The paddling and canoe building heritage of the Wolastoqiyik people goes back millennia. Much of the design technology of today’s ribbed canoes was sourced from canoes originally found on the Wolastoq.
In fact, the world’s oldest canoe, a traditionally-crafted birch bark canoe known as Grandfather Akwiten Canoe, is on display at Fredericton’s Beaverbrook Art Gallery downtown.
Grandfather Akwiten Canoe, was built by the Wolostoqiyik people in the 1820s. After 180-years and an ocean voyage across the Atlantic, in 2009, this large cargo canoe was repatriated from Europe back to its home territory after a long effort by respected elder, artist and Wolastoqey canoe builder G. Wayne Brooks and his family.
Grandfather Akwiten was welcomed back by the Wolastoqiyik people of Sistansisk (St. Mary’s First Nation) in 2009 with a smudging ceremony, drumming, chanting and dancing.
"We are Wolastoqiyik people, and that means people of the river,” said Candice Paul, then chief of St. Mary's First Nation, at the occasion. “So the canoe is the symbol of who we are and it represents us as a people."
Grandfather Akwiten Canoe was crafted by Wolastoqiyik people with wood from the New Brunswick forests. Its traditional construction required birchbark to be shaped over cedar ribs, then attached with black spruce roots, and sealed with pine resin and bear grease. Along its length the canoe also included hand-sewn buoys that were decorated with flowers and fiddleheads; decorations and motifs still used by Wolastoqey canoe-makers.
The story of the canoe traces back to 1825 and British army captain Stepney St. George. He had been stationed at what was then the colony of New Brunswick. When he left the colony, St. George shipped three canoes, including the Grandfather Akwiten, to his family's historic home, Headford Castle in Galway County where it remained for over two decades. The canoe ended up at the National University of Ireland where it remained into the 21st century, essentially gathering dust in storage. Luckily, the canoe had been stored above an open staircase where the dampness of the Irish climate allowed the bark, ribs and spruce root lashing to remain moist and intact.
After some negotiations, the canoe was shipped from Ireland to the Canadian Museum of Civilization for restoration. By 2009 the refurbished Grandfather Akwiten canoe was brought to Fredericton and is now featured at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.
