Paddle pride
Project in Millbrook offers rare opportunity
A master Mi’kmaq craftsman is going to build a birch bark canoe with four interns in Millbrook to mark Canada’s 150th anniversary.
Todd Labrador of the Wildcat Reserve in Lunenburg County will spend six weeks at the Millbrook Cultural Centre this summer showing four young people how to build a traditional Mi’kmaq lake canoe.
“You can’t learn everything about building a canoe in six weeks, but I will show them the process,” says Labrador. “For example, splitting spruce roots: I need to harvest and prepare about 700 feet of spruce roots – it takes weeks and months of practice to develop that skill. We’ll spend a day harvesting roots and I’ll go through the process of splitting the roots and they’ll be able to work on that on their own.”
Labrador will harvest the roots, bark and various bits of wood for this canoe in advance but will go through each step with the youth and have them help put it all together.
The public will also be able to watch the construction of the 16-foot canoe at the cultural centre but Labrador will focus on teaching the interns.
A few things set a Mi’kmaq canoe apart from other aboriginal canoes: the low rounded
bow and stern, the single gunwhales and the gunwhale stitching that runs the whole length
of the canoe with no gaps.
Labrador’s great grandfather built birch bark canoes in the region around Kejimkujik in southwestern Nova Scotia. Labrador’s father Charlie remembered watching that process and was able to teach parts of it, like gathering and preparing spruce roots and harvesting birch bark.
Labrador has slowly added to his knowledge through conversations
with elders, by examining old canoes, old photographs and from reading.
He has built 11 birch bark canoes. As someone who worked hard to revive and rediscover the traditional Mi’kmaq art, Labrador hopes this program will be the start of more canoe building in Mi’kma’ki or the lands where the Mi’kmaq live.
The Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq is currently accepting applications for the four spots from status Mi’kmaq between the ages of 16 and 35.
The Mi’kmaw Birch Bark Canoe Builder Live Exhibit and Youth Apprentice Program gets underway June 5 at the Millbrook Cultural Centre and runs until July 14.