Birch Bark Canoe - Episode 1: Merchants of the Wild Series

Catalogue Number: 300051
Producer: Buck Productions
Subject: Canadian History, Canadian Social Studies, Diversity, Family Studies/Home Economics, First Nations Studies, Guidance, Health and Medicine, History, Indigenous Issues, Indigenous Peoples, Social Studies
Language: English
Grade Level: 6 - 8, 9 - 12, Post Secondary, Adult
Country Of Origin: Canada
Copyright Year: 2018
Running Time: 22:00
Six unequipped Indigenous strangers are dropped into the woods with no food, supplies, or shelter where they hope to culturally reconnect and discover their identities. As they learn to patch birchbark canoes with pine pitch, the adventurers are hit with the reality of the challenge and responsibility of the journey ahead. Elders from Oji-Cree territory teach them some of the old ways as they learn how to paddle their traditional birchbark canoes, and how to use spruce pitch to repair any damage, giving thanks to the tree for the pitch. As the sunlight fades and they prepare for their first night under the stars, they receive traditional gifts from the elders to help them on their journey: clothing, fur hides, tools and a supply of pemmican. They are hit with the reality of the challenge and the responsibility of the journey ahead, and their first day concludes with a traditional Oji-Cree prayer of thanks.
Related Titles

Leave It on the Water
Kwassen Productions Inc. 810014Leave It on the Water: Indigenous youth from the Coast Salish territory on Vancouver Island train...

Return to Manomin
Thunderstone Pictures TP0001Guided by the spirit of her grandmother and the wisdom of her aging uncle, filmmaker Michelle...

More Than Just the Fur Trade
LeMay Media LM0017More Than Just the Fur Trade: A 20 minute video chronicling the role the fur trade played in the...

Todd Labrador: Mi'kmaq Canoe Builder Connected for Thousands of...
Paper Tiger PT0083Todd Labrador is a respected and celebrated traditional Mi'kmaq canoe builder, in fact he's the...