View National Film Board’s César’s Bark Canoe/César et son Canot d’écorce by Bernard Gosselin https://www.nfb.ca/film/cesars_bark_canoe (free). This documentary shows how a canoe is built the old way. César Newashish, a 67-year-old Attikamek of Manawan north of Montreal, uses only birchbark, cedar splints, spruce roots and gum. Building a canoe solely from the materials that the forest provides may become a lost art, even among the Indigenous peoples whose traditional craft it is. The film is without commentary, but text frames appear on the screen in Cree, French and English.
Or view the film on Winter Camping Mi’kmaq Series, Nova Scotia Department of Education http://learn360.infobase.com/p_ViewVideo.aspx?customID=28750M’
After viewing either of the films, ask students to identify the different parts of a snowshoe or canoe that were created with the help of water (or snow and ice) and how these items assisted in hunting and fishing. Students can draw or trace the pattern created by the wet rawhide or babiche in snowshoes or how to build a fire. Examine a snowshoe in class to see how durable it is. As the students watch the videos, have them identify the different stages in sequence of building a canoe or making a snowshoe and write these down for them in large print.
Evaluation
After the films have been watched, see if each student can draw a diagram that corresponds to the stages of making the item.
