The Gift

 For those who don't know, sprint kayak racing is not a huge sport in the US of A.  There are actually more sprint kayakers in Halifax, Nova Scotia than in the entire US.  Most of the elite racing boats come from Europe, and since Canada orders about 10x what the US does, it's much easier to order them through our Canadian friends than to wait for the once a year container coming to the states.  

This weekend, I made a solo road trip to Ottawa Canada to pick up new boats for our racing club.  It's about 2100 miles round trip, 3.5 days of windshield time.  I'm happy to report no issues with the trip or the boats.  The Vajda container arrived in Montreal late last week, and I cleared the decks to go to Ottawa to retrieve our boats.  I arrived Friday night, took in the Canada Day fireworks, had a beer at my favorite Ottawa brewery, and got to Rideau Canoe Club bright and early Saturday morning to load up.  After visiting a few minutes with friends, it was time to start that long drive home.  Ottawa is one of my favorite 'world cities', and I'll do a separate post about it at some point.  

But that's not what I'm writing about today.  On my way back from Ottawa, I chose to take the 'Northern' route, bypassing Toronto, Detroit and Chicago.  I headed west on the Trans-Canadian Highway with Sault Ste Marie as my intended overnight.  No worries - just a 10 hour drive.  En-route, I needed a break and left the route in Mattawa, Ontario, intending to stop for a nature break and sandwich.  As I was driving through town, I saw a sign that said ¨Canoe Building 10-4:00¨, and could see an outdoor demo area.  Thinking that this was far too good to pass up, I stopped.  Sure enough, there was a 20' canoe being built in the shed.  

I stepped inside and admired the boat - birchbark, white cedar and spruce root.  That's all. The technique was the same as itś been for hundreds of years, the tools traditional and hand-made.  As I stood and watched, and asked a few questions, the builder started to talk a little more.  

From this point, I want to pre-apologize if I screw up a spelling, or misunderstood anything I heard.  While I have read a small amount about the history of the fur trade in Canada, I gained a new appreciation for the indigenous people of Canada and the border region.  

The master builder is Marcel Labelle, a Métis who grew up in Mattawa, attended university, and who found his calling to build traditional canoes and educate people about the story of his people.  Marcel has been building birchbark canoes for the past 30 years.  His work can be found in the Peterborough Canadian Canoe Museum, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and others.  Listening to Marcel talk about his growing up and the path to become a canoe builder was fascinating.  I won't try to cover that here - it deserves first hand knowledge and I'd get it wrong.  

The boat under construction now is 'The Gift' to recall the gift passed from the Anishinaabe to the French voyageurs who came to North America in the 1600s.  Without the canoe, the fur trade - and much of the history of Canada would not have been possible.  Once finished, Marcel plans to paddle it downriver to Ottawa, hopefully for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.  

Marcel mentioned that this will probably be his 'last canoe'  When I asked who was continuing the tradition, he pointed to his
grandson Alex who has been apprenticing with him, and is already an accomplished builder.  Alex has done all the stitch work on The Gift,  and will undoubtedly continue to learn and teach the art - and more importantly, the story of his people.  

I turned off the less-traveled road to take a break, and found much more.  I will always value the side-roads and serendipitous events that occur in life, and I consider it an absolute privilege to have shared a few minutes conversation with the Labelles.  I'm already trying to figure out how to go back for a longer visit.

BTW, a serious plug for the Mattawa museum where Marcel builds.  It's like many other community history museums, but has some amazing exhibits.  Well worth the couple of dollars admission!