By Emily Stonehouse
While some pieces of the past are better left in the rear view mirror, others are important to carry forward, and share with future generations.
Alex Labelle started building birch bark canoes at the age of five. As a Métis canoe builder of Algonquin ancestry from Mattawa, Ontario, the young boat builder learned the craft from his grandfather, Marcel Labelle. “My grandparents were my daycare,” laughed Alex as he whittled away at a sharp piece of cedar. “I was always interested in what my grandfather was doing.”
In early March, Alex spent five days at J. Douglas Hodgson Elementary School, where he set up shop in the main lobby of the school, building a four-foot birch bark canoe. Staff and students from both JDH and Stuart Baker Elementary School spent the week visiting the site, and engaging with Alex as the canoe started to take shape.
Alex has travelled across Ontario showing the traditional methods that are incorporated with building a birch bark canoe. He’s built canoes of all sizes, from only a mere few inches long to over 26 feet, he’s diligently been sharing pieces of his family history through every build. “I do it to pass on the tradition,” he said. “Through residential schools, this was lost, but I build these canoes to remind people that we are still here.”
The week-long build allowed Alex to pull from the forest, in an effort to show kids the entirety of the building process. Erin Mcknight-Sisco, a Grade 5 French Immersion teacher at JDH, worked with her students to showcase the build from start to finish. “All of the materials were from the forest. The kids can look outside and identify the same types of trees in their own backyard,” said Mcknight-Sisco. “From this, we saw the process of using what nature has provided at first in the form of wood, bark, roots and tree sap turned into a fully functioning canoe. This amazed students who checked in regularly on the process.”
The students from the class regularly took photos of the process. With the lobby of the school temporarily converted into Alex’s woodshop for the week, the build drew attention from the school as a whole. “Many students have even spent their lunches and recesses learning from and connecting with Alex as he worked on the canoe,” said David Waito, the principal at JDH. “We hope that these experiences continue to build relationships and deepen our engagement with and understanding of Indigenous perspectives.”
McKnight-Sisco noted that beyond the traditional insight around the build itself, the learning ran much deeper than the curriculum. “Students were making good connections back to science, STEM, math, social studies, et cetera,” she said. “I think that our students also were able to make connections to how we can be good ancestors to the land … His craft has been passed down through his family through generations and I think the students learned the importance of that gift.”
After five full days, the canoe was completed on Friday, March 6. The final product will reside at JDH, as a reminder of the event, and the importance of Indigenous history to the community. “It’s definitely rewarding to do this,” said Alex. “Seeing the kids’ faces, seeing that they are actually interested in learning more about our heritage and our traditions, it feels really good.”
