Remembering the Gift: Birchbark Canoes and Equitable Exchange around Turtle Island

Date & Time
Jun 18, 2026 | 16.00 - 17.30

Participants
Chair: Jesse Matas, University of Manitoba (Canada)
Marcel Labelle, Birch Bark Canoes by Mahigan (Métis Nation/Canada)
Camille Ben Malek, Égides (Algeria/Canada)
Saila Ipirq-Procyk, EnPAx Conference Fellow (Canada)

“When my French ancestors came here over 400 years ago, they met my Anishinaabe ancestors, and the canoe is the gift that they shared. For hundreds of years, we worked well together. It was only around Confederation that things started going not so well. We want to bring the Gift back, to remind people that we have worked well together, and we can do it again…we just need to remember the Gift” (Marcel Labelle).

Over the past year, a Métis elder, a singer-songwriter of settler ancestry, a recent migrant from Algeria, and an Inuit researcher have been uncovering the complex history of birchbark canoes to inform a song about intercultural exchange, colonial power relations, and prospects for sustainable peace. This session will feature the world debut of the yet-to-be-titled ‘canoe song’ alongside reflections about the creative process. The discussion will highlight broader lessons for anti-colonial approaches to research and artistic practice as a tool for environmental peacebuilding.

This session is sponsored by ArtPeace: Earth.