Our Canoeing Heritage
Preserving the Art
The Museum is an important catalyst in the preservation of the techniques of Aboriginal canoe and kayak building and of traditional European canoe building. Just as the Museum has saved from oblivion many historic Aboriginal craft, its mandate also includes the preservation and documentation of important types of canoe and kayak building. There is not one of the original great Montreal Canoes left in the world and many other important types are in danger of disappearing from memory.
The Museum has launched a program of documenting important building techniques with the detailed filming of the construction of the original style of canoe that launched canoe building in the Peterborough area. And a generous grant from the Federal Museum Assistance Program has allowed the Museum to initiate a new method of taking very precise lines off small craft. Thus, future generations of canoe and kayak builders will be able to perpetuate the art.
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