Canoe

An invaluable tool, the canoe has many uses, including subsistence and transporting families and equipment. If a piece breaks, in the rapids for example, the canoe is made so that it's possible to replace the broken piece quite easily by making another piece on the spot. Light, flexible and solid, it can transport quite large loads. It must always be perfectly in sync with its owner’s body.


  • Materials and Preparation
    9:18 min - “I’m going to take the four pieces for the canoe’s frame from this tree. This is where we ...
    Jean-Baptiste Bellefleur measuring a tree with his arms
  • Assembly
    10:24 min - We’ll close up the canoe from the center, which implies thinning the center planks of the canoe. Here, the ...
    Two men adjust the outer shell of a traditional canoe
  • Importance
    0:34 min - Before even thinking of going onto his land, an Innu first had to make a canoe perfectly adapted to his ...
    Fishing on a lake in a canoe
  • Specificity, Trial
    1:42 min - Even the length of the rope is customized. It corresponds to the length of the carrier’s neck. This makes ...
    Launching of a traditional canoe on a lake


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