The canoe is a symbol unique to Canada. One of the greatest gifts of First Peoples to all those who came after, the canoe is Canada’s most powerful icon. Within this Canexus II publication are a collection of essays by paddling enthusiasts and experts. Contributing authors include: Eugene Arima, Shanna Balazs, David Finch, Ralph Frese, Toni Harting, Bob Henderson, Bruce W. Hodgins, Bert Horwood, Gwyneth Hoyle, John Jennings, Timothy Kent, Peter Labor, Adrian Lee, Kenneth R. Lister, Becky Mason, James Raffan, Alister Thomas and Kirk Wipper.

A symbol unique to Canada, the canoe is one of the greatest gifts of First Peoples to all those who came after.

The canoe is a symbol unique to Canada. One of the greatest gifts of First Peoples to all those who came after, the canoe is Canada's most powerful icon. Within this Canexus II publication are a collection of essays by paddling enthusiasts and experts. Contributing authors include: Eugene Arima, Shanna Balazs, David Finch, Ralph Frese, Toni Harting, Bob Henderson, Bruce W. Hodgins, Bert Horwood, Gwyneth Hoyle, John Jennings, Timothy Kent, Peter Labor, Adrian Lee, Kenneth R. Lister, Becky Mason, James Raffan, Alister Thomas and Kirk Wipper.

More than an ancient means of transportation and trade, the canoe has come to be a symbol of Canada itself. In Canoe Nation, Bruce Erickson argues that the canoe’s sentimental power has come about through a set of narratives that attempt to legitimize a particular vision of Canada that overvalues the nation’s connection to nature. From Alexander Mackenzie to Grey Owl to Pierre Elliott Trudeau, the canoe authenticates Canada’s reputation as a tolerant, environmentalist nation, even when there is abundant evidence to the contrary. Ultimately, the stories we tell about the canoe need to be understood as moments in the ever-contested field of cultural politics.

Popularly thought of as a recreational vehicle and one of the key ingredients of an ideal wilderness getaway, the canoe is also a political vessel. A potent symbol and practice of Indigenous cultures and traditions, the canoe has also been adopted to assert conservation ideals, feminist empowerment, citizenship practices, and multicultural goals. Documenting many of these various uses, this book asserts that the canoe is not merely a matter of leisure and pleasure; it is folded into many facets of our political life. Taking a critical stance on the canoe, The Politics of the Canoe expands and enlarges the stories that we tell about the canoe’s relationship to, for example, colonialism, nationalism, environmentalism, and resource politics. To think about the canoe as a political vessel is to recognize how intertwined canoes are in the public life, governance, authority, social conditions, and ideologies of particular cultures, nations, and states. Almost everywhere we turn, and any way we look at it, the canoe both affects and is affected by complex political and cultural histories. Across Canada and the U.S., canoeing cultures have been born of activism and resistance as much as of adherence to the mythologies of wilderness and nation building. The essays in this volume show that canoes can enhance how we engage with and interpret not only our physical environments, but also our histories and present-day societies.

Canoe and Canvas is a close reading of the annual meetings and encampments of the American Canoe Association between 1880 and 1910.

Inheriting a Canoe Paddle emphasizes the importance of self-consciously evaluating the meaning we give to canoes as objects and to canoeing as an activity.