THUNDER BAY — "One day I could walk by it with my kids and say: ‘30 years ago, I built this,'" said Jacques Plant, one of several youth who worked together to build a traditional birch bark canoe.
Students from École secondaire catholique La Vérendrye and its Dryden satellite school launched their hand-made canoe at Amethyst Harbour Wharf on Tuesday.
“It’s almost like the second part of the project was the canoe,” said La Vérendrye vice principal Sarah Ouellette.
“The first part was the time spent in dialogue, building trust, working on themselves. The students who launched the canoe aren’t the same students who started it. They’re more forgiving of themselves, and better leaders. And now they get to put something out there that’s bigger than them, something that will last.”
The 15-foot canoe was constructed as part of the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program, with guidance from Métis voyageur and Franco-Ontarian artisan Christian Pilon and the school's woodshop teacher Tom Langen. The initiative served not only as a technical woodworking project but as an exploration of heritage and traditional Indigenous knowledge.
“It started with a proposition from our board, with Christian offering to come into our shop and woodworking class to build the canoe,” said Krystal Murray, principal at La Vérendrye. “Christian took the time to sit down with students and go through teachings. It wasn’t punitive or condescending, it was about opening dialogue and showing them how these teachings would serve them later in life.”
The canoe was a collaborative achievement between La Vérendrye students and their peers in Dryden, who played a crucial role in the project’s early stages. Students from the satellite program travelled into the Boreal Forest on snowshoes to gather vital materials, “Without the help of the Dryden students, we wouldn’t have been able to finish the canoe,” said Plant, a La Vérendrye student. “They provided the cedar, everything from the ribs to the main structure."
Pilon also visited Dryden multiple times to walk students through land-based teachings and engage them in outdoor education.
The build process was not without its challenges, both technical and interpersonal. But Pilon’s approach to mentorship encouraged maturity and conflict resolution through safe, respectful means “Christian's the kind of guy who sees what's going on, and instead of just shutting it down, he gives you a way to work through it,” said Plant. “One time, we had a disagreement, and he let us settle it with leg wrestling. It helped us move forward. Any other teacher might’ve sent us to the office, but he helped us work it out safely.”
For student Braden Kelly, the experience became a lesson in patience and presence. “You had to stay calm and collected. If you worked while angry or upset, you’d mess up, and one small mistake could bring the whole canoe down,”
He shared his favourite moment: “We were just taking out the roots, and we were all sitting around each other in a circle, just peeling roots, and something about it was just a nice moment. Nothing big happened. All of us, together, working on the same thing.”