Culture
Yellowknife man builds traditional canoe with help from Dechinta Centre
The project was aided by several of Dechinta's summer students
For several years now, Paul Mackenzie has been wanting to build a birch bark canoe the old-fashioned way, and with some help from the Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning, he was given that opportunity.
The project took approximately three months to fully complete, and MacKenzie had plenty of help from some of Dechinta’s summer students. The canoe itself is made from birch bark, as well as spruce roots, and a special adhesive made from a combination of spruce gum and animal fat that is used to seal the individual parts of the boat together, along with sealing any leaks that reveal themselves later on.
The canoe being built at the Dechinta Centre (Randy Baillargeon/Facebook)
When asked why he chose to work with Dechinta on this project, MacKenzie explained that as he gets older, he feels more determined to pass on traditional skills and education to the next generation.
The Dechinta Centre centres many of its lessons and projects around Indigenous, land-based education, and provides its students with unique learning opportunities. They work closely with Dene and Inuvialuit communities in order to foster an interest in traditional knowledge in younger generations.
The canoe being built at the Dechinta Centre (Randy Baillargeon/Facebook)
One of the Dechinta members who helped work on the canoe, Thumlee Drybones-Foliot, shared some more details on how this project came together.
“This was from the summer apprenticeship program, and it was created to help fill the promise of Dechinta to be Elder-led, and to create a new line of workforce for Dechinta who are not elders, but also not youth anymore, who are working and doing traditional activities and helping facilitate that relationship between students and elders for our core academic programming.”
Thumlee reported that the canoe was brought out to the recent Handgames on the Yellowknife river, and while the students were a little nervous from how “wobbly” the boat was on the water, it was still a fun afternoon that showed how effective their work turned out.
The canoe being built at the Dechinta Centre (Randy Baillargeon/Facebook)
Some of the students involved in building the canoe were Tadel Betsina, Tydzeh Kakfwi-Lennie, Quaid Goulet, Amber Lockhart, Evie Mantla, and Lynasia Mantla-Crapean.
The canoe will be used for further educational purposes at Dechinta, and Paul MacKenzie is hoping to come back next year to build an even bigger boat.
