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Last autumn I did a presentation to the 40th Annual Conference for the Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario (COEO) on the Fort Severn canoe project. I wrote and re-wrote my presentation….by the time I was done it certainly caused me to consider the power of the canoe…..in my life….and in so many others.
Just before the COEO Conference, I visited the Canadian Canoe Museum with two Anishnaabe friends who had never been there before. Both were amazed at the display of canoes there….particularly the ones in the Origins gallery. Not just the bark canoes similar to those of their ancestors….but also the West coast canoes….the Inuit kayaks. And how the canoe played such an important role in Canada’s history….especially through the exploration and development of fur trade routes. The fur trade was a large factor in the development of Canada….as many of us know. But going through the Canoe Museum with first time visitors gave me an opportunity to see things through new eyes….especially in seeing the power of the canoe.
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–>I was involved with the Fort Severn canoe project last year….and saw first hand how the canoe can transform people’s lives (even my own).
There were other projects involving canoes such as the bark canoes built in Ottawa, Durham and on Bear Island in Temagami.
I thought back to many others who have thought about the power of the canoe:
The canoe carried aboriginal people for thousands of years, followed then by the explorers and the missionaries and the engineers and the surveyors….until in modern times it gives us the gift of freedom. The canoe is a vehicle that carries you into pretty exciting places, not only into whitewater but into the byways and off-beaten places….You are removed entirely from the mundane aspects of ordinary life. You’re witnessing first hand beauty and peace and freedom – especially freedom….Flirtation with the wilderness is contact with truth, because the truth is in nature….I like to identify myself with something that is stable and enduring. Although [nature] is in a state of flux, it is enduring. It is where reality is. I appreciate the canoe for its gifts in that direction. - Kirk Wipper, from CBC Radio’s Ideas program The Perfect Machine: The Canoe.
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)
An interest in the wilderness means getting there, and getting there means canoes.- Kirk Wipper (from 2010 interview)
….the canoe is not a lifeless, inanimate object; it feels very much alive, alive with the life of the river. – Bill Mason, Path of the Paddle
There is nothing that is so aesthetically pleasing and yet so functional and versatile as the canoe. – Bill Mason
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.)
There is one thing I should warn you about before you decide to get serious about canoeing. You must consider the possibility of becoming totally and incurably hooked on it. You must also face the fact that every fall about freeze-up time you go through a withdrawal period as you watch the lakes and rivers icing overone by one. Cross-country skiing and snowshoeing can help a little to ease the pain, but they won’t guarantee a complete cure. – Bill Mason, Path of the Paddle
When you look at the face of Canada and study the geography carefully, you come away with the feeling that God could have designed the canoe first and then set about to conceive a land in which it could flourish. - Bill Mason, Path of the Paddle
….we need to be more aware of where we are headed and from whence we came. An appreciation of the canoe and acquisition of the necessary skills to utilize it as a way to journey back to what’s left of the natural world is a great way to begin this voyage of discovery. - Bill Mason, Path Of The Paddle
A journey by canoe along ancient waterways is a good way to rediscover our lost relationship with the natural world and the Creator who put it together so long ago. - Bill Mason, Path of the Paddle
The path of the paddle can be a means of getting things back to their original perspective. - Bill Mason, Path of the Paddle
….the age of the canoe is not gone; it’s just different. the canoe is no longer a vehicle of trade and commerce. Instead, it has become a means of venturing back into what is left of the natural world. It’s true there isn’t much left to be discovered, but there is much to be rediscovered about the land, about the creatures who live there, and about ourselves. Where do we come from and where are we going? There is no better place and no better way to follow this quest into the realm of spirit than along the lakes and rivers of the North American wilderness in a canoe. -Bill Mason, Path Of The Paddle
The first thing you must learn about canoeing is that the canoe is not a lifeless, inanimate object; it feels very much alive, alive with the life of the river. Life is transmitted to the canoe by the currents of the air and the water upon which it rides. The behavior and temperament of the canoe is dependent upon the elements: from the slightest breeze to a raging storm, from the smallest ripple to a towering wave, or from a meandering stream to a thundering rapid. - Bill Mason, Path Of The Paddle
On her passion for the canoe: Sometimes when I’m hiking I feel like I’m crushing things under foot. But when I’m in a canoe I glide with the currents, feeling the tug of the water underneath. And that’s why it’s special to me. – Becky Mason
Becky Mason’s essay Reflections, which I felt was worth repeating:
I have often thought about the connections that paddlers experience when canoeing. Peace, reflection and wonder come to mind. I suppose it’s a desire to seek a form of quiet meditation. I find it natural to turn to paddling as a meditation point. I’m not sure that the canoe is the real catalyst for me though. It’s the natural environment that really elevates my awareness and feeling of heightened spiritually and belonging. For instance, I would not feel at one with my surroundings if I was paddling indoors in a chlorinated pool, where as I might feel totally different if I had hiked into a remote waterfall.
But canoeing is in my blood. I have found that it is not a separate entity in my life but part of my psyche and personal make up. My Dad, by example, showed me that this balance was possible. He was always so busy and active, working and going non-stop for months at a time. Nevertheless, he recognised that he really needed the quiet solitude of a wilderness journey to nourish his soul and rekindle his spirit.
As far back as I can remember, I have been spending a part of my summer canoeing and camping in the wilderness. These have been memorable and rewarding trips but equally important for me is the hour or two of paddling I can squeeze into the middle of a busy week. I like to jump in my canoe and head out with no real destination or purpose, just letting the wind and my whims lead me where they may. Upon returning to my desk and slogging through the pile of stuff that needs attending I enjoy thinking of the adventures I will be able to continue on my next paddle.
It’s fun to fantasize about paddling. To imagine exploring further that tiny trickle of a headwater, that slowly builds and turns into a lively river with rapids I dance in, and chutes and falls I portage around, and mirror-like pools I spin and play upon. However, nothing can substitute for the real thing. So I do get out there. And when I do, that feeling of being at one with the land and water and air slowly surrounds and envelops me, it feels very calming and Zen like. And I know that in my dreams and in my life I will eagerly continue on, going just a little further down that creek to see what is there and what new wonders the wilderness will have to teach me. – Becky Mason
Canoeing is always an educational experience, fortunately learning is what makes it’s fun. - Paul Mason.
May every dip of your paddle lead you towards a rediscovery of yourself, of your canoeing companions, of the wonders of nature, and of the unmatched physical and spiritual rapture made possible by the humble canoe - Pierre Elliott Trudeau, foreword to Path of the Paddle by Bill Mason, 1980
What sets a canoeing expedition apart is that it purifies you more rapidly and inescapably than any other. Travel a thousand miles by train and you are a brute; pedal five hundred on a bicycle and you remain basically bourgeois; paddle a hundred in a canoe and you already a child of nature. – Pierre Elliott Trudeau
I know a man whose school could never teach him patriotism, but who acquired that virtue when he felt in his bones the vastness of his land, and the greatness of those who founded it. – Pierre Elliott Trudeau (From Exhaustion and Fulfillment: The Ascetic in a Canoe, 1944; also cited in Pierre Elliott Trudeau: Why He Paddled by Jamie Benidickson, pp. 54-59, from Kanawa, Fall 2001.)
Paddling a canoe is a source of enrichment and inner renewal. – Pierre Elliott Trudeau
Canoeing gets you back close to nature, using a method of travel that does not even call for roads or paths. You are following nature’s roads; you are choosing the road less travelled, as Robert Frost once wrote in another context, and that makes all the difference. You discover a sort of simplifying of your values, a distinction between those artificially created and those that are necessary to your spiritual and human development. – Pierre Elliott Trudeau
I think a lot of people want to go back to basics sometimes, to get their bearings. For me a good way to do that is to get into nature by canoe – to take myself as far away as possible from everday life, from its complications and from the artificial wants created by civilization. Canoeing forces you to make a distinction between your needs and your wants. – Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Memoirs
A canoeing expedition….involves a starting point rather than a parting. Although it assumes the breaking of ties, its purpose is not to destroy the past, but to lay down a foundation for the future. From now on, every living act will be built on this step, which will serve as a base long after the return of the expedition….and until the next one. - Pierre Trudeau
….a man is part of his canoe and therefore part of all it knows. The instant he dips a paddle he flows as it flows. - Sigurd Olson, The Singing Wilderness.
The movement of a canoe is like a reed in the wind. Silence is part of it, and the sounds of lapping water, bird songs, and wind in the trees. It is part of the medium through which it floats, the sky, the water, the shores….There is magic in the feel of a paddle and the movement of a canoe, a magic compounded of distance, adventure, solitude, and peace. The way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness, and of a freedom almost forgotten. It is an antidote to insecurity, the open door to waterways of ages past, and a way of life with profound and abiding satisfactions. When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known. – Sigurd Olson from The Singing Wilderness
The canoe was drifting off the islands, and the time had come for the calling, that moment of magic in the north when all is quiet and the water still iridescent with the fading glow of sunset. Even the shores seemed hushed and waiting for the first lone call, and when it came, a single long-drawn mournful note, the quiet was deeper than before. - Sigurd Olson, The Singing Wilderness
I would paddle out swiftly onto the open lake if the moon was shining down its path. It never failed to come to me when going down that brilliant shining highway into space. Most completely of all would I be taken when lying on my back looking at the stars. The gentle motion of the canoe softly swaying, the sense of space and infinity given by the stars, gave me the sense of being suspended in the ether. My body had no weight, my soul was detached and I careened freely through a delightfullness of infinite distance…. Sometimes the night cry of the loon would enhance the illusion. For long periods I would lie, having lost track of time and location. A slap of a wavelet would jerk me back into the present and I would paddle back to the glowing coals of the deserted camp fire, trying to fathom the depths of the experience I had been through. - Sigurd Olson, in his Journal, Jan. 20, 1930
The sun was trembling now on the edge of the ridge. It was alive, almost fluid and pulsating, and as I watched it sink I thought that I could feel the earth turning from it, actually feel its rotation. Over all was the silence of the wilderness, that sense of oneness which comes only when there are no distracting sights or sounds, when we listen with inward ears and see with inward eyes, when we feel and are aware with our entire beings rather than our senses. I thought as I sat there of the ancient admonition “Be still and know that I am God,” and knew that without stillness there can be no knowing, without divorcement from outside influences man cannot know what spirit means. - Sigurd Olson, The Singing Wilderness
The singing wilderness has to do with the calling of the loons….It is concerned with the simple joys, the timelessness and perspective found in a way of life that is close to the past. – Sigurd Olson
The way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness, and of a freedom almost forgotten. – Sigurd Olson, 1956
On age: “For an old man, a canoe is ideal; he need only sit and move his arms.” – E.B.White
I’m sure there are many things I’ll never learn by traveling over the earth in a canoe. I’m just not sure any of them are worth much.- Douglas Woods,Paddle Whispers
….the paddle whispers, the canoe glides….- Douglas Woods, Paddle Whispers
I remember my very first canoe trip. I was terrified. We were venturing out into what seemed to be uncharted territory, perhaps never to be seen again. Every aspect of it was intimidating … but especially the idea that somehow our survival depended on us doing stuff and doing it together and doing it right. Of course, steadily, terror gave way to triumph, and I returned with an indescribable feeling of achievement.–Michael Eisner
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
It is wonderful how well watered this country is…. Generally, you may go any direction in a canoe, by making frequent but not very long portages. - Henry David Thoreau
The canoe implies a long antiquity in which its manufacture has been gradually perfected. It will ere long, perhaps, be ranked among the lost arts. — Henry David Thoreau, The Maine Woods
It was inspiriting to hear the regular dip of the paddles, as if they were our fins or flippers, and to realize that we were at length fairly embarked. – Henry David Thoreau
God grant me the serenity to walk the portages I must,
The courage to run the rapids I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference. – Anonymous
Mind over matter, canoe over water. – Kevin Quischan
To canoe is to be moved. – Doug E. Bell
If there’s a place, canoe there. – Brent Kelly
Never trust a person who’s feet are dry and he is paddling a canoe. – Anonymous
May your portages be short and the breezes gentle on your back. – Anonymous
Why do we come to this place with its clouds of black flies and mosquitoes, the gravel road that rattles your bones, teeth and tires loose? Why do so many of us return year after year with the spring thaw? We migrate, not unlike other species, to the North, to the water, to the bush and shield rock country that makes up Northern Saskatchewan. We pack up our paddles and gear, strap our canoes on roofs- some of them nice, more of them dented aged jalopies- and instinctively make our way northbound on the CANAM highway.
People ask how I can stand the 13-hour, door to door drive to Missinipe. How do I explain a love for watching geography as it changes with each mile? How do I explain the burst of energy that I am infused with when I pass over the bridge in Prince Albert and the whole world changes from one of lush farmland to one of boreal forest with sneak peeks of lakes with their loons calling in the early evening? I don’t need to explain it to my dog for she wakes from her slumber to sniff at the windowsill. I open it for myself as much as I do for her, breathing in the scent of the Jackpines and fresh water. – Shannon Bond, Churchill River Canoe Blog
Get some colour in those cheeks! Paddle Naked! – Signature from online canoeing forum.
I feel the canoe is actually a metaphor for the Canadian character. It’s not loud, pushy or brassy. It’s quiet, adaptable and efficient, and it gets the job done. – Janice Griffith, former General Manager of the Canadian Canoe Museum
They say that one day God was fooling around, the way He does, and son of a gun if He didn’t make a canoe. Well, He’d made a lot of stuff, but that canoe really blew Him away. “Helluva boat,” He said. “But where am I going to paddle it?” All of a sudden, it came to Him. “I know,” He said. “I’ll make Canada.” – from Burying Ariel, by Gail Bowen
The canoe is a miracle. I cannot spend enough time on the water. My canoe is called “Margaritaville”. – Phil Chadwick
We do not go into the green woods and crystal waters to rough it; we go to smooth it. We get it rough enough at home…. – Nessmuk, 1884
I went along to iron out the wrinkles in my soul. - Omond Solandt
Doing what you like is FREEDOM, liking what you do is HAPPINESS. - Unknown
Happiness is paddling a canoe on the river of life. – Unknown
May good friends and a good paddle always be at your side - Unknown
Originality is unexplored territory. You get there by carrying a canoe. You can’t take a taxi. – Alan Alda
There is a sense of timelessness and tranquility that goes with canoeing. These feelings come from fitting in with history, tapping a connection to our beginnings in the here-and-now and having a concern to preserve the future integrity of this activity. So past, present and future meet…. - Bob Henderson, Reflections Of A Bannock Baker from Canexus.
Give me a good canoe, a pair of Jibway snowshoes, my beaver, my family and 10,000 square miles of wilderness and I am happy – Grey Owl
When I first ventured to Temagami in the early spring of 1970, paddling solo in a fourteen-foot cedar-canvas canoe, with the snow falling and the ice still partially on the lake, I passed through a portal into another world – Grey Owl’s world – and I knew I had found my home. - Hap Wilson, Grey Owl and Me, p. 18
Canoeing more or less defines who I am. Patched boats in the backyard affirm soul truths. My home, Canada, is not an abstraction; it is kindred canoe spirits and a constellation of sun-alive, star-washed campsites, linked by rivers, lakes, and ornery portages; scapes of the heart, rekindled by sensations that linger long after the pain is gone. When I meet someone, I wonder what they would be like on a trip. - James Raffan
The paddling rhythm allows us to focus on the here-and-now. Senses are tuned and aware, but not focusing on anything in particular. I’m aware of bodies falling easily into the monotony of the motion. The magic of paddling for hours in the efficiency of the action. For every action there is a resting phase – the yin (sic) of exertion, the yang (sic) of rest. For every expenditure of energy, there is renewal of breath and power from the motion of the boat. Resting phase: hands fall forward, shoulders tilt, the blade drops into the water and every part of the body evenly flexes to the task. Exertion: I look down and see my bare toes flex against the sand in the bottom of the boat as the stroke begins. The thigh follows, left more than on the right. The demand of the right side of my torso is smooth and even. The demand on the left side – the side I’m paddling on – is wave-like. I look down as the power of the stroke peaks: chest and upper arm flex together as the paddle swings forward again. Gail’s back shows the other side of the effort. Sheets of muscle in her back are a series of delicately shadowed triangles that focus their force towards her spine. Her shoulders glisten in the light and drop slightly as she tips forward and begins a new stroke. Watching the sequence of motion played out through the smooth muscles in Gail’s back makes me aware of a high-frequency tingling in the nape of my neck. I daren’t tip forward for fear of springing a wire. It seems odd that the paddle is the object being powered and the spine is the place from which the power is being dispatched. Our paddles enter the water on opposite sides of the boat, but I’m conscious right now that the power is centralized. It comes from the core. It’s motion derived of the soul and of the land whose energy flows through in every sense. - James Raffan
We need quiet places, and we need quiet ways to travel in them. We never quite realize how valuable they are until we’ve been paddling, camping, and fishing in them for a few days. Once cleansed of the residue of daily living, it’s possible to find what my son once called ‘a calm spot’ in your heart. It’s a good thing to find. – Jerry Dennis, From a Wooden Canoe
Requiem for a Paddler
So many times we sat in the woodsmoke of morning as the sun searched out our camp.
We felt the touch of a Creator whose name we did not know.
Someone conceived these places, and dreamed the perfect shape of a canoe.
So many times we would talk without speaking, move with a knowing.
Someone created us, not each of us, but the two of us – the something that makes us as one.
You are packed and leaving on a solo run. I will follow in time with hope that the current carries me where you have gone and we will once again sit in the rising mist
together.
I pray there is a God. - Peter G. Gilchrist
It has always fascinated me how the Aboriginal inventers of the canoe had the foresight to design a craft that would fit perfectly, upside down, on cars that hadn’t yet been imagined.
Not only that, but they had such a sense of fashion that their invention would fit like a dapper cap as car and canoe head up the narrowing highways toward certain adventure.
I mean, think about it – what other vehicle on Earth can you use as a hat when it rains, a shelter when it storms or a table when it’s time to eat?
And what other country would define its people by their ability to make love in such a vehicle? Certainly the Germans don’t do this with the Volkswagen “Bug”!
I love my canoe. Nothing in the material world has cost less; nothing has afforded me more opportunity to flee that world.
In this age of fretting over our carbon footprint, how comforting is it to know that you not only don’t require fuel but will not be spilling at the dock? For those who still follow the original art of canoe manufacturing, this is transportation that can be made from completely natural materials and can be maintained forever with natural repair materials.
Given such wonderful tradition, then, it is only appropriate that while we have the National Gallery in Ottawa to hold Tom Thomson’s Jack Pine and the Art Gallery of Ontario to show his West Wind, we also have the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough to honour the craft that got him to such exquisite locations.
For the canoe is as much a part of the Canadian landscape as the trees, the rocks, the mountains, the rivers – and even the highways heading for essential escape. - Roy MacGregor, author and Globe and Mail Columnist
We are Canadians who took the time and hard work to feel the history in the stroke of our paddles and blisters in our boots. - Michael Peake
In Canada, whether or not we have much to do with canoes proper, the canoe is simply inside us. — Roger MacGregor
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
The concept and the magic of a canvas-covered canoe is that it can have two, three, or even four new outer skins in its lifetime… These canoes are exceptionally recyclable and ultimately, except for screws, tacks and brass, biodegradable. — Hugh Stewart, wood-canvas canoe-builder and owner of Wakefield, Quebec’s 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.
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…. – Clint Tuttle (canoe builder and instructor of wooden boatbuilding), from the Foreword of Building The Maine Guide Canoe by Jerry Stelmok.
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. – From the Introduction to The Wood and Canvas Canoe: A Complete Guide To Its History, Construction, Restoration, And Maintenance by Jerry Stelmok and Rollin Thurlow.
Beautiful things made by hand carry within them the seeds of their survival. They generate a spark of affection. For some it’s sentimental, for some it’s the art of the craftsmanship, for some the beauty of the finished boat. People love these things and try hard to ensure they endure.
The survival of the wood-canvas canoe (to paraphrase John McPhee) is certainly a matter of the heart; a romantic affair. The economics are unfavorable. In fact, the wood-canvas canoe’s most conspicuous asset and advantage is that it’s a beautiful piece of art. It’s the Shaker rocking chair of outdoor sport – handcrafted, simple, clean, and functional. There’s nothing in it that doesn’t have to be there, but all of the pieces add up to more than the parts. It works well and looks wonderful doing it. - From Honeymoon With A Prospector by Lawrence Meyer
Travel by canoe is not a necessity, and it will nevermore be the most efficient way to get from one region to another, or even from one lake to another — anywhere. A canoe trip has become simply a rite of oneness with certain terrain, a diversion of the field, an act performed not because it is necessary, but because there is value in the act itself… - John McPhee, The Survival of the Bark Canoe
I think it much better that, as we all go along together, that every man paddle his own canoe — Character of ‘The Indian’ in The Settlers in Canada by Captain Marryat (1844)
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
What the camel is to desert tribes, what the horse is to the Arab, what the ship is to the colonizing Briton, what all modern means of locomotion are to the civilized world today, that, and more than that, the canoe was to the Indian who lived beside the innumerable waterways of Canada. — William Wood
A canoe is a canoe is a canoe — Anonymous
Even long ago there were some men who could not make all the things that were needed. In each camp there were only a few who could make everything. The hardest thing to build was the canoe. The man who could make a canoe was very happy because the people depended on it so much. – John Kawapit Eastern Cree Great Whale River, Quebec
Had I done it alone by canoe I might have boasted a little. — Sergeant Farrar, RCMP, 3rd mate aboard the St. Roch, first vessel to circumnavigate North America
The romantic life of each colony also has a special flavour – Australian rhyme is a poetry of the horse; Canadian, of the canoe — William Douw Lighthall
And the paddle, in the water, is a long, lost friend. There are times I’d like to wander down a river without end, In a hull of flowing cedar, carved by knowing hands, That sings of rushing water — the spirit of the land. - Shield by Dave Hadfield
Firewood, smoke and oranges, path of old canoe; I would course the inland ocean to be back to you; No matter where I go to, it’s always home again; To the rugged northern shore, and the days of sun and wind; And the land of the silver birch, cry of the loon; There’s something ’bout this country, that’s a part of me and you. – from ‘Woodsmoke and Oranges’ by Ian Tamblyn.
The canoe is the most practical, efficient and satisfying way to travel through wild country, particularly on the Canadian Shield, where you can go almost anywhere. I think of that country every day of my life. One of the things I like best about canoe travel is that you are completely self-reliant. There is no dependence on mechanical devices. It is utterly simple. For me, the canoe means complete freedom – the ultimate escape. - Alex Hall
I have always had a desire to explore out-of-way places. Together, the canoe and this country’s many waterways provide the ideal combination. When travelling by canoe you seem to blend in rather than being an intrusion on your surroundings. – John B. Hughes
Ultimately, a paddling trip simplifies life. – Wendy Grater
Canoeing is the best way to become intimate with the land. You can cover so much more territory in a canoe. You don’t need to concentrate on your feet, thereby allowing your eyes to soak up the landscape around you. Travel by canoe is more about the journey than the destination. – Rolf Kraiker
Today, most Canadian canoeing is recreational. Many of us would assert that it is usually meaningful, aesthetically fulfilling and ecologically sensitive recreational canoeing. Admittedly, these modifiers are not present in the highly competitive, highly structured and technically oriented canoe racing sports which tend not to take place in a wilderness environment. But with these large exceptions, canoeing, certainly canoe tripping and lake water canoe cruising, tends to involve in varying degrees a quest for wilderness or at least semi-wilderness. It also involves a search for high adventure or natural tranquility or both. These activities are an integral part of Canadian culture. Bill Mason asserts that the canoe is “the most beautiful work of human beings, the most functional yet aesthetically pleasing object ever created,” and that paddling a canoe is “an art” not a technical achievement. That certainly means culture. - Bruce Hodgins, from Canexus, p.46
It’s pretty hard for me to go more than a few days without getting a paddle wet somewhere. For me, that stepping into the canoe and pushing off is a very special spiritual and physical experience. Bill Mason had it right: it’s like walking on water. It transports you to another way of being, another way of feeling – it restores my soul. – David Finch
I like to encourage people to paddle because it gives them a different way to experience the river, the landscape and…life. – David Finch
It is such a great way to take in a wide range of experiences. When we paddle, the experience of place moves from the brain to the heart, making it a life-forming experience. – Kevin Redmond
Nothing like paddling a canoe to restore the spirit and reconnect with this gorgeous planet that sustains us. - Dalton McGuinty, Ontario premier in twitter to Badger Paddles folks.
Over the weekend I realized what a skilled solo paddler can do – move the canoe sideways, pirouette around the paddle, and turn gracefully with a little forward momentum. Meditation in motion. If whitewater paddling is slam dancing, flatwater paddling is ballet. I had discovered another way to have fun instead of just crossing the lake. - Sheena Masson, from Confessions Of A Know It All Or Why To Take A Clinic in The Canoe In Canadian Cultures by Bruce W. Hodgins, John Jennings, Doreen Small
Dance with the Wilderness by Charles Burchill
Memories of still water Speak to your restless soul Calling you and your silent craft To the rippled reflection of the shore.
Rushing water spills over a ledge Scan for the V to point the way Eddy out and watch the swirl Now ride the wild wave.
Go and Dance Your partner waits.
Ideals by Charles Burchill
Who will speak for us now? Pierre and his canoe have left us. Bill and his Pal are gone. Politics threatens our union. Tell me when will it end.
We believed at Stockholm We believed in Rio. Now Voices from Kyoto fall. Where does it end.
When do we start?
The Spirit by Charles Burchill
The spirit has moved within me and draws me back each year. It calls to me each spring, and every fall it draws a tear.
Every stroke’s a blessing each spring and summer day. Moving forward with my life in such a wondrous way.
How I love the tranquil sound of water rushing by. The quiet laughter on the hull lifts my spirit high.
To paddle with you is a joy; across the lake each fall. Of all the things I keep inside this I tell to all.
Once the spirit finds you your life will be complete. The love of paddle and canoe will keep your soul replete.
And finally these brief thoughts of mine:
Just add water and a canoe….you will find freedom. – Mike Ormsby
There is definitely power in the canoe….may you find a way to experience it for yourself soon.
Paddles up until later then….
Fort Severn First Nation, Ontario Canada:
A Washaho Cree Nation
56°00′37″N 87°35′09″W56.01028°N 87.58583°W
Located on Hudson Bay, Fort Severn is the northernmost community in Ontario. The legal name of the reserve is Fort Severn 89.
The general population of 401 (90 individual families in an area of 40 square kilometers) is linked, in winter, by an ice road called the Wapusk Trail to Peawanuck, Ontario to the east and to Shamattawa and Gillam, Manitoba to the west.
Today, the reserve is policed by the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service, an Aboriginal-based service.
Fort Severn was built by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1689, making it one of the earliest fur-trading posts in the New World.
In the early 20th century, the federal government, with full consent of tribal leaders of the time, negotiated a treaty with the First Nations and set aside land for a reserve in the Rocksand area at the confluence of the Severn and Sachigo rivers. In 1973, the reserve was relocated to the mouth of the Severn River on Hudson Bay, to allow for more direct access to shipping.
The reserve achieved full status in January, 1980.
A year ago a group of us went up in Fort Severn to restore Freighter canoes. We were supposed to just go up for a month….but it became much longer. The CBC covered our first month there on The National….their coverage of the Fort Severn Canoe Project was wonderful….although it was hard to see myself on a large screen TV (I forgot how ugly I was LOL LOL). Thankfully good looking guys like John Hupfield and Ian Devenney were also profiled LOL LOL.
Seriously though, Havard Gould told the story of what we were doing up there….or more to the point what Fort Severn was trying to do….I was pleased to see the story told with the focus on the community….not three guys who flew up to restore canoes.
In one of the promos to the broadcast the point was made: “restoring a community by restoring canoes”….and that is true….it was hoped that this project becomes an ongoing operation….and it did for most of last summer….a group restoring most of the rest of the canoes in Fort Severn….we even hoped to expand to nearby communities….hoped to build new canoes….maybe expanding to the production of snowshoes, toboggans, and even cradle boards. Unfortunately funding ran out. But far more than just the restoration of a few canoes…..we were able to train a few young men to carry on the skills of past generations….even providing employment….but also giving hope to the community.
Maybe more funding will be sought to go back up to Fort Severn to finish this canoe project off….but no matter I was proud to be part of a great team that included builders like John Hupfield, Doug Ingram and Pam Wedd….and will always be grateful to the people of Fort Severn who welcomed all of us….Matthew Kakekaspan the then chief….George Kakekaspan the band manager….elders like Stan and Ernest Thomas….carpenter Chris Koostachin (who told me I was ‘Ojiberrish’ since I was part Ojibway and part Irish)….people at the school like Sherry Curtis, Shirley Miles, Moses Kakekaspan (who renamed me “Noah” after another boatbuilder….or maybe because he wanted to tell me ‘Noooo-ahhhh’ after one of my jokes LOL LOL), Levius Miles and Kathleen Koostachin….and especially the guys in the shop: Kody Kakepetum, Herman Miles, George Thomas, Neil Howson and Sinclair Childforever….
As the CBC News website, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/04/27/f-fort-severn-canoe-restoration.html, states:
Fort Severn First Nation works to save fleet of historic canoes
It’s a restoration project rich in symbolism. What could be more Canadian than saving a canoe, particularly a huge canoe steeped in history, one that carried generations across the rivers of Northern Ontario and waters of Hudson Bay.
Fort Severn First Nation, located on the shore of the Severn River upstream from Hudson Bay, is the northernmost community in Ontario. It was founded as a fur trading post in the late 1600s, and canoes have been an integral part of the community’s subsequent history of hunting and trade.
But over the years, the isolated native community lost the skills needed to maintain its wooden canoes. The band recently decided to restore the craft that were so central to its history and teach the skills to a new generation. But the challenge was finding tens of thousands of dollars to fund the project, along with tools, material and restoration experts willing to spend weeks at a time working and teaching in the north.
The community teamed up with experts from southern Ontario and Manitoba in 2011, and work on the canoes started earlier this year. The team is planning to restore up to a dozen canoes — two have been finished, and they’ll be re-launched when the ice is out of the river.
As a result of the project, young people in Fort Severn First Nation are learning skills that make them proud of their heritage and which could also lead to much-needed jobs.
CBC’s Havard Gould traveled to Fort Severn in mid-April this year. Watch his video report at the top of this page to learn about the project and the impact it is having on both young and old in the community.
If you missed the story on The National, the whole piece is on video at http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/04/27/f-fort-severn-canoe-restoration.html. There is also added video of George Kakekaspan (Fort Severn band manager) discussing the role of the Freighter canoes in his community.
The camera of Mike Heenan….and the words of Havard Gould told this story so well….my thanks to CBC (especially in light of cutbacks) to allow two such professionals tell this truly Canadian story.
One thing I might add is that I’m not sure the skills were ever actually lost….maybe just hibernating….waiting for a chance to reawake.
As I ended a previous post: Canoes have a spirit….and take one on an incredible journey….to amazing places. Working on a wood canoe teaches much more than just how to patch up an old boat. And the canoes tell a story too….just by looking at the different ways (and different materials used….often whatever was available) that these old canoes had been ‘fixed’. One old Chestnut Freighter came in so twisted that we thought it was beyond repair….but after a few days in the warmth of the shop, it began to straighten out.
If we were able to add to that spirit….and to the community….then we did our part. The canoe….and the people of Fort Severn along on its journey….did the rest….in fact hopefully more than we merely did.
Even long ago there were some men who could not make all the things that were needed. In each camp there were only a few who could make everything. The hardest thing to build was the canoe. The man who could make a canoe was very happy because the people depended on it so much. – John Kawapit Eastern Cree Great Whale River, Quebec
Building a canoe….or putting together a canoe project….is not without its challenges.
So late March 2012 the group I was part of finally (yes FINALLY LOL LOL) headed north to Fort Severn to undertake the restoration project of several wood canvas Freighter canoes….we left early from Toronto….flying to Thunder Bay….then to Sioux Lookout….and then onto Fort Severn….it took the whole day to get there (including layovers….and connecting flights)….we started work on building the shop….assembling the various wood working stationary power tools (bandsaw, table saw, etc.)….plus sorting out the various supplies (canvas, wood, etc.) and storing these….then bringing the canoes into the shop….and beginning the actual workshop/instruction course the next week.
We were supposed to be up for just a month….working on several of the Freighter canoes:
One of the canoes we worked on….
A Fort Severn band member with his canoe to be restored.
Photos by Ian Devenney.
How vthis all came to be was that initially Fort Severn contacted the Wooden Canoe Builders Guild with the following request:
We have twenty, 20ft square stern canoes in Fort Severn ON on the beautiful coast of the Hudson Bay, that need minor wood work and re-canvasing. This project would involve learning sessions, teaching members of the community the proper way to re-finish canvas canoes.
An important part of this project was for some of the Fort Severn band members to be taught how to do this work themselves. There was 6 or 7 band members involved….
This was certainly a rewarding project for everyone involved….and there was a lot of time and effort invested in it. Maybe more than we reckoned on at the start. We began planning for this project back in October 2011. We had to source out not only materials (such as wood and canvas) but also all of the tools – power and hand – needed for this work. We literally had to get everything needed for a complete canoe/wood working shop. Then we had to arrange to get everything up to Fort Severn….most of the tools and supplies went into Fort Severn via ice road….the last few items are being flown in. The ice road wasn’t open until late this year….and only open for a few weeks….so this added to the task. And added to our delay getting up there. We had originally hoped to be up there by mid-January….then February….but at long last we departed the end of March.
Our initial team was John Hupfield of Lost In The Woods Boatworks. As John’s website, http://lostinthewoods.ca/, states :
We’re a small shop out in the woods of Northern Ontario, Canada, and since 1991 have taken pride in building, repairing, and restoring all types of wooden craft. Our interest in wooden boats inspired research into early canoe designs, and in adapting those designs to the needs of contemporary paddlers. Along the way we rediscovered the advantages and fun of double-paddles and sailing rigs, and you might find them just as intriguing as we do!
Our product line includes lapstrake double-paddle canoes, which offer ultra-light weight (from only 30 lbs!), strength, durability, beauty, and outstanding performance for touring and recreational use. They are fast and easy to paddle. We also offer all kinds of sailing rigs for these canoes, and conversion kits so you can also sail your existing canoe. We ship everywhere. We also do custom building, and much of our work is still repairs and restorations of wood and wood-canvas canoes and other wooden boats.
Why wood? Besides being beautiful, wood is a renewable resource that we think is more in keeping with our enjoyment of the environment, and is a non-toxic alternative to the increasing use of toxic chemicals in recreational watercraft. It’s warmer and stiffer than synthetics, smells nice, is pleasant to work with, and is quieter on the water too. And by using modern building methods, hulls are extremely light, durable and easy to care for. It’s a myth that wooden boats are high maintenance!
John has years of experience in wood boat construction and restoration….and took on the role of master builder. (NOTE: John is also one of the organizers of the Killbear Paddlers’ Rendezvous….a not to miss paddling event in September.)
Ian Devenney, the co-founder of B.I.L.D. (Boatbuilding for Interpersonal and Life Development) youth canoe building/restoration program, also headed north. Ian is a certified Ontario teacher and outdoor educator with a background in working with troubled teens. He had recently completed his Master’s of Environmental Studies (York University), where he explored the impact of changing technologies on craftsmanship, art making and learning. He felt that embodied manual skill is a way of knowing and working in an increasingly neglected in an electronic world. Ian also began a business called Tangled Tree Industries.
The last member of the group was yours truly….and I wouldn’t bother (or bore) you with my ‘illustrious background’ (or lack thereof LOL LOL)….suffice to say I was no expert (besides an EXPERT is better defined as an ‘EX-SPURT’ or ‘a former drip under pressure’ LOL LOL)….kind of a jack of all trades (or at least several LOL LOL), master of none….maybe I can best define my role as ‘chief cook and bottle washer’….I wrote posts for here and elsewhere online….taking photos and video of the project’s progress….pitching in wherever I could with the actual work….and, for better or worse, I helped organize this project.
One member of our group that was very involved in getting this project together was Pam Wedd of Bearwood Canoes….Pam did not go up….but Pam was key to this project….we worked out some of the restoration techniques at her shop….her knowledge and experience was essential in developing the logistics….what we needed and where to get it….Pam went up in November to initially access the canoes and work needed (she went up with Ian)….so even though Pam was not there in person, she was very much a part of the project….certainly Pam will be there in spirit.
I want to thank Lynne Case and Doug Long of the Wooden Canoe Builders Guild for letting me know of this potential project….and for their support and advice….as well as other members of the Guild such as Bruce Smith….and also from other canoe builders such as Bill Miller, Doug Ingram, and Dick Persson.
So why did we do this project?
These canoes have been in use in the north for long enough that they can probably be considered to have heritage value. Certainly helping the Fort Severn band members to continue to use them, instead of turning to a more modern alternative, fit in with the mission of many of us:
1) to preserve the art and craft of wooden canoe bulding;
2) to pass on the skills of wooden canoe building through workshops, courses and apprenticeship programs;
3) to preserve the heritage and history of wooden canoes through education and restoration.
Since these are effectively the pick up trucks for the local people, they are work vehicles and don’t require a lot of fine finishing. It was hoped to be possible to turn the rest of the restoration work over to the Fort Severn band members after they have been instructed on the first two or three canoes. Working together as a team, our role was to facilitate this project.
The local youth documented the project through video….
Here are some photos from that initial month:
Some photos of kids in school with Ian & I….canvassing another boat with detail of transom work re: canvas….Doug Ingram (of Red River Canoes) visiting and working in the shop; John in conference with Doug….some of the guys in the shop:
Here are some photos over the last few days last April….including some highlighting the work done….as well as our team:
There was an article in the CottageCountryNow, Rebuilding The Past One Canoe At A Time, http://www.cottagecountrynow.ca/news/article/1364499–rebuilding-the-past-one-canoe-at-a-time:
Rebuilding the past, one canoe at a time
By Sarah Bissonette
Rebuilding the past, one canoe at a time. The Fort Severn First Nation, in northern Ontario, is restoring 20 freight canoes with help from outside boat builders. Shown, a group of kids watch as a canoe is painted. Community elder Stanley Thomas, 76, works on his own canoe in the workshop with tools gathered and shipped north with help by Orrville canoe builder Pam Wedd. John Hupfield photo
NOTE: This is actually a photo of George Thomas (Stan’s son) and myself (the ‘old canoe guy’ but definitely not an elder LOL LOL) as we are painting the interior of Stan’s canoe….a basic utilitarian grey. Stan has been one of the community elders to work with us in Fort Severn.
CARLING TWP – John Hupfield bent into the cedar wood canoe to remove the last three metal screws in the keel before disappearing inside the house to fetch his computer filled with images from Fort Severn. He’d been to the Fort Severn First Nation this spring as part of an effort to restore 20 freight canoes, large enough for band members to put six caribou in during traditional hunts up the river.
The canoes range in age from 15 to 80 years old. They’re banged up after years of hard use, going through the rapids that lay between the reserve and hunting grounds. They have been mended with tarpaper and tarps in the past and now are in need of refurbishing. The band, said two local boat builders, had the money to buy new boats and not the skills to fix the canoes, but chose to use the money to bring in outsiders so its members could rediscover the skill of building and restoring the freight canoes.
The band, said Pam Wedd, of Bear Wood Canoes, first contacted the Wooden Canoe Builders Guild last summer about sending up members, but it wasn’t until the fall meeting in Orrville that the idea was sold to a few of them.
Initial visit
After a trip north in November, Wedd organized the purchase of band-funded supplies such as screwdrivers, sandpaper, canvas, cedar wood, ash wood and hammers from Parry Sound, and their shipment traveled north once the ice road opened in late winter 2012.
“They pretty much just had a lumber yard and a table saw,” said Wedd.
Around this time Wedd brought Hupfield into the fold and he, along with two other men, headed north by airplane to the remote community. The truckload of supplies, said Hupfield, was the last to cross the ice road into the community before the ice road was closed for the season. The men, along with a handful of band members, turned a garage used to store a bulldozer and two Mack trucks into a woodworking shop and started in on the first 12 canoes. Band members were free to work on their own boats, with guidance, or learn the skills hands-on, starting with basic safety around woodworking tools.
“The band took some unemployed young men, so the gentlemen working with us are all (mostly) in their 20s, one guy was in his 40s and two guys were elders…they came and helped us,” said Hupfield. “We just took whatever boats people sent, they’d say ‘come get my boat’ or ‘can you get my boat’ and we took them until we had a full shop.”
Hupfield became smitten with Fort Severn, taking pictures of the smoke houses, high school, inn, the shop and surrounding countryside, even heading further north past the tree-line to where the river dumps into Hudson’s Bay. He described his weeks in the community and the experience of restoring four of the initial 12 canoes as “intense” and said he looks forward to returning on June 25. Before then, three young Fort Severn apprentices may come south for lessons with Hupfield.
“I took great pride and joy in doing it, it was really a happy experience,” said Hupfield. “They were very friendly, very hard working, very committed, and the people are marvelous…they’re always willing to work.”
Wedd also plans to return and put her canoe-building skills to work this fall.
“The most special thing in this whole thing is the band has chosen to refurbish these canoes, not just throw them out and bring in aluminum boats,” said Wedd.
“I just think it’s important, I think . . . keeping the old boats going is important, and I think for the band chief to do this is important.”
Four boat builders are taking turns teaching the skill to the First Nation community. The goal is to finish all 20 boats by this fall, said Hupfield.
This was written about the two Parry Sound canoe builders very involved with the project: John Hupfield and Pam Wedd.
After this pilot project, the Fort Severn canoe project became an ongoing operation from mid-May to August 2012, when funding ran out (hopefully additional funds may eventually be found to continue). Our network of experienced canoe builders were brought in to oversee the operation of the shop, as well as educate band members on the restoration of these canoes. These are professional canoe builders with many years of experience, and included members of the Wooden Canoe Builders Guild and/or the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association. John Hupfield of Lost In The Woods Boat Shop, Doug Ingram of Red River Canoes, and myself were involved.
Doug Ingram of Red River Canoes became involved after an initial visit earlier in April (see photos above). Doug describes his shop as:
Lots of stuff goes on in this shop, located in Lorette, Manitoba.
Primarily it’s the building and repair of classic wood & canvas canoes, and the making of premium canoe paddles. I also do custom boat building, composite fabrication, and special projects. A growing passion of mine is the making of classical guitars….
We hoped that the project would become a long ongoing operation….with band members running….unfortunately that was not to be….even though there was lots more to do….canoes still to be restored….although we ended up doing about 14 canoes in total….especially in time for a trip in September with youth and elders….but it was hoped to maybe even make some cradle boards (tikinagans), snowshoes & toboggans….even build new canoes….restore canoes of nearby communities….
One of the men working on the Freighter canoes in Fort Severn brought in a book with photos from years ago….showing the different uses of these canoes….that are very much a part of the heritage and tradition of Fort Severn:
A great poem:
The Old Canoe by George Marsh (Scribner’s Magazine, October 1908)
My seams gape wide so I’m tossed aside
To rot on a lonely shore
While the leaves and mould like a shroud enfold,
For the last of my trails are o’er;
But I float in dreams on Northland streams
That never again I’ll see,
As I lie on the marge of the old portage
With grief for company.
When the sunset gilds the timbered hills
That guard Timagami,
And the moonbeams play on far James Bay
By the brink of the frozen sea,
In phantom guise my Spirit flies
As the dream blades dip and swing
Where the waters flow from the Long Ago
In the spell of the beck’ning spring.
Do the cow-moose call on the Montreal
When the first frost bites the air,
And the mists unfold from the red and gold
That the autumn ridges wear?
When the white falls roar as they did of yore
On the Lady Evelyn,
Do the square-tail leap from the black pools deep
Where the pictured rocks begin?
Oh! the fur-fleets sing on Timiskaming
As the ashen paddles bend,
And the crews carouse at Rupert House
At the sullen winter’s end;
But my days are done where the lean wolves run,
And I ripple no more the path
Where the gray geese race cross the red moon’s face
From the white wind’s Arctic wrath.
Tho’ the death fraught way from the Saguenay
To the storied Nipigon
Once knew me well, now a crumbling shell
I watch the years roll on,
While in memory’s haze I live the days
That forever are gone from me,
As I rot on the marge of the old portage
With grief for company.
Additional verse written by Kirk Wipper for Kanawa Collection (now the Canadian Canoe Museum):
Tho’ they rest inside, in our dreams they’ll glide
On the crests of streams of yore.
In the mid-day sun, they’ll make their run
and night on a distant shore.
The travelers are gone their unmatched brawn
Who plied the mapless ways
But their craft we keep tho the paddlers sleep.
Their stars we seek today.
Kirk Wipper at Kanawa.
Kirk with bagged canoes….in storage at Canadian Canoe Museum. (NOTE: Many of these canoes are no longer ‘bagged’, but kept in storage….the majority of the collection is kept in a proper storage area adjacent to the Museum, but unfortunately not normally open to the public….hopefully one day they will be on view for everyone….especially if plans for a new Museum site, maybe by the water downtown in Peterborough, comes to be a reality.)
Kirk with a bark canoe.
Kirk and his lovely wife Ann by bark canoe.
Kirk and Ann with bark canoe.
The above photos from http://www.kirkwipper.ca/.
This poem (and the additional verse by Kirk) speaks to so much that I love….old canoes for one….Temagami which is one of my favourite places to canoe trip….and what was the Kanawa Collection which now makes up most of the Canadian Canoe Museum….Kanawa brings back memories of Kandalore and of course of Kirk himself. An incredible collection of canoes, kayaks and related watercraft that an incredible man put together….now on view in Peterborough at the Canadian Canoe Museum. By the way, the Canadian Canoe Museum is a great place to visit on a rainy day (and it is supposed to be raining all weekend).
Previously on reflecting on Kirk, I wrote:
The Kanawa collection, now the Canoe Museum, came out of Kirk’s belief that it was one thing to have an interest in the wilderness, but having an interest in wilderness meant getting there….getting there meant canoes. So the Museum came out of Kirk’s interest in the heritage of the wilderness.
And:
Kirk Wipper became well known as the founder and director of the Kanawa International Museum….later to become the Canadian Canoe Museum, now the largest in the world. In the 1950’s, he began collecting canoes and kayaks at Kandalore, in Haliburton, Ontario. It all started as one old canoe from a former professor of Kirk’s that was displayed in the Kandalore dining hall. Over a 45-year period, Kirk collected more than 500 canoes and kayaks which now form the greater part of the exhibits at the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario (a group of interested people from the area acquired the collection from Kirk).
Let me add these words of Kirk’s:
The canoe carried aboriginal people for thousands of years, followed then by the explorers and the missionaries and the engineers and the surveyors….until in modern times it gives us the gift of freedom. The canoe is a vehicle that carries you into pretty exciting places, not only into whitewater but into the byways and off-beaten places….You are removed entirely from the mundane aspects of ordinary life. You’re witnessing first hand beauty and peace and freedom – especially freedom….Flirtation with the wilderness is contact with truth, because the truth is in nature….I like to identify myself with something that is stable and enduring. Although [nature] is in a state of flux, it is enduring. It is where reality is. I appreciate the canoe for its gifts in that direction. - Kirk Wipper, from CBC Radio’s Ideas program The Perfect Machine: The Canoe.
Watercraft was humankind’s most important conveyance outside of walking. - Kirk Wipper
In its contemporary use, the canoe and kayak become a medium to experience peace, beauty, freedom and adventure. These values are of utmost significance in a world which has lost much of its contact with the profound lessons learned in nature. To travel the paths in natural places makes all the differences and in this the canoe and kayak are essential partners. – Kirk Wipper
A better understanding of one’s past can only lead to better understanding of one’s present and one’s future. (Quote from slide at Kirk Wipper’s presentation in Gravenhurst in October 2010….shown on video of this talk by Brian Hayden, from his Docanoementary.)
You have to do what you can, do your best with what you are. And you have to believe in wilderness. If you do that you can’t go wrong. – Kirk Albert Walter Wipper b Grahamdale, Manitoba, December 6th, 1923 d Peterborough, Ontario, March 18, 2011
Paddles up until later then….
Check out the Kitchener Waterloo Canoe Symposium on April 13th.
From http://www.therecord.com/living/article/914442–canoe-symposium-aims-to-keep-old-tradition-alive:
Canoe symposium aims to keep old tradition alive
Hap Wilson
Aurora & Moon Photo by Mike Monaghan
KW Canoe Symposium takes place at the Princess Twin April 13.
WATERLOO — Calling all canoeheads!
The second annual KW Canoe Symposium beckons.
The brainchild of David Bain, the symposium is poised to attract a capacity crowd of 140 on April 13 at the Princess Twin.
The event is billed as a celebration of the canoe and its central place in the culture and history of Canada.
“The focus is on the canoe tradition as an element of Canadian identity,” Bain confirms. “We want to keep the old tradition alive.”
Extreme paddle-sport, thrill-seekers and high-tech, gear-geeks need not apply.
“It’s about the feel of a canvas-covered canoe gliding through a remote lake,” he rhapsodizes. “It’s about wet, summer afternoons spent under the tarp and crisp, fall mornings warming your hands on a mug of tea. It’s a chance to gather with others who value a life lived at a different speed, off the beaten path.”
Bain, an elementary school teacher in Waterloo who has a passion for the outdoors generally, and for canoeing specifically, likens the symposium to “a few hours spent in the back of an outfitter’s store, sitting around a wood-burning stove and swapping tales of wilderness adventure.”
The key to the symposium’s success isn’t hard to find.
The Grand River is the aorta artery of water recreation and sport in Waterloo Region, supporting hiking, canoeing, kayaking and fishing.
The historic watershed is home to outfitters, custom canoe builders, paddle carvers and personal flotation manufacturers, not to mention organizations such as the Waterloo Wellington Canoe Club, Old Salts Seniors Canoe Club and Ancient Mariners Canoe Club. There is even an annual film festival devoted to paddle sports (The Reel Paddling Festival).
As well, Bain has attracted some A-list canoeists. He has hit pay dirt again this year with the Hap Wilson and “Uncle” Phil Cotton, among others.
Both men are inspiring examples of “canoeists who have made a difference,” Bain says.
“Both men are out there, fighting the good fight to preserve wilderness.”
Wilson needs no introduction to an audience of avid canoeists.
Canoe guide, trail blazer, paddling route cartographer and eco-outfitter, author of more than a dozen books, artist, illustrator and photographer, environmental activist and technical adviser to Pierce Brosnan in the Richard Attenborough 1999 film Grey Owl, Wilson is a legend in his own time.
He’s a rapid-fire conversationalist when contacted at his rural home outside the hamlet of Rosseau, in Muskoka, where he lives with his wife and teenaged son and daughter.
Wilson has been on “hiatus from the speaking circuit” to free up time for his book projects and his work on the Trans Canada Canoe Trail, which involves mapping 1,000 kilometres of waterways from Thunder Bay to Manitoba.
“It’s been a while since I was a speaker,” which makes his Waterloo engagement all the more special.
He intends to talk “off-the-cuff” about the Canoe Trail, leaving lots of time for questions.
“People are always interested in the status of the backcountry,” he observes. “They always have questions about the politics of preserving wilderness.”
He’ll come equipped with Indian Pipe Hunters, a short film produced by Graham Uden that premiered at the Reel Paddling Festival, in which three urban photographers visit Wilson in his beloved, old-growth forest area of Temagami.
His wife, Andrea Turner, who hails from Waterloo Region, will participate in the presentation.
Wilson is the envy of many because he has found a way to live out his passions.
The secret, he confides, is involving his family “in the rigors of an outdoor lifestyle,” including 12-year-daughter Alexa Skye and 14-year-old son Christopher.
“It brings a family closer together and leaves an indelible imprint.”
Which is not to say it’s easy to earn a livelihood?
“The reason I do all the things I do is bred out of necessity. You can’t earn enough as a guide or a writer or an artist. You have to embrace the opportunities that come your way.”
Wilson has travelled more than 60,000 kilometres by canoe.
He has seen some of the most beautiful country Canada has to offer.
He also has seen some unspeakable devastation.
“The largest clear cuts in the Northern Ontario boreal forest are in places people don’t get to,” he warns.
“Trees the size of your forearm take 200 years to grow, and I’ve been places where there is nothing but stumps for as far as the eye can see.”
Wilson contends “it should be a global concern.”
The problem, as he interprets it?
“People have become entrenched in a comfortable lifestyle that compromises the health of the planet. The earth cannot afford the rich.
“Canada has a large inventory of wilderness, but it’s being devastated at a rapacious rate.”
He advocates “replacing emotionalism with facts.”
“We have to defend wilderness by calculating its ‘true worth’ in tourism dollars. We have to demonstrate that it is more valuable to leave wilderness alone.”
Despite his concern and his caution, Wilson is not an apocalypticist.
“No environmental scientist worth his salt will tell you we’re not in trouble as a species. It’s a sad reality. But it doesn’t do any good being negative.”
The best tactic, he argues, is “looking at the future in survivalist terms.”
“It’s a good thing for people to begin turning out the lights and turning off the tap.”
Underlying his approach to life is the sustaining faith that “we can make things better.”
Lineup of Speakers:
•Hap Wilson
•“Uncle” Phil Cotton, retired teacher, avid canoe historian and environmental activist will talk about his passion, The Wabakimi Project.
•Chris Mayne, author of Northern Shores coffee-table book in support of One Kids Place Children’s Treatment Centre.
•Mike Monaghan, Waterloo-based wilderness photographer. A selection of his photographs is on exhibit in Odeon Gallery the lower lobby of the Princess Twin.
•Jeffrey McMurtrie, creator of Jeff’s Maps, the finest map for Algonquin Park trippers.
•Mark “in the park” Rubino, an expert on all things Algonquin Park.
•Leigh Kotsilidis & Linda Besner, co-organizers of the Fish Quill Poetry Boat, a 10-day poetry and music tour on the Grand River conducted annually since 2010.
Canoe Symposium
KW Canoe Symposium
Princess Twin
Saturday April (13)
Doors open at 9:30 a.m., event starts at 10 a.m. through
SOLD OUT. Information available at www.kwcanoesymposium.ca
Kayaker paddles 4,000 miles, arrives in Key West
Updated: March 12, 2013 | By The Associated Press, thecanadianpress.com
In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Daniel Alvarez exits his kayak in Key West, Fla., Saturday, March 9, 2013, after completing a paddling journey of some 4,000 miles from Minnesota’s Northwest Angle to the Florida Keys. Alvarez, a Tallahassee, Fla., resident, began the trek June 11, 2012, and paddled about 20 miles most days stopping along the way to conduct presentations on waterway conservation. (AP Photo/Florida Keys News Bureau, Carol Tedesco)
KEY WEST, Fla. – A kayaker has arrived in Key West after paddling some 4,000 miles — from the northernmost spots in lower 48 states to the country’s southernmost city.
Daniel Alvarez pulled his 17-foot kayak onto Key West’s South Beach on Saturday, completing the trek that began June 11th.
The 31-year-old from Tallahassee started at Minnesota’s Northwest Angle. His route took him through Lake Superior, the Mississippi River, Florida’s Everglades and a portion of the Florida Keys island chain. He won a $10,000 endowment for the journey after competing in an online contest for an outdoor adventure magazine.
He said he paddles about 20 miles per day, but wind and weather conditions set him back. He stopped along the way to conduct presentations on waterway conservation.
PETERBOROUGH WATERWALKER FILM FESTIVAL
The Waterwalker Film Festival event is being held on Saturday, April 13, 2013 at The Salvation Army Temple in Peterborough, ON. Doors open at 6:30pm and films start at 7:00pm. The host is the 15th Peterborough Salvation Army Scout Group. Kevin Callan to be the MC for the night. There have been many sponsors step forward with door prizes, including Red Tail Paddles. The Scouts are running this as a fundraiser for their Scout Troop’s trip to England for a Jamboree in August. Call 705-749-9067 for tickets and info.
K-W CANOE SYMPOSIUM
The KW Canoe Symposium is intended as an annual forum for canoeists in Kitchener-Waterloo and the surrounding area to share their love of the canoe with other like-minded individuals. As a key symbol of Canada’s rich cultural heritage, the canoe, in the mind of organizer David Bain, is in danger of becoming merely a curiosity in our fast-paced 21st Century world. Yet, those who share a passion for wilderness know that the best way to truly experience what is left of Canada’s once endless wilderness is under your own power… by canoe.
Bill Mason once famously asserted that “…God could have designed the canoe first and then set about to conceive a land (Canada) in which it could flourish.”
The KW Canoe Symposium was conceived as an opportunity to celebrate this unique craft, and its continuing relevance to modern Canadians. Kitchener-Waterloo and the surrounding area are home to numerous canoe clubs and individuals who share a love of the canoe and all that it stands for. The KW Canoe Symposium is intended to give them a voice…
Hope to see you at the 2nd Annual Canoe Symposium in Kitchener-Waterloo!
There’s a special gathering coming up. We hope you can make it… maybe you can bring a friend. On April 13th, 2013, one hundred and forty “canoeheads” will meet at the Princess Twin Theatre in Waterloo, Ontario, for the second annual KW Canoe Symposium.
The KW Canoe Symposium is a celebration of the canoe, and its central place in the culture and history of Canada. It’s about the feel of a canvas-covered canoe as it glides through a remote lake. It’s about wet summer afternoons spent under a tarp, and crisp fall mornings warming your hands on a mug of tea. It is a chance to gather with others who value a life lived at a different speed, and off the beaten path.
It’s not about paddlesports, or high-tech gear – you’ll have to go somewhere else to feed that addiction. Rather, the KW Canoe Symposium is the back room at the outfitter’s store. The wood-burning stove’s lit…pull up a chair, and sit awhile.
We’d love to have you drop by. Speakers for this year will include:
Hap Wilson – I believe Hap will be speaking on the Trans Canada Canoe Trail…but does it matter? He’s Hap Wilson!!! Come and hear him!
Mark Rubino (Mark in the Park) – speaking about his special connection to and passion for Algonquin PP
Mike Monaghan – extrordinary canoe based photographer – Mike will also have a display of his work in the Gallery at the Princess Theatre
Jeffrey McMurtrie – creator of “Jeff’s Map” – The finest map produced for Algonquin trippers
Chris Mayne – The story of the One Kids Place Children’s Treatment Center photo book. All of the pictures are taken in Algonquin Park, Temagami and along the Mattawa & French rivers – Stories by Paul Hoy, Hap Wilson, Kevin Callan, and Becky Mason.
Phil Cotton – “Uncle Phil” will be speaking on his passion – “The Wabakimi Project”
Leigh Kotsilidis and Linda Besner – Leigh and Linda have been co-organizing the Fish Quill Poetry Boat, a ten-day poetry and music tour on the Grand River, since 2010.
Saturday April 13th, 2013
Princess Twin Theatre, Waterloo, Ontario
The doors will open at 9:30 am
Tickets are $12 and are available online at: http://kwcanoesymposium.eventbrite.ca/
I was really moved by this song co-written and performed by Jerry Vandiver and Shy-Anne Hovorka. The inspiration was a canoe trip that Jerry took in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota (near Thunder Bay, Ontario) to Fishdance Lake. A rocky cliff has pictographs from at least five-hundred years ago painted onto it’s surface and they are only visible from the water. The song is written from Jerry’s true-life experience that inspired this song and local Ojibwe native, Shy-Anne Hovorka participates in the vocals. If you look carefully in the video you will also see Jerry’s photographs of the cliff and several of the pictographs.
This is how Jerry describes the song (and the experience):
A song and slide show about my experience paddling to the pictographs of Fishdance Lake in the Boundary Waters. I was facing a headwind as I was approaching the cliffs. As I kneeled down to brace myself, the wind mysteriously died and I almost drifted to those beautiful paintings on the rocks. I felt someone was watching me. One my way out a bald eagle was perched on a nearby pine and seemed to follow me as I paddled away. I’ve known others who have had similar experiences there. Its a very mystical place. I’d like to hear from others that may have had an experience there.
From the cd “True and Deep – Songs for the Heart of the Paddler” available at paddlesongs.com. Also available on iTunes
In the Sherbourne & Gerrard area are examples of amazing Native artwork….on murals in Allen Gardens as part of The Nindinawemaaganidok/All My Relations-Mural Project….or on the side of Miziwe Biik Aboriginal Employment and Training’s building….here are some photos from these two examples:
On this Thanksgiving weekend I give thanks to those of you who have so kindly voted for the Aviva Community Fund idea, Anishinaabe Babamadizwin: A Journey By Canoe. Miigwech for your support….and to any who may wish to add their votes. Chi Miigwech!!!!
ANISHINAABE BABAMADIZWIN: JOURNEY BY CANOE:
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 canoe of the Aboriginal Peoples is perhaps the ultimate expression of elegance and function in the world of watercraft. All its parts come from nature, and when it is retired, it returns to nature. Except for the tribes of the Plains, the canoe was vital to all Aboriginal cultures of Canada, each tribe being defined by the distinct shape of its canoe or kayak. It was not only the principal means of transportation, but was also critical to almost every facet of life; canoe and kayak builders were revered in their societies.
The Ojibway or Anishinaabe people were canoe people. Taking a canoe trip certainly gets one back to basics….and in the case of Anishinaabe even back to one’s traditions. This is very true with the young people.
One such example, undertaken over the last few years, is an outdoor adventure leadership experience (OALE) for youth (ages 12 to 18) from Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve, involving ten-day canoe trips. The main goal of the OALE program is to promote resilience and well-being.
Aboriginal youth are facing a number of considerable social, economic, and educational challenges. According to statistics outlined by the United Nation’s Human Development Index, the living conditions and quality of life Canadian First Nations is similar to that of many developing countries. A lack of education means that approximately 70% of First Nations’ students living on reserve will never complete high school, while unemployment rates are two-times that of the non-Aboriginal population. Health challenges which include obesity, diabetes, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS mean that First Nations Peoples face a shorter life span than other Canadians, while suicide is now one of the leading causes of death among Aboriginal peoples between ages 10 and 24.
The Aboriginal population represents the fastest growing youth population in the country. Aboriginal youth under the age of 25 represent more than half of the total Aboriginal population in the country. While there is limited data available for many Aboriginal communities, a number of interesting reports and research initiatives have been published that outline continuing struggles faced by Aboriginal youth as well as recognizable cultural strengths and policy recommendations to support the growing population.
The proposed project aims to limit the challenges and build on the strengths of Aboriginal youth and their communities, while supporting the value of culture and identity. A key component of this project will the promotion of youth participation in leadership activities, volunteer work and relationship building with other members of the community. Further the project will also engage the youth and their communities in part of the design, development, and implementation of the program….from the canoe route selected and the equipment used….to how their community is properly represented along the canoe trip route (such as flags used….even artwork on canoes or paddles). This last part allows for increased community pride and ownership, both of which are key to a sustainable program.
The project deals directly with youth….many at risk….or in danger of becoming at risk. It could provide an alternative based on Anishinaabe culture and traditions. It involves a journey by canoe….a very traditional basis of transportation….but far more than just a canoe trip. It will develop leadership.
When one thinks of leadership, one can be reminded of watching a V-formation of geese in flight. The lead goose is sticking its neck out to break the air currents for the rest of the flock, thereby making it easier for the others to fly (as they “draft” in behind). But if you watch that V-formation long enough, you’ll see that the lead goose will eventually fall back and another one will come up to take its place. So a good leader will stick its neck out for whover is following, setting a good example for the others; but also a good leader knows when to let another lead, when to let others have a chance. Obviously there is also the need to be a team player, and in working with others. All of which can be accomplished on such a canoe trip.
The Anishinaabe Babamadizwin: A Journey By Canoe would be a First Nations canoe project for Anishinaabe youth….using the canoe as a means to help these young people on their life’s journey. Such canoe trips could develop leadership skills as well as increase awareness of their Native culture and traditions. The youth participants return to their communities as Future Leaders. As example the youth could educate and motivate their family and friends about various environmental issues and possible solutions. Thus by engaging these Native youth on such trips awareness is brought to Mother Earth….the environment….water….the Great Lakes….wilderness….even to First Nations rights.
A number of canoe trips would be undertaken from various Anishinaabe (Ojibway) communities around Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, plus those along Lake Superior near Sault Ste. Marie, as well as from inland such as Temagami, North Bay, Lake Simcoe or even the Kawarthas….all ending up together at Manitoulin Island. Such trips are thus centered around one of the Great Lakes….the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe people. These communities would be invited by a yet to be determined host community.
Such trips could involve bark canoes….and wood canvas canoes….built by First Nations youth….for the trips. This past summer bark canoes were built in Ottawa by Native youth….on Bear Island in Temagami ….and in Oshawa.
As life starts by going through the Eastern Doorway….so would a canoe trip beginning in the East….maybe from the Peterborough area (maybe a possible tie in with the National Canoe Day celebration there in late June….certainly involving the Canadian Canoe Museum)….maybe including the bark canoe built in Ottawa through Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health (see attached poster)….maybe wood canvas canoes.
Or involving the Metis bark canoe from Oshawa, see http://www.oshawadurhammetis.com/Canoe-Project.html.
From the Temagami area could come bark canoes built at Bear Island by Temagami First Nation youth during the workshop conducted by Voyages of Rediscovery (see http://www.canoekayak.com/canoe/birch-bark-heroes/).
This could be a canoe equivalent of the Water Walk conducted by the Anishnaabe women….see http://www.motherearthwaterwalk.com/.
Hopefully such a series of trips would involve the Canadian Canoe Museum, the Canadian Canoe Foundation, the Anishnabek Nation, Union Of Ontario Indians, Chiefs of Ontario. the Federation of Ontario Friendship Centres, as well as the various First Nations….and even the Ontario Arts Council. It may be possible for 4 wood canvas canoes, built specifically for this project by the youth, to be painted by various Native artists….and after the trip ends each of these canoes could be raffled off to further fund canoe projects in First Nation communities.
The idea for this comes from a canoe built and painted by Jerry Stelmok of Island Falls Canoes (see photo)….but with a Native twist.
Thus there would be canoe trips from various Anishinaabe (Ojibway) communities around Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, plus those near Sault Ste. Marie, as well as from inland such as Temagami, North Bay, Lake Simcoe or even the Kawarthas….ending at Manitoulin Island. Such trips are thus centered around one of the Great Lakes….the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe people.
The final destination of all of these trips could be Wikwemikong on Manitoulin Island, in time for the annual Wikwemikong pow wow on the August long weekend (as of yet Wikwemikong has not been approached to host such an event….but it is hoped that the community will be interested in doing so).
The journey taken by canoe will bring the Anishinaabe youth back to their roots through traditional canoe routes….but also help guide them on their own life’s journey.
This weekend is Thanksgiving here in Canada….so I thought I would share some Native thoughts on giving thanks.
From A Haudenosaunee “Thanksgiving” Prayer:
Excerpts from ‘Greetings To The Natural World’:
The People
Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as People.
Now our minds are one.
The Earth Mother
We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time. To our Mother, we send greetings and thanks.
Now our minds are one.
The Waters
We give thanks to all the Waters of the world for quenching our thirst and providing us with strength. Water is life. We know its power in many forms – waterfalls and rain, mists and streams, rivers and oceans. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of water.
Now our minds are one.
The Fish
We turn our minds to all the Fish life in the water. They were instructed to cleanse and purify the water. They also give themselves to us as food. We are grateful that we can still find pure water. So, we turn now to the Fish and send our greetings and thanks.
Now our minds are one.
The Plants
Now we turn toward the vast fields of Plant life. As far as the eye can see, the Plants grow, working many wonders. They sustain many life forms. With our minds gathered together, we give thanks and look forward to seeing Plant life for many generations to come.
Now our minds are one.
The Food Plants
With one mind, we turn to honor and thank all the Food Plants we harvest from the garden. Since the beginning of time, the grains, vegetables, beans and berries have helped the people survive. Many other living things draw strength from them too. We gather all the Plant Foods together as one and send them a greeting and thanks.
Now our minds are one.
The Medicine Herbs
Now we turn to all the Medicine herbs of the world. From the beginning, they were instructed to take away sickness. They are always waiting and ready to heal us. We are happy there are still among us those special few who remember how to use these plants for healing. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the Medicines and to the keepers of the Medicines.
Now our minds are one.
The Animals
We gather our minds together to send greetings and thanks to all the Animal life in the world. They have many things to teach us as people. We see them near our homes and in the deep forests. We are glad they are still here and we hope that it will always be so.
Now our minds are one.
The Trees
We now turn our thoughts to the Trees. The Earth has many families of Trees who have their own instructions and uses. Some provide us with shelter and shade, others with fruit, beauty and other useful things. Many peoples of the world use a Tree as a symbol of peace and strength. With one mind, we greet and thank the Tree life.
Now our minds are one.
The Birds
We put our minds together as one and thank all the Birds who move and fly about over our heads. The Creator gave them beautiful songs. Each day they remind us to enjoy and appreciate life. The Eagle was chosen to be their leader. To all the Birds – from the smallest to the largest – we send our joyful greetings and thanks.
Now our minds are one.
The Four Winds
We are all thankful to the powers we know as the Four Winds. We hear their voices in the moving air as they refresh us and purify the air we breathe. They help to bring the change of seasons. From the four directions they come, bringing us messages and giving us strength. With one mind, we send our greetings and thanks to the Four Winds.
Now our minds are one.
The Thunderers
Now we turn to the west where our Grandfathers, the Thunder Beings, live. With lightning and thundering voices, they bring with them the water that renews life. We bring our minds together as one to send greetings and thanks to our Grandfathers, the Thunderers.
Now our minds are one.
The Sun
We now send greetings and thanks to our eldest Brother, the Sun. Each day without fail he travels the sky from east to west, bringing the light of a new day. He is the source of all the fires of life. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Brother, the Sun.
Now our minds are one.
Grandmother Moon
We put our minds together and give thanks to our oldest grandmother, the Moon, who lights the night-time sky. She is the leader of women all over the world, and she governs the movement of the ocean tides. By her changing face we measure time, and it is the Moon who watches over the arrival of children here on Earth. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to our Grandmother, the Moon.
Now our minds are one.
The Stars
We give thanks to the Stars who are spread across the sky like jewelry. We see them in the night, helping the Moon to light the darkness and bringing dew to the gardens and growing things. When we travel at night, they guide us home. With our minds gathered together as one, we send greetings and thanks to all the Stars.
Now our minds are one.
The Enlightened Teachers
We gather our minds to greet and thank the enlightened Teachers who have come to help throughout the ages. When we forget how to live in harmony, they remind us of the way we were instructed to live as people. With one mind, we send greetings and thanks to these caring Teachers.
Now our minds are one.
The Creator
Now we turn our thoughts to the Creator, or Great Spirit, and send greetings and thanks for the gifts of Creation. Everything we need to live a good life is here on this Mother Earth. For all the love that is still around us, we gather our minds together as one and send our choicest words of greetings and thanks to the Creator.
Now our minds are one.
Closing Words
We have now arrived at the place where we end our words. Of all the things we have named, it was not our intention to leave anything out. If something was forgotten, we leave it to each individual to send such greetings and thanks in their own way.
Now our minds are one.
From Great Spirit Prayer:
Great Spirit Prayer
“Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the wind,
Whose breath gives life to all the world.
Hear me; I need your strength and wisdom.
Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice
Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people.
Help me to remain calm and strong in the face of all that comes towards me.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.
Help me seek pure thoughts and act with the intention of helping others.
Help me find compassion without empathy overwhelming me.
I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy
Myself.
Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes.
So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame.
From Give Thanks – Tecumseh:
Give Thanks
When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength.
Give thanks for your food and the joy of living.
If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself.
Tecumseh
From Ojibway Prayer – Art Solomon:
Grandfather,
Look at our brokenness.
We know that in all creation
Only the human family
Has strayed from the Sacred Way.
We know that we are the ones
Who are divided
And we are the ones
Who must come back together
To walk in the Sacred Way.
Grandfather,
Sacred One,
Teach us love, compassion, and honour
That we may heal the earth
And heal each other.
“Ojibway Prayer” was composed by Art Solomon, an Anishinaabe Elder.
Here is a little prayer in Anishnawbemowin (Ojibway) with English translation from Ojibway Teachings – With Care Consulting:
_________ N’dizhnikaas
_______is my name
___________N’dodem
_____________ is my clan
Mishomis Manitou
Grandfather Spirit
Meegwetch N’dkid
Thank you, I say to you
mijiian kakina gego
for giving me everything
minik menesiian ahking
I may need on earth
miinishin
Give me
beshik meno-meekina
One good path
weweni n-wi-bimose gaye
and carefully I will walk
Songendamiishin
Brace my mind & heart
tchi mino ganawenidisoyan mojag
that I may always have care of myself
binish tchi ishkwa bimadisiian
until the after life.
punae n’mikwenima n’mishomis
Always I will remember the grandfather
geween kokomisanaun manido
her too the grandmother spirit
N’kikendam,N’nissitotan gaye
I know and I understand
mino bimadisewin
good life
meegwetch
thank you
From Anishinaabemdaa – A Prayer Of Thanks (if you go to this there is an audio link to the words in Anishinaabemowin):
A Prayer of Thanks for Food
Ngizhemanidoom, sema ngiimiinagoo wiinamaayaanh nangwaa. Gagwejimin wiizhiwendamaan maanda miijim miinawa zhiwenmishinaang nangwaa. Miigwech ndinaanaanik gewe wesiinhak, okaanak, bineshiinhak, miinawa giigonhik, kinagwa gwayaa gaabigitnaamwat wiinwa bimaadiziwaan maanpii akiing niinwe wiimaadiziiyaang. Miigwech ge ndikaadami netawging miinawa maanwaang gaamiizhiyaang wiimiijiyaang wiizongziiyaang nangwaa.
Miigwech ngizhemanidoom miigwech
English translation:
My creator. Tobacco was given to me to pray today. I ask you in a good way to bless this food and to bless us today. We say thank you to all those animals, wild and domestic, the birds and the fish. Everyone that gave up his or her lives here upon the earth, so that we can live. We also say thank you for the vegetables and the fruits that you have given to us, so that we can have strength today.
Thank you my creator thank you.
Finally I thought I would share the following photo from the recent Curve Lake pow wow….with an added thought:
Paddles up until later then….have a safe and a happy Thanksgiving weekend….hopefully with family and friends….maybe get out on the water in a canoe….and try not to eat too much turkey and pumpkin pie lol lol….
And remember to give thanks for all that life provides….in whatever language works best for you….
Miigwech
This morning a hawk visited our backyard….checking out the ‘bird feeders’….not looking for seeds….but for birds to eat….I’m pretty sure it was an immature Goshawk based on its size….didn’t find anything to his liking (pretty sure his presence was known)….so he flew off…
Years ago, a Cooper’s hawk paid a similar visit to a friend’s bird feeder….making a meal of a mourning dove….I wrote the following:
To A Hawk
There were feathers strewn around the base of the tree
Mixed with blood on the late spring snow
The story this told was easy to read
But my friends didn’t like the outcome
“Why did that damn hawk have to kill that dove?”
“Couldn’t he get food somewhere else other than there?”
But I don’t think any explanation I offered made much sense
Even though it was natural for such a bird of prey to eat a smaller bird
Funny thing we had just ordered pizza to be delivered
So I guess that instead of calling up for a pizza
A submarine sandwich or even a burger & fries
And then having it delivered to the door
The hawk prefers to hang out at bird feeders
Where he can get his own form of ‘take-out’.
His own form of ‘drive-thru’.
‘Fast food’: one mourning dove roosting and only one hawk served
Which I think is better (or at least more natural) than millions eating at McDonald’s.
I have posted several times now on various Native artists who have included canoes in their work….
Joe Sagaj did a series of sketches which were studies for a larger canvas….but which I think show the canoe as very important in Anishinaabe culture and tradition:
Original artwork by Joe Sagaj, photos by yours truly.
From Willow Veterinary Centres‘s photo on Facebook.
Look very carefully….how many bears can you see? (clue – its not 2….or even 3!!!!)
After a fair bit of brainstorming over the last weekend at the COEO Conference (Miigwech to Steve Ritchie for all his advice and ideas), the idea for the Four Directions Canoe Project I wrote about some weeks back has been restructured, to simplify logistics. So here is the revised idea:
ANISHINAABE BABAMADIZWIN: JOURNEY BY CANOE:
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)
OVERVIEW:
The canoe of the Aboriginal Peoples is perhaps the ultimate expression of elegance and function in the world of watercraft. All its parts come from nature, and when it is retired, it returns to nature. Except for the tribes of the Plains, the canoe was vital to all Aboriginal cultures of Canada, each tribe being defined by the distinct shape of its canoe or kayak. It was not only the principal means of transportation, but was also critical to almost every facet of life; canoe and kayak builders were revered in their societies.
Following the experience of the Fort Severn canoe project I was part of….working with the community’s youth restoring wood canvas Freighter canoes….and the possibilities of other such projects in other First Nation communities….I know the ‘power of the canoe’….(for more see http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/04/27/f-fort-severn-canoe-restoration.html).
BACKGROUND:
I have proposed an idea for the Aviva Community Fund in the past for youth canoe building programs, including First Nations youth. This idea was called B.I.L.D. (Boatbuilding for Interpersonal Learning and Development) Youth Canoe Building Project.
Recently I have been involved with the Fort Severn Canoe Project restoring Freighter canoes with young men from Fort Severn First Nation. Part of the heritage of Fort Severn is the use of the Freighter canoe. Made of wood-canvas construction, these large canoes are literally the workhorses of the North, the pick-up truck as it were. These canoes are used for hunting and fishing. They are used to get out on the land, travelling by various waterways in Fort Severn’s traditional territory. As well, these canoes could be used for eco-tourism ventures planned in the near future.There are at least 22 to 25 canoes within the community, in various states of repair. The time for restoration of these canoes could range from as little as a week to a month or more.
In April 2012, a month long pilot project was undertaken, during which a canoe shop was built that will allow for the restoration of these canoes. This also involved the purchase of tools and supplies that had to be brought into the community, mostly by ice road. Also involved were three experienced canoe builders who helped set up the shop and begin the restoration process. (see http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/04/27/f-fort-severn-canoe-restoration.html#storybody for more on this).This led to an ongoing presence over the summer months with additional training opportunities, during which 14 canoes were restored. In September 2012 these canoes were used for a canoe trip upriver with Elders and youth.
Other such examples include:
A outdoor adventure leadership experience (OALE) for adolescents aged 12-18 from one First Nations community in Ontario has been undertaken, involving ten-day canoe trip. The main goal of the OALE program was to promote resilience and well-being. The OALE was implemented and evaluated with six different groups and a total of 73 adolescent participants (ages 12 to 18) from Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve in northern Ontario.
From August 24 to September 7, 2012 a team of paddlers from Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) First Nation, ventured 300 km beyond the nearest road to paddle the ancient route from the KI village (Big Trout Lake) to the Hudson’s Bay (at Fort Severn) along the free-flowing Fawn and Severn Rivers. These are just a few examples of the importance of the canoe in First Nations culture and tradition….especially in the present day.
THE PROPOSED JOPURNEY:
The Ojibway or Anishinaabe people were canoe people. Thus I propose a First Nations canoe project….a number of canoe trips from various Anishinaabe (Ojibway) communities from around Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, plus those near Sault Ste. Marie, as well as from inland such as Temagami, North Bay, Lake Simcoe or even the Kawarthas….ending at Manitoulin Island. These communities would be invited by a yet to be determined host community.
Such trips are thus centered around one of the Great Lakes….the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe people.
These series of canoe trips could bring awareness of Native culture and traditions….as well as engaging Native youth. As well as bringing awareness to First Nations rights….Mother Earth….the environment….water….the Great Lakes….wilderness.
Such trips could involve bark canoes….OR wood canvas canoes….built by First Nations youth….for the trips. Thus using as natural material as possible. This past summer bark canoes were built in Ottawa by Native youth….on Bear Island in Temagami ….and in Oshawa.
As life starts by going through the Eastern Doorway….so would a canoe trip beginning in the East….maybe from the Peterborough area (maybe a possible tie in with the National Canoe Day celebration there in late June….certainly involving the Canadian Canoe Museum)….maybe including the bark canoe built in Ottawa through Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health (see attached poster)….maybe wood canvas canoes.
Or involving the Metis bark canoe from Oshawa, see http://www.oshawadurhammetis.com/Canoe-Project.html.
From the Temagami area could come bark canoes built at Bear Island by Temagami First Nation youth during the workshop conducted by Voyages of Rediscovery (see http://www.canoekayak.com/canoe/birch-bark-heroes/).
This could be a canoe equivalent of the Water Walk conducted by the Anishinaabe women….see http://www.motherearthwaterwalk.com/.
Hopefully such a series of trips would involve the Canadian Canoe Museum, the Canadian Canoe Foundation, the Anishnabek Nation, Union Of Ontario Indians, Chiefs of Ontario. the Federation of Ontario Friendship Centres, as well as the various First Nations….and even the Ontario Arts Council. I would like to see one of each the wood canvas canoes painted by Native artists….possibly the likes of Leland Bell, Jay Bell Redbird, Randy Knott, Robert Solomon, Joseph Sagutch, Goyce Kakegamic, and others….after the trip ends each of these canoes could be raffled off to further fund canoe projects in First Nation communities….
The idea for this comes from a canoe built and painted by Jerry Stelmok of Island Falls Canoes (see attached)….but with a Native twist.
Thus there would be canoe trips from various Anishinaabe (Ojibway) communities around Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, plus those near Sault Ste. Marie, as well as from inland such as Temagami, North Bay, Lake Simcoe or even the Kawarthas….ending at Manitoulin Island. Such trips are thus centered around one of the Great Lakes….the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe people.
The final destination of all of these trips could be Wikwemikong on Manitoulin Island, in time for the annual Wikwemikong pow wow on the August long weekend (as of yet Wikwemikong has not been approached to host such an event….but it is hoped that the community will be interested in doing so).
I have posted this idea for the Aviva Community Fund, http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf13805.
This weekend I am doing a presentation to the 40th Annual Conference for the Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario (COEO) on the Fort Severn canoe project. I have been writing and re-writing my presentation….it has certainly caused me to consider the power of the canoe…..in my life….and in so many others.
This past weekend I visited the Canadian Canoe Museum with two Anishnaabe friends who had never been there before. Both were amazed at the display of canoes there….particularly the ones in the Origins gallery. Not just the bark canoes similar to those of their ancestors….but also the West coast canoes….the Inuit kayaks. And how the canoe played such an important role in Canada’s history….especially through the exploration and development of fur trade routes. The fur trade was a large factor in the development of Canada….as many of us know. But going through the Canoe Museum with first time visitors gave me an opportunity to see things through new eyes….especially in seeing the power of the canoe.
This past few months I have been involved with the Fort Severn canoe project….and saw first hand how the canoe can transform people’s lives (even my own). There were other projects involving canoes such as the bark canoes built in Ottawa, Durham and on Bear Island in Temagami.
I thought back to many others who have thought about the power of the canoe:
The canoe carried aboriginal people for thousands of years, followed then by the explorers and the missionaries and the engineers and the surveyors….until in modern times it gives us the gift of freedom. The canoe is a vehicle that carries you into pretty exciting places, not only into whitewater but into the byways and off-beaten places….You are removed entirely from the mundane aspects of ordinary life. You’re witnessing first hand beauty and peace and freedom – especially freedom….Flirtation with the wilderness is contact with truth, because the truth is in nature….I like to identify myself with something that is stable and enduring. Although [nature] is in a state of flux, it is enduring. It is where reality is. I appreciate the canoe for its gifts in that direction. - Kirk Wipper, from CBC Radio’s Ideas program The Perfect Machine: The Canoe.
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)
An interest in the wilderness means getting there, and getting there means canoes.- Kirk Wipper (from 2010 interview)
….the canoe is not a lifeless, inanimate object; it feels very much alive, alive with the life of the river. – Bill Mason, Path of the Paddle
There is nothing that is so aesthetically pleasing and yet so functional and versatile as the canoe. – Bill Mason
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.)
There is one thing I should warn you about before you decide to get serious about canoeing. You must consider the possibility of becoming totally and incurably hooked on it. You must also face the fact that every fall about freeze-up time you go through a withdrawal period as you watch the lakes and rivers icing overone by one. Cross-country skiing and snowshoeing can help a little to ease the pain, but they won’t guarantee a complete cure. – Bill Mason, Path of the Paddle
When you look at the face of Canada and study the geography carefully, you come away with the feeling that God could have designed the canoe first and then set about to conceive a land in which it could flourish. - Bill Mason, Path of the Paddle
….we need to be more aware of where we are headed and from whence we came. An appreciation of the canoe and acquisition of the necessary skills to utilize it as a way to journey back to what’s left of the natural world is a great way to begin this voyage of discovery. - Bill Mason, Path Of The Paddle
A journey by canoe along ancient waterways is a good way to rediscover our lost relationship with the natural world and the Creator who put it together so long ago. - Bill Mason, Path of the Paddle
The path of the paddle can be a means of getting things back to their original perspective. - Bill Mason, Path of the Paddle
….the age of the canoe is not gone; it’s just different. the canoe is no longer a vehicle of trade and commerce. Instead, it has become a means of venturing back into what is left of the natural world. It’s true there isn’t much left to be discovered, but there is much to be rediscovered about the land, about the creatures who live there, and about ourselves. Where do we come from and where are we going? There is no better place and no better way to follow this quest into the realm of spirit than along the lakes and rivers of the North American wilderness in a canoe. -Bill Mason, Path Of The Paddle
The first thing you must learn about canoeing is that the canoe is not a lifeless, inanimate object; it feels very much alive, alive with the life of the river. Life is transmitted to the canoe by the currents of the air and the water upon which it rides. The behavior and temperament of the canoe is dependent upon the elements: from the slightest breeze to a raging storm, from the smallest ripple to a towering wave, or from a meandering stream to a thundering rapid. - Bill Mason, Path Of The Paddle
On her passion for the canoe: Sometimes when I’m hiking I feel like I’m crushing things under foot. But when I’m in a canoe I glide with the currents, feeling the tug of the water underneath. And that’s why it’s special to me. – Becky Mason
Becky Mason’s essay Reflections, which I felt was worth repeating:
I have often thought about the connections that paddlers experience when canoeing. Peace, reflection and wonder come to mind. I suppose it’s a desire to seek a form of quiet meditation. I find it natural to turn to paddling as a meditation point. I’m not sure that the canoe is the real catalyst for me though. It’s the natural environment that really elevates my awareness and feeling of heightened spiritually and belonging. For instance, I would not feel at one with my surroundings if I was paddling indoors in a chlorinated pool, where as I might feel totally different if I had hiked into a remote waterfall.
But canoeing is in my blood. I have found that it is not a separate entity in my life but part of my psyche and personal make up. My Dad, by example, showed me that this balance was possible. He was always so busy and active, working and going non-stop for months at a time. Nevertheless, he recognised that he really needed the quiet solitude of a wilderness journey to nourish his soul and rekindle his spirit.
As far back as I can remember, I have been spending a part of my summer canoeing and camping in the wilderness. These have been memorable and rewarding trips but equally important for me is the hour or two of paddling I can squeeze into the middle of a busy week. I like to jump in my canoe and head out with no real destination or purpose, just letting the wind and my whims lead me where they may. Upon returning to my desk and slogging through the pile of stuff that needs attending I enjoy thinking of the adventures I will be able to continue on my next paddle.
It’s fun to fantasize about paddling. To imagine exploring further that tiny trickle of a headwater, that slowly builds and turns into a lively river with rapids I dance in, and chutes and falls I portage around, and mirror-like pools I spin and play upon. However, nothing can substitute for the real thing. So I do get out there. And when I do, that feeling of being at one with the land and water and air slowly surrounds and envelops me, it feels very calming and Zen like. And I know that in my dreams and in my life I will eagerly continue on, going just a little further down that creek to see what is there and what new wonders the wilderness will have to teach me. – Becky Mason
Canoeing is always an educational experience, fortunately learning is what makes it’s fun. - Paul Mason.
May every dip of your paddle lead you towards a rediscovery of yourself, of your canoeing companions, of the wonders of nature, and of the unmatched physical and spiritual rapture made possible by the humble canoe - Pierre Elliott Trudeau, foreword to Path of the Paddle by Bill Mason, 1980
What sets a canoeing expedition apart is that it purifies you more rapidly and inescapably than any other. Travel a thousand miles by train and you are a brute; pedal five hundred on a bicycle and you remain basically bourgeois; paddle a hundred in a canoe and you already a child of nature. – Pierre Elliott Trudeau
I know a man whose school could never teach him patriotism, but who acquired that virtue when he felt in his bones the vastness of his land, and the greatness of those who founded it. – Pierre Elliott Trudeau (From Exhaustion and Fulfillment: The Ascetic in a Canoe, 1944; also cited in Pierre Elliott Trudeau: Why He Paddled by Jamie Benidickson, pp. 54-59, from Kanawa, Fall 2001.)
Paddling a canoe is a source of enrichment and inner renewal. – Pierre Elliott Trudeau
Canoeing gets you back close to nature, using a method of travel that does not even call for roads or paths. You are following nature’s roads; you are choosing the road less travelled, as Robert Frost once wrote in another context, and that makes all the difference. You discover a sort of simplifying of your values, a distinction between those artificially created and those that are necessary to your spiritual and human development. – Pierre Elliott Trudeau
I think a lot of people want to go back to basics sometimes, to get their bearings. For me a good way to do that is to get into nature by canoe – to take myself as far away as possible from everday life, from its complications and from the artificial wants created by civilization. Canoeing forces you to make a distinction between your needs and your wants. – Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Memoirs
A canoeing expedition….involves a starting point rather than a parting. Although it assumes the breaking of ties, its purpose is not to destroy the past, but to lay down a foundation for the future. From now on, every living act will be built on this step, which will serve as a base long after the return of the expedition….and until the next one. - Pierre Trudeau
….a man is part of his canoe and therefore part of all it knows. The instant he dips a paddle he flows as it flows. - Sigurd Olson, The Singing Wilderness.
The movement of a canoe is like a reed in the wind. Silence is part of it, and the sounds of lapping water, bird songs, and wind in the trees. It is part of the medium through which it floats, the sky, the water, the shores….There is magic in the feel of a paddle and the movement of a canoe, a magic compounded of distance, adventure, solitude, and peace. The way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness, and of a freedom almost forgotten. It is an antidote to insecurity, the open door to waterways of ages past, and a way of life with profound and abiding satisfactions. When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known. – Sigurd Olson from The Singing Wilderness
The canoe was drifting off the islands, and the time had come for the calling, that moment of magic in the north when all is quiet and the water still iridescent with the fading glow of sunset. Even the shores seemed hushed and waiting for the first lone call, and when it came, a single long-drawn mournful note, the quiet was deeper than before. - Sigurd Olson, The Singing Wilderness
I would paddle out swiftly onto the open lake if the moon was shining down its path. It never failed to come to me when going down that brilliant shining highway into space. Most completely of all would I be taken when lying on my back looking at the stars. The gentle motion of the canoe softly swaying, the sense of space and infinity given by the stars, gave me the sense of being suspended in the ether. My body had no weight, my soul was detached and I careened freely through a delightfullness of infinite distance…. Sometimes the night cry of the loon would enhance the illusion. For long periods I would lie, having lost track of time and location. A slap of a wavelet would jerk me back into the present and I would paddle back to the glowing coals of the deserted camp fire, trying to fathom the depths of the experience I had been through. - Sigurd Olson, in his Journal, Jan. 20, 1930
The sun was trembling now on the edge of the ridge. It was alive, almost fluid and pulsating, and as I watched it sink I thought that I could feel the earth turning from it, actually feel its rotation. Over all was the silence of the wilderness, that sense of oneness which comes only when there are no distracting sights or sounds, when we listen with inward ears and see with inward eyes, when we feel and are aware with our entire beings rather than our senses. I thought as I sat there of the ancient admonition “Be still and know that I am God,” and knew that without stillness there can be no knowing, without divorcement from outside influences man cannot know what spirit means. - Sigurd Olson, The Singing Wilderness
The singing wilderness has to do with the calling of the loons….It is concerned with the simple joys, the timelessness and perspective found in a way of life that is close to the past. – Sigurd Olson
The way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness, and of a freedom almost forgotten. – Sigurd Olson, 1956
On age: “For an old man, a canoe is ideal; he need only sit and move his arms.” – E.B.White
I’m sure there are many things I’ll never learn by traveling over the earth in a canoe. I’m just not sure any of them are worth much.- Douglas Woods,Paddle Whispers
….the paddle whispers, the canoe glides….- Douglas Woods, Paddle Whispers
I remember my very first canoe trip. I was terrified. We were venturing out into what seemed to be uncharted territory, perhaps never to be seen again. Every aspect of it was intimidating … but especially the idea that somehow our survival depended on us doing stuff and doing it together and doing it right. Of course, steadily, terror gave way to triumph, and I returned with an indescribable feeling of achievement.–Michael Eisner
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
It is wonderful how well watered this country is…. Generally, you may go any direction in a canoe, by making frequent but not very long portages. - Henry David Thoreau
The canoe implies a long antiquity in which its manufacture has been gradually perfected. It will ere long, perhaps, be ranked among the lost arts. — Henry David Thoreau, The Maine Woods
It was inspiriting to hear the regular dip of the paddles, as if they were our fins or flippers, and to realize that we were at length fairly embarked. – Henry David Thoreau
God grant me the serenity to walk the portages I must,
The courage to run the rapids I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference. – Anonymous
Mind over matter, canoe over water. – Kevin Quischan
To canoe is to be moved. – Doug E. Bell
If there’s a place, canoe there. – Brent Kelly
Never trust a person who’s feet are dry and he is paddling a canoe. – Anonymous
May your portages be short and the breezes gentle on your back. – Anonymous
Why do we come to this place with its clouds of black flies and mosquitoes, the gravel road that rattles your bones, teeth and tires loose? Why do so many of us return year after year with the spring thaw? We migrate, not unlike other species, to the North, to the water, to the bush and shield rock country that makes up Northern Saskatchewan. We pack up our paddles and gear, strap our canoes on roofs- some of them nice, more of them dented aged jalopies- and instinctively make our way northbound on the CANAM highway.
People ask how I can stand the 13-hour, door to door drive to Missinipe. How do I explain a love for watching geography as it changes with each mile? How do I explain the burst of energy that I am infused with when I pass over the bridge in Prince Albert and the whole world changes from one of lush farmland to one of boreal forest with sneak peeks of lakes with their loons calling in the early evening? I don’t need to explain it to my dog for she wakes from her slumber to sniff at the windowsill. I open it for myself as much as I do for her, breathing in the scent of the Jackpines and fresh water. – Shannon Bond, Churchill River Canoe Blog
Get some colour in those cheeks! Paddle Naked! – Signature from online canoeing forum.
I feel the canoe is actually a metaphor for the Canadian character. It’s not loud, pushy or brassy. It’s quiet, adaptable and efficient, and it gets the job done. – Janice Griffith, former General Manager of the Canadian Canoe Museum
They say that one day God was fooling around, the way He does, and son of a gun if He didn’t make a canoe. Well, He’d made a lot of stuff, but that canoe really blew Him away. “Helluva boat,” He said. “But where am I going to paddle it?” All of a sudden, it came to Him. “I know,” He said. “I’ll make Canada.” – from Burying Ariel, by Gail Bowen
The canoe is a miracle. I cannot spend enough time on the water. My canoe is called “Margaritaville”. – Phil Chadwick
We do not go into the green woods and crystal waters to rough it; we go to smooth it. We get it rough enough at home…. – Nessmuk, 1884
I went along to iron out the wrinkles in my soul. - Omond Solandt
Doing what you like is FREEDOM, liking what you do is HAPPINESS. - Unknown
Happiness is paddling a canoe on the river of life. – Unknown
May good friends and a good paddle always be at your side - Unknown
Originality is unexplored territory. You get there by carrying a canoe. You can’t take a taxi. – Alan Alda
There is a sense of timelessness and tranquility that goes with canoeing. These feelings come from fitting in with history, tapping a connection to our beginnings in the here-and-now and having a concern to preserve the future integrity of this activity. So past, present and future meet…. - Bob Henderson, Reflections Of A Bannock Baker from Canexus.
Give me a good canoe, a pair of Jibway snowshoes, my beaver, my family and 10,000 square miles of wilderness and I am happy – Grey Owl
When I first ventured to Temagami in the early spring of 1970, paddling solo in a fourteen-foot cedar-canvas canoe, with the snow falling and the ice still partially on the lake, I passed through a portal into another world – Grey Owl’s world – and I knew I had found my home. - Hap Wilson, Grey Owl and Me, p. 18
Canoeing more or less defines who I am. Patched boats in the backyard affirm soul truths. My home, Canada, is not an abstraction; it is kindred canoe spirits and a constellation of sun-alive, star-washed campsites, linked by rivers, lakes, and ornery portages; scapes of the heart, rekindled by sensations that linger long after the pain is gone. When I meet someone, I wonder what they would be like on a trip. - James Raffan
The paddling rhythm allows us to focus on the here-and-now. Senses are tuned and aware, but not focusing on anything in particular. I’m aware of bodies falling easily into the monotony of the motion. The magic of paddling for hours in the efficiency of the action. For every action there is a resting phase – the yin (sic) of exertion, the yang (sic) of rest. For every expenditure of energy, there is renewal of breath and power from the motion of the boat. Resting phase: hands fall forward, shoulders tilt, the blade drops into the water and every part of the body evenly flexes to the task. Exertion: I look down and see my bare toes flex against the sand in the bottom of the boat as the stroke begins. The thigh follows, left more than on the right. The demand of the right side of my torso is smooth and even. The demand on the left side – the side I’m paddling on – is wave-like. I look down as the power of the stroke peaks: chest and upper arm flex together as the paddle swings forward again. Gail’s back shows the other side of the effort. Sheets of muscle in her back are a series of delicately shadowed triangles that focus their force towards her spine. Her shoulders glisten in the light and drop slightly as she tips forward and begins a new stroke. Watching the sequence of motion played out through the smooth muscles in Gail’s back makes me aware of a high-frequency tingling in the nape of my neck. I daren’t tip forward for fear of springing a wire. It seems odd that the paddle is the object being powered and the spine is the place from which the power is being dispatched. Our paddles enter the water on opposite sides of the boat, but I’m conscious right now that the power is centralized. It comes from the core. It’s motion derived of the soul and of the land whose energy flows through in every sense. - James Raffan
We need quiet places, and we need quiet ways to travel in them. We never quite realize how valuable they are until we’ve been paddling, camping, and fishing in them for a few days. Once cleansed of the residue of daily living, it’s possible to find what my son once called ‘a calm spot’ in your heart. It’s a good thing to find. – Jerry Dennis, From a Wooden Canoe
Requiem for a Paddler
So many times we sat in the woodsmoke of morning as the sun searched out our camp.
We felt the touch of a Creator whose name we did not know.
Someone conceived these places, and dreamed the perfect shape of a canoe.
So many times we would talk without speaking, move with a knowing.
Someone created us, not each of us, but the two of us – the something that makes us as one.
You are packed and leaving on a solo run. I will follow in time with hope that the current carries me where you have gone and we will once again sit in the rising mist
together.
I pray there is a God. - Peter G. Gilchrist
It has always fascinated me how the Aboriginal inventers of the canoe had the foresight to design a craft that would fit perfectly, upside down, on cars that hadn’t yet been imagined.
Not only that, but they had such a sense of fashion that their invention would fit like a dapper cap as car and canoe head up the narrowing highways toward certain adventure.
I mean, think about it – what other vehicle on Earth can you use as a hat when it rains, a shelter when it storms or a table when it’s time to eat?
And what other country would define its people by their ability to make love in such a vehicle? Certainly the Germans don’t do this with the Volkswagen “Bug”!
I love my canoe. Nothing in the material world has cost less; nothing has afforded me more opportunity to flee that world.
In this age of fretting over our carbon footprint, how comforting is it to know that you not only don’t require fuel but will not be spilling at the dock? For those who still follow the original art of canoe manufacturing, this is transportation that can be made from completely natural materials and can be maintained forever with natural repair materials.
Given such wonderful tradition, then, it is only appropriate that while we have the National Gallery in Ottawa to hold Tom Thomson’s Jack Pine and the Art Gallery of Ontario to show his West Wind, we also have the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough to honour the craft that got him to such exquisite locations.
For the canoe is as much a part of the Canadian landscape as the trees, the rocks, the mountains, the rivers – and even the highways heading for essential escape. - Roy MacGregor, author and Globe and Mail Columnist
We are Canadians who took the time and hard work to feel the history in the stroke of our paddles and blisters in our boots. - Michael Peake
In Canada, whether or not we have much to do with canoes proper, the canoe is simply inside us. — Roger MacGregor
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
The concept and the magic of a canvas-covered canoe is that it can have two, three, or even four new outer skins in its lifetime… These canoes are exceptionally recyclable and ultimately, except for screws, tacks and brass, biodegradable. — Hugh Stewart, wood-canvas canoe-builder and owner of Wakefield, Quebec’s 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.
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…. – Clint Tuttle (canoe builder and instructor of wooden boatbuilding), from the Foreword of Building The Maine Guide Canoe by Jerry Stelmok.
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. – From the Introduction to The Wood and Canvas Canoe: A Complete Guide To Its History, Construction, Restoration, And Maintenance by Jerry Stelmok and Rollin Thurlow.
Beautiful things made by hand carry within them the seeds of their survival. They generate a spark of affection. For some it’s sentimental, for some it’s the art of the craftsmanship, for some the beauty of the finished boat. People love these things and try hard to ensure they endure.
The survival of the wood-canvas canoe (to paraphrase John McPhee) is certainly a matter of the heart; a romantic affair. The economics are unfavorable. In fact, the wood-canvas canoe’s most conspicuous asset and advantage is that it’s a beautiful piece of art. It’s the Shaker rocking chair of outdoor sport – handcrafted, simple, clean, and functional. There’s nothing in it that doesn’t have to be there, but all of the pieces add up to more than the parts. It works well and looks wonderful doing it. - From Honeymoon With A Prospector by Lawrence Meyer
Travel by canoe is not a necessity, and it will nevermore be the most efficient way to get from one region to another, or even from one lake to another — anywhere. A canoe trip has become simply a rite of oneness with certain terrain, a diversion of the field, an act performed not because it is necessary, but because there is value in the act itself… - John McPhee, The Survival of the Bark Canoe
I think it much better that, as we all go along together, that every man paddle his own canoe — Character of ‘The Indian’ in The Settlers in Canada by Captain Marryat (1844)
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
What the camel is to desert tribes, what the horse is to the Arab, what the ship is to the colonizing Briton, what all modern means of locomotion are to the civilized world today, that, and more than that, the canoe was to the Indian who lived beside the innumerable waterways of Canada. — William Wood
A canoe is a canoe is a canoe — Anonymous
Even long ago there were some men who could not make all the things that were needed. In each camp there were only a few who could make everything. The hardest thing to build was the canoe. The man who could make a canoe was very happy because the people depended on it so much. – John Kawapit Eastern Cree Great Whale River, Quebec
Had I done it alone by canoe I might have boasted a little. — Sergeant Farrar, RCMP, 3rd mate aboard the St. Roch, first vessel to circumnavigate North America
The romantic life of each colony also has a special flavour – Australian rhyme is a poetry of the horse; Canadian, of the canoe — William Douw Lighthall
And the paddle, in the water, is a long, lost friend. There are times I’d like to wander down a river without end, In a hull of flowing cedar, carved by knowing hands, That sings of rushing water — the spirit of the land. - Shield by Dave Hadfield
Firewood, smoke and oranges, path of old canoe; I would course the inland ocean to be back to you; No matter where I go to, it’s always home again; To the rugged northern shore, and the days of sun and wind; And the land of the silver birch, cry of the loon; There’s something ’bout this country, that’s a part of me and you. – from ‘Woodsmoke and Oranges’ by Ian Tamblyn.
The canoe is the most practical, efficient and satisfying way to travel through wild country, particularly on the Canadian Shield, where you can go almost anywhere. I think of that country every day of my life. One of the things I like best about canoe travel is that you are completely self-reliant. There is no dependence on mechanical devices. It is utterly simple. For me, the canoe means complete freedom – the ultimate escape. - Alex Hall
I have always had a desire to explore out-of-way places. Together, the canoe and this country’s many waterways provide the ideal combination. When travelling by canoe you seem to blend in rather than being an intrusion on your surroundings. – John B. Hughes
Ultimately, a paddling trip simplifies life. – Wendy Grater
Canoeing is the best way to become intimate with the land. You can cover so much more territory in a canoe. You don’t need to concentrate on your feet, thereby allowing your eyes to soak up the landscape around you. Travel by canoe is more about the journey than the destination. – Rolf Kraiker
Today, most Canadian canoeing is recreational. Many of us would assert that it is usually meaningful, aesthetically fulfilling and ecologically sensitive recreational canoeing. Admittedly, these modifiers are not present in the highly competitive, highly structured and technically oriented canoe racing sports which tend not to take place in a wilderness environment. But with these large exceptions, canoeing, certainly canoe tripping and lake water canoe cruising, tends to involve in varying degrees a quest for wilderness or at least semi-wilderness. It also involves a search for high adventure or natural tranquility or both. These activities are an integral part of Canadian culture. Bill Mason asserts that the canoe is “the most beautiful work of human beings, the most functional yet aesthetically pleasing object ever created,” and that paddling a canoe is “an art” not a technical achievement. That certainly means culture. - Bruce Hodgins, from Canexus, p.46
It’s pretty hard for me to go more than a few days without getting a paddle wet somewhere. For me, that stepping into the canoe and pushing off is a very special spiritual and physical experience. Bill Mason had it right: it’s like walking on water. It transports you to another way of being, another way of feeling – it restores my soul. – David Finch
I like to encourage people to paddle because it gives them a different way to experience the river, the landscape and…life. – David Finch
It is such a great way to take in a wide range of experiences. When we paddle, the experience of place moves from the brain to the heart, making it a life-forming experience. – Kevin Redmond
Nothing like paddling a canoe to restore the spirit and reconnect with this gorgeous planet that sustains us. - Dalton McGuinty, Ontario premier in twitter to Badger Paddles folks.
Over the weekend I realized what a skilled solo paddler can do – move the canoe sideways, pirouette around the paddle, and turn gracefully with a little forward momentum. Meditation in motion. If whitewater paddling is slam dancing, flatwater paddling is ballet. I had discovered another way to have fun instead of just crossing the lake. - Sheena Masson, from Confessions Of A Know It All Or Why To Take A Clinic in The Canoe In Canadian Cultures by Bruce W. Hodgins, John Jennings, Doreen Small
Dance with the Wilderness by Charles Burchill
Memories of still water Speak to your restless soul Calling you and your silent craft To the rippled reflection of the shore.
Rushing water spills over a ledge Scan for the V to point the way Eddy out and watch the swirl Now ride the wild wave.
Go and Dance Your partner waits.
Ideals by Charles Burchill
Who will speak for us now? Pierre and his canoe have left us. Bill and his Pal are gone. Politics threatens our union. Tell me when will it end.
We believed at Stockholm We believed in Rio. Now Voices from Kyoto fall. Where does it end.
When do we start?
The Spirit by Charles Burchill
The spirit has moved within me and draws me back each year. It calls to me each spring, and every fall it draws a tear.
Every stroke’s a blessing each spring and summer day. Moving forward with my life in such a wondrous way.
How I love the tranquil sound of water rushing by. The quiet laughter on the hull lifts my spirit high.
To paddle with you is a joy; across the lake each fall. Of all the things I keep inside this I tell to all.
Once the spirit finds you your life will be complete. The love of paddle and canoe will keep your soul replete.
And finally these brief thoughts of myself:
Just add water and a canoe….you will find freedom. – Mike Ormsby
There is definitely power in the canoe….may you find a way to experience it for yourself soon.
Paddles up until later then….
I missed out on a great time at Killbear Paddlers’ Rendezvous….but here are some photos from the WCHA Forum: Killbear Paddlers Rendezvous taken by Alex Guthro:
My good friend John Hupfield chowing down….
Skip Izon (a brillant canoe builder) and Joanie MecGuffin (Gary & Joanie McGuffin are famous canoe travellers and authors….Joanie is pictured with one of their books which they were autographing and giving away).
Photos by Alex Guthro.
Or as Andre Cloutier says on WCHA forum: “At least the bears are healthy. An active lifestyle is the best for overall health and well being.”
Photo by Andre Cloutier.
And it’s called ‘Killbear’ lol lol….
John Hupfield posted some more great photos from Killbear on Facebook:
Photos by John Hupfield from Facebook.
While everybody was having a great time up at Killbear, I was ‘stuck’ (OK not exactly ‘stuck’ lol lol) in Toronto helping out my buddy Bruce Smith at the Cabbabgetown Arts & Craft Show….got rained on and then almost blown away during Saturday….but not bad turnout despite the occasional bad weather….lots of old friends (and new ones) dropped by….always fun to talk about canoes and paddling….here are a few photos:
Bruce Smith at work on paddle….
A beautiful canoe book shelf….no old canoes were ‘harmed’ in its construction….completely new construction with cherry trim….and walnut shelves….with white cedar ribs and planking (but cedar that wouldn’t be quite up to be in full canoe construction….either grain or saw cut issue)….
Photos by yours truly.
Oh well back to the grind of another week….next weekend I hope to be at Curve Lake pow wow….and Bruce Smith will be at the the Queen Street West Arts Crawl Outdoor Show at Trinity Bellwoods Park on Saturday, September 15 to Sunday, September 16, from 11am – 6pm. Come out and pick up that special paddle….or canoe book shelf….for you or someone who might appreciate….definitely where ‘art meets water’ in Bruce’s work.
As the paddling season comes to another close….with the fall colours about to be at their best….cooler days and nights….no bugs….this is a great time to be out dipping a paddle….
The Killbear Paddlers’Rendezvous is on this weekend from today to Sunday….to paraphrase my buddy John Hupfield (but updated from last year):
The 16th Annual Killbear Paddlers’ Rendezvous is set for September 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th 2012 at Granite Saddle Campground, Killbear Provincial Park, (the Georgian Bay side of Lake Huron); 3 to 5 days of warm water, beaches, no bugs, sunsets, barbecues, canoes racing, canoes sailing, exotic canoes, real canoes (including wood canoes from WCHA), paddlers, builders, camping,…
The Park is 2 hours north of Toronto, and features some of the best beaches and camping available anywhere.
Sites are available on a first come basis (no reservations apply). Register at Killbear Park Visitors Centre; just say part of Paddlers’ Rendezvous. Granite Saddle Campground is set aside for Paddlers Rendezvous. This is a paddling/camping event and attracts many serious Paddlers.
This is a Non-Commercial event. Did I say it was for Paddlers?
There is an all you can eat trout dinner on Saturday….not to miss if you are there….
I wish I could be at Killbear….always a great time….but I have other commitments in Toronto….
Bruce Smith will be at the Cabbagetown Arts Festival again this year….with his beautiful paddles and canoes….proving that ‘art can meet water’….I will be along for the weekend to help out….so if you’re in the area drop by and say HI….the Cabbagetown Arts Festival is by the Riverdale Farm….
Last week Bruce was at the Ashkenez Festival at Harbourfront….here are some photos:
I guess it’s a slow day….the last Sunday in August….but I have been thinking of ways to celebrate the canoe….First Nations….Mother Earth and the environment….this is maybe too grandiose of an idea….but then I think one should think BIG or stay home….any way I thought I would share one of my ideas:
Four Directions Canoe Project
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)
An interest in the wilderness means getting there, and getting there means canoes. - Kirk Wipper (from 2010 interview)
Wilderness: a beautiful word to describe a beautiful land. Wilderness though is a white man’s concept. To the Native people, the land was not wild. It was home. It provided shelter, clothed and fed them. And echoing through their souls was a song of the land. The singing isn’t as loud as it used to be. But you can still hear it in the wind….in the silence of the misty morning….in the drip of the water from the tip of a paddle. The song is still here if you know how to listen. – Bill Mason, Song Of the Paddle
Canoeing gets you back close to nature, using a method of travel that does not even call for roads or paths. You are following nature’s roads; you are choosing the road less travelled, as Robert Frost once wrote in another context, and that makes all the difference. You discover a sort of simplifying of your values, a distinction between those artificially created and those that are necessary to your spiritual and human development. – Pierre Elliott Trudeau
I think a lot of people want to go back to basics sometimes, to get their bearings. For me a good way to do that is to get into nature by canoe – to take myself as far away as possible from everday life, from its complications and from the artificial wants created by civilization. Canoeing forces you to make a distinction between your needs and your wants. – Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Memoirs
The movement of a canoe is like a reed in the wind. Silence is part of it, and the sounds of lapping water, bird songs, and wind in the trees. It is part of the medium through which it floats, the sky, the water, the shores….There is magic in the feel of a paddle and the movement of a canoe, a magic compounded of distance, adventure, solitude, and peace. The way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness, and of a freedom almost forgotten. It is an antidote to insecurity, the open door to waterways of ages past, and a way of life with profound and abiding satisfactions. When a man is part of his canoe, he is part of all that canoes have ever known. – Sigurd Olson from The Singing Wilderness
My two old canoes are works of art, embodying the feeling of all canoemen for rivers and lakes and the wild country they were meant to traverse. They were made in the old tradition when there was time and the love of the work itself.I have two canvas-covered canoes, both old and beautifully made. They came from the Penobscot River in Maine long ago, and I treasure them for the tradition of craftsmanship in their construction, a pride not only of form and line but of everything that went into their building. When l look at modern canoes, of metal or fiberglass stamped out like so many identical coins. l cherish mine even more …Sixteen feet in length, it has graceful lines with a tumble home or curve from the gunwales inward …No other canoe I’ve ever used paddles as easily … The gunwales and decks are of mahogany, the ribs and planking of carefully selected spruce and cedar… - Sigurd Olson, Tradition
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
Even long ago there were some men who could not make all the things that were needed. In each camp there were only a few who could make everything. The hardest thing to build was the canoe. The man who could make a canoe was very happy because the people depended on it so much. – John Kawapit, Eastern Cree Great Whale River, Quebec
The canoe of the Aboriginal Peoples is perhaps the ultimate expression of elegance and function in the world of watercraft. All its parts come from nature, and when it is retired, it returns to nature. Except for the tribes of the Plains, the canoe was vital to all Aboriginal cultures of Canada, each tribe being defined by the distinct shape of its canoe or kayak. It was not only the principal means of transportation, but was also critical to almost every facet of life; canoe and kayak builders were revered in their societies.
I propose a First Nations canoe project….canoe trips from the Four Directions of North, East South and West….ending at Manitoulin Island….centered around the Great Lakes….the traditional territory of the Anishnaabe people.
I propose a series of canoe trips that brings awareness of First Nations rights….Native culture and traditions….as well as engaging Native youth….
As well as bringing awareness to Mother Earth….the environment….water….the Great Lakes….wilderness….
I propose using bark canoes….OR wood canvas canoes….built by First Nations youth….for the trips….
This past summer bark canoes were built in Ottawa by Native youth….on Bear Island in Temagami ….and in Oshawa….
Following the experience of the Fort Severn canoe project I was part of….working with the community’s youth restoring wood canvas Freighter canoes….and the possibilities of other such projects in other First Nation communities….I know the ‘power of the canoe’….(for more see http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/04/27/f-fort-severn-canoe-restoration.html).
I know that the canoe can do some ‘magical’ things:
A canoe is a very good way to get close to nature. While it is possible to make a canoe go pretty fast, it is the thrill of slowing down that appeals to most canoeists. Even when canoes do go fast, when they rocket rapidly through whitewater, they are still canoes. Still close to nature and its environs. It is not the canoe that provides the power, it is the water. The canoe rides the water and its occupants humbly steer.
In a canoe you can’t help but feel the body of the country, notice the shape of islands or hills, hear the cries of birds and the sound of the wind, yet still respond fervently to the hundreds of small things that make up the world about you. Take a canoe onto a lake at night and enjoy what it can do, acting as a launching pad to distant worlds, opening up a vista of stars in the sky. The canoe seems to float up to these very stars and far away planets, as the night sky becomes one with the dark silent waters, twinking stars reflected in murky depths until water and sky all seem to blend together in one great expanse.
Canoes can sneak up on loons or beavers or herons, even a mighty moose, silently getting you closer than you can imagine. The canoe becomes part of its surroundings, becoming part of the natural world, and so completely that even once discovered it doesn’t scare such creatures. The canoe is just part of their world, accepted as always being there. It might be that the canoe has been such a familiar sight for so long, for so many years in the north country. In no particular hurry, the loon or the beaver slip quietly under the water if at all bothered by any such intrusion. Usually the moose will just stand there, holding its ground, patiently out waiting the canoe and its paddlers, unless it tires and lumbers off to the safety of the nearby bush. The heron takes flight with its dignity intact, probably thinking: “It’s only a canoe, but I’ll just move away a bit anyway.” – Mike Ormsby
In the early morning light, just as the world seems to wake up and come alive, the canoe glides over the glass like lake. The beautiful wood canvas hull easily slices through the lake’s surface, water slipping aside almost as if willed, forming undulating wavelets in its wake. Above the ripples, the paddle hovers momentarily like a dragonfly, before dipping down to break the intricate pattern formed. The canoeist seems lost in the moment.
On the wing over the watery expanse an eagle soars, in synchronicity with the man’s journey; as the paddler shifts to miss a rock, the raptor slows to test the wind. The large bird lazily wheels across the horizon, almost touching the rays of the rising sun. Yet his flight seems to keep pace with the canoe below. The eagle rides the air currents while the canoe dances over those of the lake’s surface. As the paddle flashes in the early morning sunlight, dipping once again into the water, the eagle dives to capture his breakfast, a silvery trout. Then, only briefly, do both break the mirror reflecting their seemingly choreographed display. While they never quite meet except for that, it doesn’t stop the dance. One on water, the other in the air, they are partners, each moving rhythmically over a northern vista of rocks and trees and water.
Occasionally, such magical moments happen out on the water. For the canoeist, the lakes and rivers become more than mere passageways. Waterways become vantage points to observe all that is around, carrying a message of life while still being the very lifeblood of Mother Earth herself. All at once, the paddler is both vessel and prophet, both audience and actor, just by merely venturing out on the water. Paddling these liquid highways takes the canoeist and canoe on a wonderful magical mystery tour, blending into the surrounding natural world.
The paddler is blessed to be able to join in the dance around him for awhile. While he watched, the large bird of prey flew off, likely to share his meal of fresh fish with his young brood nesting in a nearby lofty pine. Eventually the canoe glides on. A new dance may soon begin anew. – Mike Ormsby
As life starts by going through the Eastern Doorway….so I propose a canoe trip beginning in Ottawa….going through Peterborough (maybe a possible tie in with the National Canoe Day celebration there in late June….certainly involving the Canadian Canoe Museum)….using the bark canoe built in Ottawa through Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health (see attached poster below)….maybe wood canvas canoes….maybe even with the involvement of Ottawa area paddlers such as Jay Morrison and Becky Mason as ‘guests’….
Then another group from the South in the Greater Toronto Area….involving the Metis bark canoe from Oshawa, see http://www.oshawadurhammetis.com/Canoe-Project.html. Plus restored wood canvas canoes.
A third segment would originate out West from Thunder Bay….with wood canvas canoes built or restored….maybe with bark canoes built at Fort William….
Finally from the North in the Temagami area….with bark canoes built at Bear Island by Temagami First Nation youth during the workshop conducted by Voyages of Rediscovery (see http://www.canoekayak.com/canoe/birch-bark-heroes/)….as well as wood canvas canoes built/restored……
I envision a canoe equivalent of the Water Walk conducted by the Anishnaabe women….see http://www.motherearthwaterwalk.com/.
I would like to involve the Canadian Canoe Museum, the Canadian Canoe Foundation, the Anishnabek Nation, Union Of Ontario Indians, Federation of Ontario Friendship Centres, as well as several First Nations….and the Ontario Arts Council….
I would like to see one of each the wood canvas canoes painted by Native artists….possibly the likes of Jay Bell Redbird, Randy Knott, Robert Solomon, Joseph Sagutch, Goyce Kakegamic, and others….after the trip ends each of these canoes could be raffled off to further fund canoe projects in First Nation communities….
My idea for this comes from a canoe built and painted by Jerry Stelmok of Island Falls Canoes (see above)….but with a Native twist….
Well that’s one of my ideas….I guess I really need to get out paddling more lol lol….but seriously it could be a most interesting project….maybe even have a video made or TV coverage of….
Let me know what you think….
Paddles up until later then….
Years ago I found a really good resource….from a very unlikely source, the RCMP….as well as Correctional Services of Canada who also used….a guide to some of the various aspects of Native spirituality….here are is some from the website, Native Spirituality Guide, http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/pubs/abo-aut/spirit-spiritualite-eng.htm:
The Circle of Life
You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days, when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation and so long as the hoop was unbroken, the people flourished.
The flowering tree was the living centre of the hoop and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The East gave peace and light, the South gave warmth, The West gave rain and the North, with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance. This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion. Everything the Power of the World does, is done in a circle. The sky is round and I have heard the earth is round like a ball and so are the stars. The Wind, in its greatest power whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were. The life of man is a circle from childhood to childhood and so it is in everything where power moves. Our Teepees were round like the nests of birds and these were always set in a circle, the nation ‘s hoop, a nest of many nests where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children. ” – (Black Elk Speaks, pp. 198-200) Spiritual Advisor to the Oglala Sioux in 1930.
Sacred pipe, Medicine Bundles and Tobacco Roll
Traditions
Native cultures in their traditional nature are authentic and dynamic, fostering distinctive and sophisticated development. A sense of identity, pride and self-esteem are rooted in established spiritual principles.
Native spiritual life is founded on a belief in the fundamental inter-connectedness of all natural things, all forms of life with primary importance being attached to Mother Earth.
The Medicine Wheel
The symbol of the circle holds a place of special importance in Native beliefs. For the North American Indian, whose culture is traditional rather than literate, the significance of the circle has always been expressed in ritual practise and in art. The lives of men and women, as individual expressions of the Power of the World move in and are nourished by an uninterrupted circular/spiral motion. This circle is often referred to as the Medicine Wheel. Human beings live, breathe and move, giving additional impetus to the circular movement, provided they live harmoniously, according to the circle’s vibratory movement. Every seeker has a chance to eventually discover a harmonious way of living with their environment according to these precepts.
The Four Powers
Each of the four directions represents a particular way of perceiving things, but none is considered superior or more significant than the other. The emphasis is always placed on the need to seek and explore each of the four great ways in order to gain a thorough understanding of one’s own nature in relation to the surrounding world.
The four cardinal points of the circle transcend the mere compass directions. The directions themselves embody four powerful natural forces representing seasonal influences associated with various other powerful attributes.
North represents Wisdom. Its colour is white, its power animal is the buffalo and its gift is strength and endurance. From the South comes the gift of warmth and growth after winter is over, a place of innocence and trust. Its colour is green (or sometimes red), its power animal, the mouse. To the West is the place of introspection, of looking within one’s spirit. Its colour is black, its gift rain and its power animal the bear. The East is marked by the sign of the Eagle. Its colour is gold for the sun’s illumination, the new dawning sky and enlightenment. Its gift is peace and light.
Understanding the meaning of the Medicine Wheel depends on the concept that a person’s life consists of”conquering the four hills: Infancy, Youth, Maturity and Old Age. The four stages are celebrated in ritual as the four prime moments in life corresponding to the four directions.
The first hill is the South (innocence and trust) where the infant’s reception into life occurs. The second hill, that of introspection, in the West, becomes the youth’s solitary vigil and quest for vision. This first quest seeks the revelation of the Great Spirit’s manifestation and continuing presence.
This is the time when a power animal attribute enters a Native individual’s soul becoming a part of his or her name. (Sitting Bull, Black Elk, Crazy Horse and so on). It marks the beginning of the dweller within, the dreaming soul that contacts the higher spiritual planes bringing back visions that serve as fundamental guide posts in life. The hill of maturity lies to the North and represents the successful realization of ability and ambition. It is the place of recognition in which the pursuit of wisdom underlies and nourishes all action.
Sympathy with life itself grows in this quarter.
The final hill is that of old age situated in the East. It represents a quiet, reflective and meditative segment where the old ones now can pass on their knowledge to youth as they have mastered the meaning of joy and sorrow and the many other trials and tribulations encountered over the course of their existence.
Ceremonies
Ceremonies are the primary vehicles of religious expression. A ceremonial leader or Elder assures authenticity and integrity of religious observances. Nothing is written down, as the very writing would negate the significance of the ceremony. Teachings are therefore passed on from Elder to Elder in a strictly oral tradition.
Elders
Elders may be either men or women. Their most distinguishing characteristic is wisdom which relates directly to experience and age. There are exceptions. Elders need not be “old”. Sometimes the spirit of the Great Creator chooses to imbue a young native. Elders’ spiritual gifts differ. Some may interpret dreams. Others may be skilful in herbal remedies or be healers during a sweat lodge ceremony, and so on.
Pipes
Pipes are used during both private and group ceremonies, the prayer itself being wafted through the smoke of the burning plant material. Pipes are of no set length. Some stems may or may not be decorated with beads or leather. Others may be elaborately carved with bowls inlaid with silver. Bowls may be of wood, soapstone, inlaid or carved in the form of various totemic power animals (an eagle with folded wings) or another sacred animal.
The pipe is disassembled into its component parts while being carried from one place to another. The pipe is never a “personal possession”. It belongs to the community. The holder of the pipe is generally considered its custodian. While every native has the right to hold the pipe, in practise, the privilege must be earned in some religious way. The pipe is usually passed on to another custodian under specific fasting and cleansing rite regulations. There are pipes exclusively used by either men or women. Men’s pipes become unclean if touched by women and vice-versa.
The Pipe Ceremony
Pipe ceremonies constitute the primary group gatherings over which Elders preside. Participants gather in a circle. A braid of sweetgrass (one of four sacred plants) is lit and burnt as an incense to purify worshippers, before the pipe is lit. Burning sweetgrass also symbolizes unity, the coming together of many hearts and minds as one person.
Sacred Plants: Red Willow Bark, Sage, Calamus Root, Sweetgrass braid, Poplar leaves and Tobacco
The Elder strikes a match, puts it to the end of the sweetgrass braid and fans the smouldering grass with an eagle’s feather, to encourage smoke production. The Elder then goes from person to person in the circle where the smoke is drawn four times by hand gestures toward the head and down the body. The Elder must fan the glowing end to keep it burning properly or the material loses its spark.
The Elder then places tobacco in the pipe and offers it in the four sacred directions of the compass. Some Western tribes begin by making an offering to the West. Eastern Natives may propitiate the Spirit of the East whence comes the light of the sun at daybreak, who also gives guidance, direction and enlightenment. Then the Elder faces South where the guardian spirit of growth presides after winter is over. Next is West, the direction of the spirit gateway where reside the souls of those who have left this plane of existence. The spirit of the North concerned with healing and purification is then addressed.
Spirits will be asked for assistance in the main prayer, which may be specifically for one individual, a participant in the circle or for someone far away or someone who has passed over. The pipe, passed from person to person in the circle, might be offered to all creation, to those invisible spirit helpers who are always there to guide humanity. The last of the tobacco is offered to the Great Creator.
Another version of the Pipe Ceremony is the Sacred Circle which essentially follows the same procedures, but also allows a time period for individual participants to address the assembly.
Sweat Lodges
Used mainly for communal prayer purposes, the Sweat Lodge may also provide necessary ceremonial settings for spiritual healing, purification, as well as fasting. Most fasts require a sweat ceremony before and after the event.
Lodge construction varies from tribe to tribe. Generally, it is an igloo-shaped structure about five feet high, built in about one and a half hours from bent willow branches tied together with twine. The structure is then encased in blankets to preclude all light. A maximum of eight participants gather in the dark.
In the centre, there is a holy, consecrated virginal section of ground (untrampled by feet and untouched by waste material) blessed by an Elder with tobacco and sweetgrass. There, red hot stones heated in a fire outside the lodge are brought in and doused with water. A doorkeeper on the outside opens the lodge door four times, contributing four additional hot rocks (representing the four sacred directions) to the centre. A prepared pipe is also brought in.
Sweat Lodges may be dismantled after the ceremony is over, but often, they are left standing to accommodate the next ceremony. Lodges may only be entered in the presence of an Elder.
Feasting
Some ceremonies such as “doctoring” sweat require the participant to eat a meal. There are specific rituals requiring special foods. Sacred food for the Ojibway for instance consist of wild rice, corn, strawberries and deer meat. Typical feast foods for the Cree from the prairies would be Bannock (Indian Bread), soup, wild game and fruit (particularly Saskatoon berries or mashed choke cherries). For a West Coast Indian, sacred foods might include fish prepared in a special way. Although foods may differ, their symbolic importance remains the same.
Rattles
Rattles are shaken to call up the spirit of life when someone is sick. The Elder also uses a rattle to summon the spirits governing the four directions to help participants who are seeking spiritual and physical cleansing to start a “new” life during a sweat lodge ceremony.
Rattle or shaker
Drums
Drums represent the heartbeat of the nation, the pulse of the universe. Different sizes are used depending on “doctoring” or ceremonial purposes. Drums are sacred objects. Each drum has keeper to ensure no-one approaches it under the influence of alcohol or drugs. During ceremonies, no one may reach across it or place extraneous objects on it.
Drum
Sweetgrass Braid
Eagle Feathers
Spiritual Artifacts
A Manitoba Elder graciously provided some samples of a collection of spiritual artifacts used in sacred ceremonies. The collection, which appears in this guide, should not be construed as being “typical.” Contents in Medicine Bundles may vary considerably taking into account the cultural diversity of Aboriginal First Nations across Canada and the U.S.
Description
Eagles’ wings and feathers, rawhide gourds, drums, abalone shells, prayer cloths and prints are some of the more common objects in use, in addition to the pipe. Eagle wings and feathers are awarded for outstanding deeds. They may be worn in the hair or on a costume, but normally they are carried in the hand. Indians regard the eagle as a sacred bird. The eagle represents power, strength and loyalty. The four sacred plants, sweetgrass, sage, cedar and tobacco or kinniekinnick (red willow shavings) are also often worn in a “medicine” pouch around the neck or pinned onto clothing. Elders may have additional sacred items such as bear claws on a thong or badges that have been given as gifts during ceremonies.
This is just an overview….but it does provide some insights into various aspects of Native spirituality.
Is not the sky a father and the earth a mother, and are not all living things with feet or wings or roots their children? — Black Elk (Medicine man of the Lakota (Sioux)
Give me the strength to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that is! — Black Elk (Medicine man of the Lakota (Sioux)
With the beauty before me, May I walk With beauty behind me, May I walk With beauty above me, May I walk With beauty below me, May I walk With beauty all around me, May I walk Wandering on a trail of beauty, Lively, I walk. — Proverbs, Sayings and Songs, Navajo Indians
On the path that leads to Nowhere I have sometimes found my Soul. — Corinne Roosevelt Robinson (younger sister of President Theodore Roosevelt)
The path to our destination is not always a straight one. We go down the wrong road, we get lost, we turn back. Maybe it doesn’t matter which road we embark on. Maybe what matters is that we embark.– Barbara Hall, Northern Exposure, Rosebud, 1993
Be brave enough to live creatively.The creative is the place where no one else has ever been.You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You can’t get there by bus, only by hard work and risk, and not knowing what you’re doing. What you’ll discover will be yourself. -Alan Alda
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step and trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a woods, and I – I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. – Robert Frost (American poet), The Road Not Taken
And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. — Kahlil Gibran (Lebanese-American artist, poet and writer)
The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast and you miss all you are traveling for. - Louis L’Amour
It’s the portage that makes travelling by canoe unique. – Bill Mason
….portaging is like hitting yourself on the head with a hammer: it feels so good when you stop. – Bill Mason
Anyone who says they like portaging is either a liar or crazy. – Bill Mason
On the portages the leaves hang limp and listless, and the still air is acrid with the resinous odour of boiling spruce gum. Here men sweat under enormous burdens: earlier in the summer, clouds of mosquitoes and black-flies would envelope them in biting swarms. But it is August, and the fly season is over, and those that are left are too weak to do any damage, and sit balefully regarding us from nearby limbs of trees. Pattering of moccasined feet on the narrow trail, as men trot with the canoes, one to a man, or step easily along and under their loads; and in a miraculously short space of time everything is over to the far side. –Grey Owl, “The Lost Brigade”
I have no desire for long portages. That’s like saying I desire traffic jams on the 401 when really all I really desire is to get home.
I have a desire for seclusion, for remoteness, stillness and silence, for portability, speed (when …it’s needed), and lightness. The mantra is “Go quietly, Carry little.” As you know, between Wellesley and Sudbury, often it is the long portages that take you to those places. I can go to Algonquin during peak season and not see another human for days, and I can do this simply by using portages that discourage most–and this is right off of Hwy 60.
And, although portages can be analogous to root-canal, they somehow bring depth and character to the trip, while you’re there, but also in memory. Like a pilgrimage, the physical strain wears down the body and opens it up to and is receptive to the solitude and even transcendence that the portage has brought you to.
Portages also represent something that runs counter to our culture of drive-thru convenience and auto-gratification. There is reward thinking about and completing a portage. At the end of the portage I gulp down the water and it may occur to me that I did not click a button to get this far. My body is almost broken, but the air is sweet. Even outside of the canoe world, there is a link between physical work and gratification and contentment. The link, however, is laid bare on some canoe trips.
In one of Olson’s books, he describes his favourite lake, the perfect lake in his mind, a lake that in the past he had spent days portaging and paddling to get to. One summer he decides to fly in, but quickly concludes that his experience of the lake and the area is not the same, is not as deep and meaningful. He is disconnected. To experience or to feel connected to his surroundings, he felt he needed the portages, the travel, the miles of paddling. The meaning of the place is not merely in the physical location, but in the journey.
Olson reminiscences fondly for both lakes and portages:
“I can still see so many of the lakes (whose shores and hills are forever changed after the storm): Saganaga, Red Rock, Alpine, Knife, Kekekabic, Eddy, Ogishkemunicie, Agamok, Gabimichigami, Sea Gull. It seems like yesterday… the early-morning bear on BrantLake, that long portage from HansonLake to the South Arm of the Knife, that perfect campsite on JasperLake…”
I don’t like portages, but they get me to where I want to go. And out there, it seems that while I don’t like them, they are the tough-lovers of canoe trip: they know better than me in preparing me for the place I am trying to get to both physically and emotionally. – Paul Hoy
The thought of having to carry all your worldly possessions on your back has been cause to modify the quintessential Canadian adventure canoe trip in terms of how many portages will be encountered. Paddlers now have mutated their own aspirations of adventure by eliminating the “carry”-the fundamental and historical pith of the journey, and choose a route with the least amount of work involved. – from Grey Owl & Me by Hap Wilson
There are many who walk through the woods like blind men. –Grey Owl, Tolerance
You can always tell a white man from an Indian…The Indian walks like a fox, in a straight line, one foot in front of the other; a white man walks with his feet pointing in opposite directions, like he wasn’t sure which way to go…. - from “Of Mice and Men, White Pine, and Mobility”, in Grey Owl and Me: Stories from the Trail and Beyond by Hap Wilson….as told to Hap by a Native elder.
We in the industrialized world make a greater difference because our ecological footprint, our impact on the condition of the environment, is 40 to 50 times larger than that of people in the developing world. - Maurice Strong
A virgin forest is where the hand of man has never set foot. - Author Unknown
We have to walk in a way that we only print peace and serenity on the Earth. Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet. - Thich Nhat Hanh
Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints. - Anonymous
Footprints left all over the environment….ecological footprint????….carbon footprint????….
From http://www.environmentforbeginners.com/content/view/17/51/:
What is the Ecological Footprint?
The ecological footprint measures our consumption behavior, and is used to compare different countries and areas. This measurement includes all type of consumption like energy, food, material, etc. and is translated into a piece of land that we need to produce it. We then can find out how many pieces of land we need to reach our level of consumption.
If the ecological footprint were equally distributed, the planet would provide 2.5 hectares per person. However, due to the inequality of wealth distribution across the planet, the number varies greatly. Europeans consume an average of 5.3 hectares, North Americans 9.6, and Africans consume much less with an ecological footprint of only 1.3 hectares.
This assessment demonstrates our consumption behavior. The more responsible we are in our consuming habits, the smaller our ecological footprint and therefore the closer we become to sustainable development. If we were all to consume like North Americans, we would need four Earths to sustain our consumption.
From http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/carbon_footprint/:
Carbon Footprint
Today, the term “carbon footprint” is often used as shorthand for the amount of carbon (usually in tonnes) being emitted by an activity or organization. The carbon component of the Ecological Footprint takes a slightly differing approach, translating the amount of carbon dioxide into the amount of productive land and sea area required to sequester carbon dioxide emissions. This tells us the demand on the planet that results from burning fossil fuels. Measuring it in this way offers a few key advantages.
On a practical level, the Ecological Footprint shows us how carbon emissions compare and interacts with other elements of human demand, such as our pressure on food sources, the quantity of living resources required to make the goods we consume, and the amount of land we take out of production when we pave it over to build cities and roads. The carbon Footprint is 54 percent of humanity’s overall Ecological Footprint and its most rapidly-growing component. Humanity’s carbon footprint has increased 11-fold since 1961. Reducing humanity’s carbon Footprint is the most essential step we can take to end overshoot and live within the means of our planet.
The Footprint framework enables us to address the problem in a comprehensive way, one that does not simply shift the burden from one natural system to another.
The Ecological Footprint and Climate Change
The Footprint framework also shows climate change in a greater context—one which unites all of all the ecological threats we face today.
Climate change, adeforestation, overgrazing, fisheries collapse, food insecurity and the rapid extinction of species are all part of a single, over-arching problem: Humanity is simply demanding more from the Earth than in can provide. By focusing on the single issue, we can address all of its symptoms, rather than solving one problem at the cost of another.
At Global Footprint Network, our work is focused on helping nations – and by extension, humanity as a whole—succeed in a world of emerging resource constraints. We do so by giving leaders the data they need to make decisions that are aligned with ecological reality. In this way, we can begin to move away from the emissions and resource-intensive economies of the past and toward those than can thrive within the limits of what nature can provide.
Whether hiking along a trail….walking through the woods….or even portaging a canoe….all of these leave our footprints on the land….and of course there is ecological and carbon footprints too….but there really is only one ‘footprint’ we should be concerned about….please forgive me for ‘borrowing’ this photo from Facebook….but I think it best describes the only footprint we should leave on Mother Earth:
