Image Credit: CFJC Today / Dylana Milobar

By Dylana Milobar

NATIONAL INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY

Indigenous Peoples Day marked by maiden voyage for Brock student-carved canoe

Jun 21, 2019 | 3:56 PM

KAMLOOPS — Over the 2018/2019 school year, students at Brock Middle School have been chipping away at a log — eventually carving out a canoe.

The course facilitating the dug-out canoe carving gives students a first hand look into Secwépemc culture.

Today, the craft was taken on its maiden voyage for National Indigenous People’s Day.

For about six months, Brock Middle School students rolled up their sleeves, and hand-carved a canoe out of what was once a full sized log.

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The effort is part of the Traditional Ecological Knowledge, (TEK) class offered at the school. Course projects incorporate Secwépemc culture and teachings.

Grade 8 student, Levi Heit says he thought the carving approach without using high powered tools was interesting, and he was excited to try out the traditional method.

“I was surprised to learn how hard it was to chop. I thought it was easy, but it was quite hard. Just how long it took just to shape the canoe.”

Fellow student Matthew Hall says he had never carved a canoe before, and learned quite a bit about the Indigenous process.

“I’ve learned that they’ve been doing this for quite a few thousand years, and that there’s multiple different styles of canoes like this,” he explains. “There’s small thin ones that they just burnt a hole in to, and they would stand on top of it.”

Instead of chainsaws, Grade 8 students in the TEK class learned how to shape the cottonwood log from carving instructor, Frank Marchand.

“Well they carved most of it themselves, I just showed them how to do it a little bit here and there,” Marchand says. “The kids basically just did the whole thing.”

After dragging the canoe down to the water at Quuaout Lodge, students were able to hop in, and give their creation a test paddle.

“The canoe is a bit low, a bit small for us. It’s meant for flat water and not waves,” Marchand says, noting the somewhat turbulent conditions of the lake. “And the kids were just not trained with paddles yet. So now we’ve got to go back to school and learn how to paddle.”

Not to be confused with regular wood shop, TEK teacher Brenda Celesta says the canoe was just one part of the Secwépemc based science and social studies course.

“The curriculum is, I won’t say fairly new, because it has been a while since it has been implemented, but there has been some other projects around the province,” she explains. “I think we just wanted to have something that School District 73 could show that we do have a history and culture here in the local area. So we thought a cottonwood dug-out canoe would be a great idea.”

After a successful trial run, Celesta says three canoes will be carved up next year, with plans to expand course projects in the fall to include a Pit House at McQueen Lake.