboriginal peoples, much of the load can be transferred from the shoulders to the head. We have also developed various ways through which a canoe can be made lighter upon request. These include thinner ribs, lightweight seats, and light canvas filled with butyrate (airplane dope).

Camp Temagami is one camp that still trip using wood canvas canoes….and they explain why they use wood canvas canoes in http://www.camptemagami.com/about_us/article.php?id=4:

….“You don’t take those on whitewater trips, do you?” is one response. “A little bit extravagant, don’t you think?” is another. These two reactions illustrate the two biggest myths concerning wood/canvas canoes: they are fragile, and they are so precious that their use should be somehow limited.

We use wood/canvas canoes for lots of reasons. The first is functional. Simply put, we think they work better for what we do than anything else out there. How do we make that choice? Well, a wilderness canoe must be big enough to carry a load and stay dry in rough weather; it must paddle easily enough to move well on lakes, but it must also be agile enough to respond well in whitewater; it must be rugged enough to stand up to weeks of hard use, and if broken, must be repairable in the field….

….The idea that wooden canoes are fragile is simply wrong. I have put my canoes through some gruelling tests and every time have been surprised by how they have responded. People such as our builder, Hugh Stewart, who has considerably more time and miles in them than I, and in tough, rugged conditions, have the same view. On trips we have shared with paddlers of plastic boats, we have found ourselves subjecting our canoes to more wear and tear (and, incidentally, running bigger rapids) than fellow travelers in lightweight Kevlar canoes. In 2002, two of our wooden canoes were “wrapped” on river trips – a situation I had always thought would end in kindling. (By the way, that was the first time we’ve ever “wrapped” a canoe.) Both canoes survived and were paddleable. In the same summer, an acquaintance of mine put an 8″ tear in an ABS canoe (an injury deemed ‘paddler abuse’, not ‘manufacturing defect’ by the builder). That same year we retired one of our original ABS Old Town Trippers, bought for the 1983 season. We could probably squeeze some more life out of it, but it had begun to leak in a creased area we repaired with putty. Some of our wooden canoes have twenty-five or thirty years on them, and could continue to be repaired. As though there were any need, I hope these examples banish the myth that wooden canoes are fragile. I now think they are more reliable than anything but layered ABS. Although wood/canvas canoes paddle admirably and are durable and repairable, many people are intimidated by their weight. Poorly constructed wood canoes are indeed heavy, and will get appreciably heavier over the course of a trip. Well built canoes are less variable. As well, wooden canoes are no heavier than comparable ABS ones. Perhaps Kevlar is lighter, but it is far less durable. In a trade off between weight and durability, wilderness trippers will always choose ruggedness, especially when good technique on the portage trail can make a load more bearable. What of other materials? The camp has a range of synthetic canoes; how do these stack up and why don’t we have more? It’s true that we need rugged canoes. Layered ABS boats (like the Old Town Tripper and Camper that we use) are virtually indestructible, but their bottoms are flat and flexible, making them slow on lakes and skittish in whitewater. They are also just as heavy as wood. We carry a few for situations where we expect more than normal wear and tear, but, all things being equal, they don’t perform as well. Kevlar and other ABS constructions can be moulded to any desirable shape, but neither is as durable as wood/canvas. Our Nova Craft canoes (ABS with a foam core) have been a disappointment….

I have talked about this subject in the past….maybe even bored many of you with my near obsession with wood canvas canoes (but as I’m stated here before: “WOODn’t you rather have a WOOD canoe?”)….wood canvas canoes though are not just ‘museum pieces’ (although the Canadian Canoe Museum has a great selection of wood canvas canoes)….they are meant to be used….the proposed trip by the Keewaydin Expedition 2012 certainly supports that….wood canvas canoes are not for everybody….but are also not just for ‘die-hard traditionalists’ or ‘wood canoe fanatics’ like myself….

Paddles up until later then….and if you haven’t already….I hope you get a chance to paddle a wood canvas canoe one day….and maybe even take a trip with one….

From Paul Mason, a new comic that I thought was really worth sharing….on several different websites, including ‘Undercurrents’, http://undercurrents.ca/.  Paul described this comic on Facebook as: “This comic was inspired by someone yet again mentioning to me how they learned to canoe from my late father’s book “Path of the Paddle”. Cheers.”

8th Fire’s Essential Reads List

8th Fire is a multiplatform, multicultural documentary project that explores the richness and diversity of Aboriginal cultures and Canada’s complex 500-year relationship with Indigenous peoples.

In February of 2012, 8th Fire asked Paul Seesequasis, Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, and Richard Van Camp to help put together a list of ten books that represent some of the best reading from the past decade by fascinating Aboriginal writers in Canada. They came up with the following list.

• Native Poetry in Canada: A Contemporary Anthology edited by Jeanette Armstrong (Broadview Press, 2001)
• Deadly Loyalties by Jennifer Storm (Theytus Books, 2007)
• Red Rooms by Cheri Dimaline (Theytus Books, 2007)
• The Night Wanderer by Drew Hayden Taylor (Annick Press, 2007)
• Will’s Garden by Lee Maracle (Theytus Books, 2008)
• Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden (Penguin, 2008)
• One Native Life by Richard Wagamese (Douglas & McIntyre, 2009)
• Restoring the Balance: First Nations Women, Community, and Culture edited by Gail Guthrie Valaskakis, Madeline Dion Stout, and Eric Guimond (University of Manitoba Press, 2009)
• Think Indian by Basil Johnston (Kegedonce Press, 2010)
• Discovery Passages by Garry Thomas Morse

CBC published a slide show depicting the book covers with some commentary on their significance. The list has just been formalized as a PDF available online.

(Source: http://talonbooks.com/news/8th-fires-essential-reads-list)

I have used a tumpline….as well as a yoke….the tumpline was good especially if no yoke present….many find carved yokes are not satisfactory for portaging….and prefer a tumpline on a centre thwart….

I have a yoke that is not so ‘carved’ on my favourite wood canvas canoe….and I manage quite well with just that….

Photos by yours truly showing detail of yoke in my favourite green canoe.

However my portages tend to be mostly short these days (old age I guess LOL LOL)….if I was doing longer and harder portages regularly I would be very tempted to use a tumpline….

Here are some opinions on using a tumpline to portage:

From How to Portage a Canoe !, is this (although not specific to wood canvas canoes):

First of all the author makes these comments:

Lashing paddles to make a yoke. More of a guillotine than a yoke, when you wipe out. You will wipe out someday…we all do. The lashing shifts around, wastes time setting up, and the canoe will pound your shoulders.

The carved yoke. The purpose of a carved wooden yoke is to sell canoes and its job is done once the canoe leaves the showroom. It is not carved for your shoulders, my shoulders, or the shoulders of anyone you know. Even if it were, it would only fit when the canoe is level. Like any yoke, it is designed to pound your shoulders and inflict pain within the first 100 meters. It is also intended to slice into your neck on your way downhill, and slide off going uphill. Your arm is meant to fall asleep as you grasp the gunwhale to keep the canoe in place. At least if you wipe out the canoe will roll off you.

Then he describes using a tumpline:

The Tump Strap

The weight of the canoe is ultimately supported by your spine, so why not direct the load there as directly as possible? This is why North American Indians first used a leather tump strap over their forehead, tied to either side of the centre thwart. The weight is off my shoulders. Most of the weight is directly down my spine and the thwart rides on my back, behind my shoulders. The tump acts as a leaf-spring to absorb shock as I trek down the trail, or run across during a canoe race. You can jog with this method! I use a felt hat to block mosquitos and protect my forehead from the tump’s force.

The author continues with details on his approach to portaging with a tump.

Camp Nominigue Setup 

NW Woodsman Tump Pics

One Native Tump Method

Laying out; Clove Hitch to Yoke; Re-adjusted length

Grips lashed in; Blades secure; the final setup

Canoe tump portage

For 24 years I was a light canoeman. I required but little sleep, but sometimes got less than I required. No portage was too long for me; all portages were alike. My end of the canoe never touched the ground ’til I saw the end of it. Fifty songs a day were nothing to me. I could carry, paddle, walk and sing with any man I ever saw… I pushed on – over rapids, over cascades, over chutes; all were the same to me. No water, no weather ever stopped the paddle or the song… There is no life so happy as a voyageur’s life; none so independent; no place where a man enjoys so much variety and freedom as in the Indian country. Huzza, huzza pour le pays sauvage! — anonymous coureur-de-bois quoted by a Hudson’s Bay Co. historian

The canoes rode well, not too high in the bows, but just enough. Peterborough Prospectors were made for the bush and for roaring rapids and waves. They embodies the best features of all canoes in the north. They were wide of beam with sufficient depth to take rough water, and their lines gave them maneuverability and grace. In them was the lore of centuries, of Indian craftsman who had dreamed and perfected the beauty of the birchbark, and of French voyageurs who also loved the feel of the paddle and the smooth glide of the canoe through the water. All this was taken by modern craftsman who – with glues , waterproof fillers and canvas, together with the accuracy of machine tooled ribs and thwarts , planking and gunwales – made a canoe of which Northmen might be well proud. – Sigurd Olson

Such vivid awareness is swiftly lost today, but if it can be held into adulthood it enriches and colors all we do. How often in the wild country of the north I have been aware of the spirits of the voyageurs, the shadowy forms that once roamed the rivers and lakes. Often at night it seemed I could hear ghostly songs coming across the water, the rhythmic dip of paddles and the swish of great canoes as they went by. - Sigurd Olson

Tu es mon compagnon de voyage! Je veux mourir dans mon canot Sur le tombeau, près du rivage, Vous renverserez mon canot

When I must leave the great river O bury me close to its wave And let my canoe and my paddle Be the only mark over my grave – from ‘Mon Canoe d’écorce’ (‘My Bark Canoe’) translated by Frank Oliver Call

From The Canadian Encyclopedia, http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0008396, comes the following definition of the voyageur:

A voyageur was an adventurer who journeyed by canoe from Montréal to the interior to trade with Indians for furs. At the close of the 17th century, the term was applied to selected coureurs de bois, hired by Montréal merchants to arrange and sustain trading alliances with Indian bands. The term later included all fur trade participants: the merchant (bourgeois), his clerk (commis) and contracted servants (engagés). Today, the term “voyageur” suggests the romantic image of men paddling the canoes in the fur brigades which traversed much of the continent, living lives full of perilous adventure, gruelling labour and boisterous cameraderie.

Shooting the Rapids

Shooting the rapids, in a master canoe. Painting by Francis Ann Hopkins (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C2774f).

Voyageurs at Dawn

Painting by Frances Ann Hopkins. The overturned canoes make temporary shelters for the men (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-2773).

Canoe Manned by Voyageurs Passing a Waterfall

Oil on canvas by Frances Anne Hopkins, 1869 (courtesy Library and Archives Canada 1989-401-1X; C-2771).

From the now deleted website, Festival du Voyageur,  http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/francais/frcore/elem/progetud/PKK1-3.html:

THE VOYAGEUR

The term Voyageur, a French word meaning “traveler”, was applied originally in Canadian history to all explorers and fur-traders. It came in time to be restricted to the men who operated the canoes and bateaux or fur-traders.

The French régime was responsible for the rise of this unique group of men. From the days of earliest exploration until 1763, a large part of what is now Canada and much of the rest of the continent west of the Appalachian Mountains was French Territory. In this vast region lived the several tribes of Indians with whom the French settlers around Québec and Montréal were not slow to barter furs. Castor (beaver), marten, renard (fox), lynx, ours (bear), loutre (otter),loup (wolf), muskrat, and many other furs were in great demand in Europe and Asia.

At first the Indians took their skins and furs down the St. Lawrence River to Québec and Montréal, whither annual fairs attracted them; but in time ambitious traders intercepted the natives and purchased their furs in the interior. TheVoyageurs may said to have been born. Farther and farther up the St. Lawrence, into Lakes Huron and Michigan they ventured. Erie and Ontario were explored, and finally Lake Superior. Trading posts were sprinkled from Montréal to the Rocky Mountains, from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, leaving behind them place names such as Detroit, Traverse City, Eau Claire, Duluth, St. Louis, Grand Portage, Presque Isle, Fort Macleod, Fort Kamloops, and Fort Quesnel.

As time went on, the French government found it necessary to establish rules and regulations for this lucrative business. Congres(licenses) to enter the Indian country were required; certain articles were prohibited in the trade, and only a specified number of traders would be licensed in one year.

Voyageurs formed a class as distinct in dress, customs, and traditions as sailors or lumberjacks. Short chemise (shirt), a red woolen tuque, a pair of deerskin moccasins, and jambières (leggings), held up by a ceinture fléchée (sash), and the azion (breech cloth) of the Indians, complemented by the inevitable pipe and sac-à-feu (beaded pouch) hanging from the sash.

One would expect Voyageurs to be men of heroic proportions, but usually they were not. The average Voyageur was five feet six inches in height. Had they been taller, they would have occupied too much precious space in the canot(canoe) already overloaded with provisions (cargo). But though the Voyageur was short, he was strong. He could paddle fifteen – yes, if necessary – eighteen hours per day for weeks on end and joke beside the campfire at the close of the day. He could carry from 250 to 400 pounds of merchandise on his back over rocky portages at a pace which made unburdened travelers pant for breath in their endeavour not to be left behind.

To aid paddling under conditions of difficulty or monotony, the Voyageurs sang. Songs were chosen whose rhythm was such that the paddles could keep time to the music. Ordinarily the steersman chose the song and gave the pitch. Sometimes he sang the stanza and the others joined in the chorus. In the parlance of his fellows he was a solo. Voyageurs were chosen partly with respect to their vocal abilities, and the effect of six to fourteen of them in full song was quite impressive. Of course, they sang in French – of the canoes, of their country, of their life, of their loves, of their church – sentimental romances, old ballads, humourous jingles, and lofty poems. These songs, many of which were inheritances from French Troubadours of the Medieval Ages, gave to their strokes rhythm and drive, performing in a way the function of the sea shanties for sailors.

To understand the Voyageur completely one must accompany him on one of his trips from Montréal into the pays d’en haut(upstairs country), as he termed the Northwest.

Any year between 1770 and 1840, Montréal Island was the scene of much commotion on the May morning set for the departure of a brigade of canots for the Northwest. As soon as the bourgeouis (agent) and come to terms with hisengage (employees), and engagements (contract) was signed. He agreed not to desert his master, not to give aid or encouragement to his master’s rivals during the period of his engagement. They were printed in French, with spaces left for the Voyageurs name, his home, the wages he was to receive, and any special provisions.

The Voyageur’s equipment consisted of a blanket, shirt, a pair of trousers, two hankerchiefs, several pounds of carrot tobacco (a carrot-shaped twist of tobacco). their goods were packed into pièces each weighing up to ninety pounds. Two of these pièces make an ordinary load for portaging, but stories were told of those who carried up to eight at once.

The route lay along the St. Lawrence to its confluence with the Ottawa and up that stream to the point where the Mattawa River joins it from the West. In this distance on la grand rivière there were eighteen portages. There were also approximately as many décharges: to these numerous falls and rapids were given names such as les chats (the cats), la chaudière (the kettle), les allumettes (the matches) and la calumet (the peace pipe).

On the second evening after the departure from Montréal, when the campement had been made in a pine-sheltered nook on the bank of the river, when souper had been eaten around the blazing fire, and whilst smoke from many pipes lay like a cloud against the dark forest trees, the call for une chanson was issued.

Reproduit sous l’autorisation du Festival du Voyageur inc.

The Sons of the Voyageur, Canot d’Écorce

Twenty chansons including some of the most famous voyageur songs. Sung a capella by Les fils du voyageur, The Sons of the Voyageur.

Table of Contents

James Raffan wrote in Bark, Skin and Cedar, of another musical group steeped in voyageur songs, describing them performing at a dance with a voyageur theme:

The band for the costumed occasion was called “Rubaboo”, after pemmican soup, and included a line-up of musicians who, in their real lives, were about as close to modern-day voyageurs as one can get. There was Peter Labor, who runs an outfitting and tour firm on Lake Superior; Jeremy Ward, a birchbark-canoe builder; and a third troubadour who, by association with the other two and in his ceinture flechee, was voyageur enough for me.

Rubaboo was a basic stew or porridge consumed by ‘coureurs des bois’ and  ‘voyageurs’ (fur traders) and Metis people of North America, traditionally made of peas or corn (or both) with grease (bear or pork) and a thickening agent (bread or flour). Pemmican and maple sugar were also commonly added to the mixture. The musical group Rubaboo has performed at the Canadian Canoe Museum and other such venues. Their music is very much inspired by the voyageurs. As noted one member of this group was Jeremy Ward.

Jeremy Ward is the curator of the Canadian Canoe Museum. Jeremy has been involved with the museum for over a decade as a volunteer and staff member. He developed and carried out a number of significant projects and programs, perhaps the most notable of which was the research and construction of a 36’ birchbark canoe. Working before the public at the museum and leading a team of dedicated volunteers, Jeremy built an authentic, working example of the canot du maitre, the workhorse vehicle of the 18th and early 19th century fur trade in Canada. (This canoe along with Jeremy was featured in Ray Mears’ fine series The Northern Wilderness.) He has also designed and built the Preserving Skills Gallery and the Voyageur Encampment diorama.

The Canadian Canoe Museum (http://www.canoemuseum.ca/) includes exhibits depicting various aspects of the voyageur’s life and times, including much on the fur trade. Two educational programs offered for Grades 4/5/6/7/8 at the Canoe Museum are:

TRAPPERS AND TRADERS

Summary

Trappers and Traders takes students of the middle-school age into the heart of the fur trade through the exploration of various peoples and characters who participated in this sweeping element of Canadian history.  Then through a series of costumed experiential role playing vignettes at our trading dock and voyageur encampment.  Stories, terms, French language, navigation, post locations, trade items, portaging practice, period food and manipulation of various types of furs make this an engaging experience for all.

FUR TRADE GAME

Summary

Students take on the role of a trader with the Hudson’s Bay Company and explore the fur trade industry while trading information for furs and then furs for European goods.    They experience the emotional and physical challenges of the fur trade while gaining accurate knowledge of what life really was like in that industry. It’s a real game!

Here are some photos of exhibits related to the fur trade and voyageurs from the Canadian Canoe Museum:

Trading Post

North Canoe, laden with trade goods.

Photos from Canadian Canoe Museum, http://www.canoemuseum.ca/index.php?option=com_phocagallery&view=category&id=1&Itemid=107.

Paddles up until later then….and remember each time we dip our paddles into the water that we echo the songs of past paddlers….including the voyageurs.

Thought I would share this from the late Native artist and poet, Michael Robinson (http://www.michaelrobinson.ca/2007/new/2007poet-and-the-song.html):

The Poet and the Song

Born on a star path

worn by Eagles and wind

I live in the heart of the sun.

My mother’s heart is the river of time.

The dark forest wall

is where my father sleeps,

where he gave me passage

to this small bend in the river.

The forest stands before me

an ancient doorway

I can silently slip through

to dwell among the colours

the shadows

and the spirits living there.

I can sing out

with a raven’s tongue

and fly above the night

to touch the fire

of starlight

and dance on the moon

until the end of time

but the river

marks my beginning

and my end

and here

I shall tell my story.

Michael Robinson Poet/Artist

I think of the issues faced by Canada’s Native peoples….and how this current government has treated First Nations….and then think again how almost all (if not all) governments have treated Canada’s Original peoples. Whether Provincial or Federal, governments should learn to listen to First Nations….to actually hear them….we have two ears and one mouth so should listen twice as much as we speak.

It was said that when the Europeans first came and ‘discovered’ North America that they had no eyes and no ears, since they didn’t see or hear. Maybe it is time to change that. Open up their eyes….and ears.

This was one of the reasons that Idle No More came to be….

From Facebook 9from Amber Sandy)….Mino Kanata Kiishikaat!.

I have often mentioned Art Solomon. Read Art’s poem ‘My Relations: O Canada’ from Eating Bitterness: A Vision Beyond Prison Walls:

In Deconstructing ‘Canada’: A Vision of Hope, David J. Bondy wrote about Art Solomon and this poem from Eating Bitterness: A Vision Beyond Prison Walls:

Arthur Solomon was a First Nations teacher and spiritual leader who lived in Northern Ontario, Canada. Living and teaching the lessons of Native spirituality, Solomon pursued a vision of change, hope and healing. In his lifetime, Solomon fought passionately for Anishinabe voices in Canada to be heard. In his poem, ‘My Relations: O Canada’, Solomon problematizes the very foundations of hegemonic culture, challenging the assumptions behind the Western notions of subjectivity and nation. Solomon destabilizes the concept of ‘Canada’ as a nation, as a unified whole, by articulating the absences upon which ‘Canada’ is predicated, particularly the absence/exclusion of Native American voices and perspectives. In locating and exposing these silences, Solomon is deconstructing ‘Canada’ by upsetting the system of binary logic upon which notions of nation and identity are based. Solomon makes it clear that Canada, as a nation, cannot progress and heal until it learns to listen to and respect the voices of Native culture….

….the demarcation of boundaries which, as Solomon shows, have excluded Native peoples from the dominant Euro-American conception of ‘Canada’. Solomon is engaged in a…deconstructive project….that….demonstrates that the position of the Native as silent Other is crucial to our Western hegemonic identity….For Natives to speak, to claim subjectivity, is a transgressive act that disrupts the ‘order of things’. Solomon is locating these silences and writing/speaking them into the forefront. He is exposing how ‘Canada’, as a historical and nationalistic construction, is predicated on the systematic exclusion of Native peoples and Native voices, achieved through the silencing processes of systemic racism. By politicizing these silences, Solomon is engaged in….opening up spaces for silenced voices to speak themselves out of silence.

Solomon makes it clear that the marginalization of Native voices is not the result of any casual oversight. He writes to ‘Canada’: ‘You have rejected/and refused,/the most colourful/the most fundamental/thread of all./You have refused to include the original/people of this land…’ (Solomon, Eating Bitterness). Solomon forcefully asserts that the absence of Native voices from the dominant conception of ‘Canada’ is a result of a deliberate and systematic omission, a continuation of the same colonial project inaugurated by the early European explorers….

….At the centre of his poem (both literally and thematically), Solomon begins a stanza with the phrase ‘O Canada’: these two words, uttered together, invoke an entire range of associations. The phrase ‘O Canada’, as a verbal sign, so to speak, signifies on many levels. Every weekday morning, millions of children in classrooms across Canada, children of various cultural and ethnic backgrounds, sing these words, which begin the Canadian national anthem, in praise of ‘our’ nation. There is such certainty evoked by the word ‘Canada’, particularly in the context of this anthem; there is no question as to what Canada is – Canada is simply Canada. It is, as the song goes on, ‘our home and native land’ (here Solomon is obviously intending the allusion to this verse and the double meaning of the phrase ‘native land’). This sense of ownership is suggested, and with such sureness: ‘our home’. In this context, ‘Canada’ is unproblematic, unified and coherent.

This is exactly where Solomon catches us. His second line of the stanza – ‘you are sick’ – undermines the sense of coherency and stability usually suggested by this image of Canada. Solomon problematizes ‘Canada’ by suggesting that, rather than unified and stable, it is a concept marked by certain fundamental absences and silences which threaten to destabilize its very constitution….The song ‘O Canada’, as a particular example, validates hegemonic culture by evoking dominant ideas about Canada and presenting it as an unproblematic whole. Solomon deconstructs this, challenging hegemonic ideology by suggesting that there is no unity. By interrogating the spaces of silence/violence at the heart of this concept, Solomon opens up ‘Canada’ to an important postcolonial investigation.

Solomon, in deconstructing the Western conceptions of Native Americans as non-white Others….asserting that there exists a lack not within Native culture but rather at the very heart of the hegemonic Western culture that has denied the diverse voices of Native people. This ‘lack’ is central to what Solomon diagnoses as the pathology of Western colonial culture, a culture that is ‘sick’ because it has ignored the teachings and wisdom of Native Americans. He is thus problematizing and/or subverting the position of the dominant culture which represents itself as fully realized.

Solomon is also problematizing the constructed colonial identities of Natives by stressing the diversity of Native culture; in describing it as ‘colourful’ (Art Solomon, Eating Bitterness), he is suggesting its richness and diversity. Asserting the reality of a multiplicity of Native cultures and languages, Solomon again upsets the binary logic of oppositional identities which relies on the stereotypical conception of ‘Native’ as a monolithic category. By addressing this diversity, Solomon upsets the categories by which hegemonic culture seeks to contain and control Native culture.

Solomon is also engaged in this poem in deconstructing the Western idea of ‘progress’….Solomon rejects these Western colonial capitalist notions of progress, and suggests just the opposite:

You have refused to include the original

people of this land

and your tapestry

of life will never

be completed….

And when you stop destroying

the earth

and the people

of the earth

then your healing

can come.

Canada, as a nation, Solomon writes, cannot grow, cannot ‘progress’ and heal, until it learns to listen to and respect the voices and teachings of Native culture. Western ‘progress’, as a capitalist ideology based on the importance of commercial and territorial expansion and monetary gain, is central to the Western psyche. Solomon, by locating this ideology as the source of Western pathology, opens up the often unchallenged authority of Western culture to a series of questions and probings, and makes room for – indeed, suggests the need for – Native voices to be heard.

Solomon’s project in ‘My Relations: O Canada’ is central to the theoretical project of contemporary cultural studies and postcolonial theory. Solomon problematizes Canadian concepts of identity and nation by exposing the politics which inform our national identity. With his words, he is paving the way for a diverse nation to become accountable to those voices that have been silenced and marginalized. Solomon offers us a vision of hope, ultimately, that it is not too late for us to learn from Native culture – perhaps most importantly, to learn how to heal.

As well, I will add a few more words from  Eating Bitterness: A Vision From Beyond The Prison Walls by Art Solomon (who worked so actively on behalf of Native peoples in the prisons):

“When Christopher Columbus landed in North America not one Native person was in prison, because there were no prisons.  We had laws and order because law was written in the hearts and minds and souls of the people and when justice had to be applied it was tempered with mercy.  The laws came from the ceremonies which were given by the spirit people, the invisible ones.  As a people we were less than perfect as all other people are, but we had no prisons because we didn’t need them.  We knew how to live and we also knew how not to live.”

Native people in Canada often find some of the words in ‘O Canada’ more than ironic….especially ‘our home and native land’….given the housing issues in most First Nation communities….and that this country of Canada was part of Turtle Island….truly was Native land.

Always one to believe in trying to see the positive side of things, I want to at least give voice to this discussion in a different format….so I am posting a few versions of ‘O Canada’….in Native tongues.

First a version from Asani, an Aboriginal womens a cappella group from Edmonton, Alberta. They present a stirring rendition of “O, Canada,” re-imagined to reflect the myriad peoples who call Canada their homeland. The group Asani hails from Alberta, Canada.  They are: Debbie Houle, Sarah Pocklington, and Sherryl Sewepagahan.  Here, Asani performs the Canadian National Anthem in the groups unique style:

There is this version sung at the 2010 Olympics Torch run  November 7, 2009. O Canada – kā-kanātahk the National Anthem in Cree. Sung by Lac La Ronge Indian Band member, Aileen Searson. Elders, Veterans,Torch bearers, Chief Tammy Cook-Searson, Vice Chief Morley Watson and community members stood proudly listening to the National Anthem in Cree.

And Robbie sings Oh Canada in Ojibway:

11 Year old Kalolin Johnson performs at the closing ceremonies of the Jeux Du Canada Games, on February 27,2011. Kalolin Johnson performed the National Anthem in her native Language Mi’kmaq and also in English, and was accompanied by Anna Ludlow, Ryan MacNeil, and artists from the National Arts Program who performed their piece in French . The video footage was taken by the TSN network.

And the Red Bull Singers sing Oh Canada in a Round Dance version:

Native people sometimes wear what is called a Unity button….a button with the four colours of red, white, black and yellow on it….these colours represent the four sacred colours of the Medicine Wheel….the four races of man….and these colours all meet in the middle….so we need to learn to meet in the middle too….to actually find common ground….equal footing. On what is our home….and NATIVE land.

I have gotten back into painting over the past year. I posted several art pieces I had done over the past year. Here are some photos of my more recent work:

Spending time online I came across several songs inspired by the voyageurs….and in a previous post I did mention a musical journey by voyageur canoe….but I also came across a couple of short videos on YouTube on the voyageurs (both from the National Film Board)….it certainly wasn’t all music and songs….far from it:

Canada Vignettes – Voyageurs

The Voyageurs

Paddles up until later then….as did the voyageurs…..

From The Sigurd F. Olson Website, http://www4.uwm.edu/letsci/research/sigurd_olson/contents.htm, comes this quote:

Such vivid awareness is swiftly lost today, but if it can be held into adulthood it enriches and colors all we do. How often in the wild country of the north I have been aware of the spirits of the voyageurs, the shadowy forms that once roamed the rivers and lakes. Often at night it seemed I could hear ghostly songs coming across the water, the rhythmic dip of paddles and the swish of great canoes as they went by.

I’ve included this quote here as I firmly believe that anyone who picks up a paddle and takes to the canoe in the north country is following the path that the voyageurs first took. It is as if those of us so inclined to go canoe tripping are listening to the voyageur’s songs. Mind you the voyageurs were not on a pleasure cruise….it was all business….and the portages with heavy laden packs and long days of paddling were literally killers….far from what a typical modern day canoe trip involves with ultralight Kevlar canoe and lightweight tent, pack, and other gear (including freeze-dried food that once prepared can seem like it came right out of the fanciest restaurant). But the sense of adventure must have been similar….even the country traveled through by the voyageurs and their modern day counterparts remains the same for the most part….and for many today as yesterday, the song of the paddle is literally music to their ears.