Materials and Preparation

Jean-Baptiste Bellefleur - I'm going to take the four pieces for the canoe's gunwale from this tree. This is where we start measuring to determine the canoe's length. The measurement between my elbow and my hand tells me where to put the first crossbeam, the small crossbeam. If I add a length equivalent to the distance between my two outstretched arms, I arrive at the centre of the canoe: that's where the central crossbeam goes.
Narrator - Since the tree must be split very precisely, the Innu use a tool made from very dry wood. They remove the smallest possible amount of bark to avoid attracting flies.
Jean-Baptiste Bellefleur - I use spruce for the canoe's gunwale. This species has few knots and is very flexible. However, I'll use fir for the hull, to make it as light as possible. You have to check to make sure the wood has split evenly on both sides.
Narrator - Since there was no birch bark, an essential material for covering canoes, on the Lower North Shore, Indians gathered in the summer and traveled up the river to obtain it. Sometimes, they even went as far as Lake Ontario.
Jean-Baptiste Bellefleur - I have to be careful about knots. I must avoid them.
Narrator - Jean-Baptiste Bellefeur uses a crooked knife, an all-purpose tool known to every Innu, to shape the plank.
Jean-Baptiste Bellefleur - This is the tree I'll use! Here's a fir tree that's straight and doesn't have any knots. I'll use it to make the two bottom pieces, the canoe's keel.
Antoine Mark - I was given a canoe as a child, as soon as I was considered old enough to carry one. I finally had my own canoe in which I could transport my luggage and travel alone. I was self-sufficient! I could imitate my big brother! But I took my little brother along with me.
Narrator - To give the canoe its shape, the wood has to be flexible enough to bend. The builder therefore soaks the gunwale pieces for a week. The keel is dried in the sun. This operation makes it easier to adjust with the crooked knife. Once dry, this piece of wood called "mishkuatak" is split into 4 equal parts to be placed at the canoe's two extremities. This technique will give the boat's two extremities an identical appearance.
Jean-Baptiste Bellefleur - I use the cord to find the centre of the ribs. The central line that I draw on the ribs must correspond to the line I traced on the centre of the canvas. I bend the ribs one at a time to give them their curve. Then I bend them again in packs of seven.
The ribs are cut and bent while the fir is still green. I use canvas instead of string so as not to mark the wood unnecessarily. These marks must align with the central line on the canoe's canvas.
I'll adjust these ribs so that they press against each other. Then I'll bend them on each side, up to the gunwale. Since the rib fits into the canoe's gunwale, the pressure is on its curve.
Narrator - Jean-Baptiste prepares six bundles of ribs. Although each bundle contains seven ribs, only six are used, since the seventh is a replacement rib. The bundles used for the extremities only contain four ribs each. Once the gunwale has been carefully molded and dried, it must be pierced through, in order to make the necessary adjustments.
Jean-Baptiste Bellefleur - This canoe is the same size as the one I had in La Romaine. It can hold twelve 50-pound bags of flour, a tent and a stove, in addition to myself and all my luggage. This template is very old, it comes from my grandfather. Each piece has a name. The wood from which this template is made, comes from Mashkuanu. We take great care with it, and if it breaks, we only replace the damaged piece. Using this template, the Innu covered their canoes in birch bark, which can only be found far from here. Nowadays, we use canvas, which makes the operation much simpler.
Music - Rodrigue Fontaine, Bill St-Onge, Luc Bacon

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Materials and Preparation

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