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Something special has been happening in recent days at the Indigenous Hoop Dance area of the Fennell campus at Mohawk College.

Master canoe-maker Chuck Commanda from Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, a First Nations community in Quebec, has been teaching a group of Indigenous students how to build a wigwas tchiiman or birch bark canoe in the Algonquin language, the way his ancestors did.

“I started learning (canoe building) when I was a kid, about 12 years old with my grandparents,” Commanda said.

He noted the birch bark for the canoe comes from a tree in the Ottawa Valley and the gunwales or gunnels along the top edge of the canoe are made of cedar from a tree they found near Bancroft.

Hundreds of feet of spruce root are used to tie the gunnels together and boiled spruce sap will be painted on the craft as a sealant.

With the exception of a couple of power drills and some metal clamps, the canoe is being built by hand.

“We’re building something our ancestors did and we’re doing it the traditional way,” Commanda said.

Work on the canoe is expected to wrap up July 22.

Mohawk student Kelly Cooley has family ties to the Onondaga First Nation said working on the canoe helps her appreciate her Indigenous background.

“It’s crucially important to stick to your roots and understand where you come from and how things were originally done to make sure those things are passed on to future children,” she said.

Caroline Hill, a member of the Deer Clan of the Seneca Nation, said she was inspired to build a canoe after seeing one and a video about how it was made at the Royal Ontario Museum in 2018.

“Ever since I saw that video I said, ‘that’s something I want to do’,” she said. “To me personally it’s amazing because I’ve been in and out of my culture growing up so this is another way to connect to my ancestors and honour them.”

Tanya Noel, who goes by the Indigenous name Sunshine, is a Metis-Mi’kmaq from the east coast.

“To be here is a dream, I’ve wanted to do it my whole life; being Mi’kmaq, we also use birch bark canoes,” she said.

The project is made possible by a $30,000 sponsorship from Breakwater Financial, part of the McKeil group of companies.

“We wanted the story to be told about the importance of the canoe as it being so significant to Canada and our history and the very first vessel used on the waterways,” said Breakwater chief of staff Kathy McKeil who noted the canoe will be used to support the tugboat Theodore Too and promote history and Indigenous peoples.

“When he comes into port, the canoe will meet the ship symbolically as a sign of sharing the waterway and respecting each other,” McKeil said.

A replica from a children’s television program, Theodore was purchased from Nova Scotia by Blair McKeil of McKeil Marine last summer and the 21-year-old wooden tugboat is used to promote the Swim Drink Fish clean water program and careers in the marine industry around the Great Lakes.

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: Hamilton Community News wanted to learn more about the birch bark canoe being built by Indigenous students at Mohawk College.

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