At Frontier HQ we’ve watched this video documentary multiple times and love it.
It does a great job of blending the art, science and history of the canoe.
On the one hand, the canoe is a romantic vehicle of the past; on the other hand it remains the deeply practical craft it always has been.
The birch bark canoe is a near-perfect traditional design studied by modern engineers as well as built to this day by First Nations people who are proud to maintain their craft traditions.
The line up of academics and curators contributing to this video is impressive.
Kevin Brownlee, Curator of Archaeology at the renowned Manitoba Museum is among the people contributing to this film. If you’d like to hear more from Kevin, he has been a guest on my podcast. You can listen via the link below.
Paul Kirtley Podcast 33: Kevin Brownlee on Indigenous Archaeology and Highlighting Native Heritage
It’s also always nice to hear Jeremy Ward speaking. Whenever I do, I just want to get back to the Canadian Canoe Museum again for another visit – something we do at the beginning of our French River trip, that really sets the scene for the importance of the canoe in the history and culture of Canada and its people.
Our favourite line in the film, however, is from canoe builder Marcel Labelle…
“People ask me, where did you get this canoe? And I say, well I found it in the bush. Some assembly required.”
The Birch Bark Canoe: Navigating a New World is a 20 minute video resource commissioned by the partnership of Engineers Canada, Manitoba Aerospace, the Engineering Access Program and the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Manitoba. It is designed to be used in Manitoba classrooms to honour the contributions of First Nations peoples and to educate future generations about the art and science of the birch bark canoe.
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Colette
Thank you so much for sharing this beautifully made and deeply interesting video. What a thing of beauty the birch bark canoe! There is a marvellous book by James Raffan that you may also find interesting: “Bark, Skin and Cedar – Exploring the Canoe in Canadian Experience”
thanks for all your blogs and clips Paul, always appreciated!
Paul Kirtley
My pleasure Collette 🙂
Dave Howard
Hi Paul, thanks for sharing this wonderful video. I love the comparison between the human body and soul, and the canoes they build. Cleverly engineered and so strong and stable compared to the European vessels. The aborigines were the forefathers of bushcrafting, and lived as an integral part of the forest.
All the best, Dave.
Jack
Thanks Paul,
I could not say it any better than Dave (above)!
Much appreciated,I’ll definitely visit the Can Canoe Museum and Fort William during my cross Canada tour in the very near future!
All the best,
Jack
Paul J
To see more I highly recommend https://www.nfb.ca/film/cesars_bark_canoe/
to read more I recommend The Canoe by Roberts and Shackleton (out of print).
Peter Wolf
So when is the frontier birch bark canoe building course gonna kick off. Sign me up in advance. I can see why that’s been watched so many times.
Paul Kirtley
One day maybe…. 🙂