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Subjects (65)
Indigenous Peoples in Canada (First Nations and Métis) (41)

Boating and Canoeing (6)

  • César's Bark Canoe
    César's Bark Canoe
    Bernard Gosselin 1971 57 min
    This documentary shows how a canoe is built the old way. César Newashish, a 67-year-old Atikamekw of the Manawan Reserve 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.
  • The Canoe
    The Canoe
    Alanis Obomsawin 1972 5 min
    Utilizing engineering ingenuity that is centuries old, Atikamekw elders Agatha and Cézar Néwashish build a small-scale version of a birch-bark canoe. With their expert hands, a stunning work of art is created.

    This short is part of the Manawan series directed by Alanis Obomsawin
  • The Last Mooseskin Boat
    The Last Mooseskin Boat
    Raymond Yakeleya 1982 28 min
    This short documentary follows Gabe Etchinelle as builds a mooseskin boat as a tribute to an earlier way of life, where the Shotah Dene people would use a mooseskin boats and transport their families and cargo down mountain rivers to trading settlements throughout the Northwest Territories.
  • ƛaʔuukʷiatḥ Dugout Canoe
    ƛaʔuukʷiatḥ Dugout Canoe
    Steven Davies 2021 10 min

    After working as a clearcut logger in what is now known as the Clayoquot Sound, master carver Joe Martin reconciles his past by revitalizing the ancestral knowledge and artistic practice of the traditional Tla-o-qui-aht dugout canoe.
  • Spirit of the Game
    Spirit of the Game
    Annie Fraziér Henry 2003 47 min
    In this short documentary, award-winning filmmaker Annie Frazier Henry follows an elite handful of Indigenous athletes from British Columbia for two years as they make their way to the 2002 North American Indigenous Games in Winnipeg. Over 6,000 young sportsmen and women from across Canada and the US compete in the games, and this film serves as a tribute to their hard work, dedication, and achievements.
  • Voices Across the Water
    Voices Across the Water
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    Fritz Mueller 2022 1 h 24 min
    There is a moment during the construction of a canoe when its true form is revealed. A hull drops into place. The elegant arc of a bow cuts forth. A similar process sometimes occurs in life, when a person finally discovers their true path.

    The feature documentary Voices Across the Water follows two master boat builders as they practise their art and find a way back to balance and healing.

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