LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - A fully functional birchbark canoe is taking shape under the hands of seven teenagers in Fort Simpson.

Bobby Cazon, Amber Allen, Michael Kraus, Clinton Kraus, Nicolas dePelham, Jessie Tsetso and Paul Allooloo are all working to construct the canoe.

Bobby Cazon, left, Paul Allooloo, Jessie Tsetso, Michael Kraus and Nicolas dePelham pose with the birchbark canoe they're making at a traditional skills workshop in Fort Simpson. Amber Allen and Clinton Kraus are missing from the picture. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

The traditional skills workshop is being offered by the Take a Kid Trapping Program in partnership with Liidlii Kue First Nation.

"Not too many people have seen a birchbark canoe let alone built one," said Guy Erasmus, who works in fur management with the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

The goal of the program is to support traditional skills and lifestyles that go hand in hand with trapping, said Erasmus. The canoe workshop is one aspect of the program.

The workshop is helping to pass traditional knowledge on to another generation, said Erasmus.

"A lot of traditional knowledge is being lost and it's a concern," he said.

The workshop is also about building self-confidence and self-esteem.

"They get inspired by something like this," said Erasmus.

The end product will be a 16-foot traditional Slavey style canoe as based on archive photos. It will be the fifth canoe built through the program and the first one constructed outside of Yellowknife.

The workshop ran for three days in June before breaking and restarting on July 9. The group's goal is to have the canoe water ready by July 16.

"They're getting more and more excited as the days go on," Erasmus said.

The canoe is being constructed under a blue-tarp awning in the Liidlii Kue First Nation's parking lot under the supervision of Aaron York. York is a traditional arts teacher from Cold Lake, Alta. whose specialty is making birchbark canoes.

There are a number of benefits to birchbark canoes.

At approximately 60 pounds the canoes are as light as their fiberglass counterparts, said York. They're also stronger than the wood canvas canoes that replaced them by the 1950s. They also perform well.

"They're dead silent in the water," York said.

The canoes have a hydrodynamic form with a low drag and an 800 pound capacity. They're not as tough as plastic canoes but they out handle them, he said.

Making a birchbark canoe, however, takes commitment.

"It's probably one of the most complicated art forms in aboriginal culture," he said, adding the work is time consuming.

Construction, beginning with harvesting to the finished product, is a month-and-a-half-long process. York did the harvesting for this canoe himself and brought the material North.

The canoe contains approximately 300 wooden parts all made from traditional material including white spruce, tamarack, birchbark, about 500 feet of spruce root and spruce gum mixed with fat to act as a sealant.

With the parts already fashioned the workshop participants started by helping to build the gunwales that sandwich the birchbark skin. The main piece of bark was laid out on a building bed with stakes driven in the ground at the stern and bow to hold the ends upright.

The bark takes its shape as it curves along a plywood mould that's placed down the middle and weighted with rocks, York said.

Using spruce root the primary piece of bark is then sewn to the side panels that are attached to the gunwales. After the interior seams are pitched, stern pieces are inserted into either end to make the traditional canoe profile.

Sheathing battens and ribs are inserted before the exterior is pitched and the canoe is ready for the water.

The construction has been going well so far, said York on July 9. Because the process is technical, different aspects appeal to different people, he said.

Paul Allooloo, 20, said he enjoyed lashing the gunwales together. The interior and exterior gunwales are bound together with spruce root that has to be put under tension but not pulled too tightly.

The whole project has been fun and a learning experience, said Allooloo who has never built anything like this before.

"It's also traditional which I like," he said.

Nicolas dePelham, 17, said he preferred the process of flattening the birchbark and cleaning it.

"It's a team effort," he said.

Jessie Tsetso, 17, one of the two women on the project, said she's looking forward to the finished product.

"We get to try it out when we're done," she said.

The canoe will definitely float and be watertight, said Tsetso.

The finished canoe will belong to Liidlii Kue First Nation.