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Maliseet "grandfather canoe" comes home for
visit
by
OLIVER MOORE
Condensed by Native Village
 New Brunswick: It's one of the oldest birch bark
canoes known to exist. The Maliseet of New Brunswick
call it
"Grandfather Canoe."
It's been held at the National University of
Ireland, Galway. Now the Maliseet want it back.
"It has spiritual and significant meaning
because the hands of our ancestors worked on
that canoe," said G. Wayne Brooks who still
builds tribal canoes in the traditional ways. "It's a very important
piece of our people. It's our great-great-great
grandfathers' canoe."
Grandfather Canoe was built about 200 years ago
as a freight canoe. It served like an 1800s
pick-up truck for for natives living
along the Saint John River.
"The Maliseet people are people of the river,"
said Candice Paul, chief of St. Mary's First
Nation, one of six that comprise the Maliseet.
"That canoe is our history."
That it survived
this long is remarkable - birch bark canoes are
sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity.
Brooks, 53, remembers the moment he learned that
the canoe had returned temporarily to Canada. "I was
overwhelmed, I was almost in tears," he said. "A
big chill came over my body."
 The Maliseet campaign to repatriate the canoe
is making headway. Articles in two Irish newspapers
say National University would consider the request.
"The university is assessing the steps which it
should now take," the Irish Times says. "Any decision in favour of the permanent repatriation of the
canoe would require further approval at both
national and EU level."
Grandfather Canoe left Canada in the mid-1800s
by an Irish officer who
took it home. The canoe
was then donated to Queen's
University. After that, Grandfather Canoe was forgotten. And that
might be why the delicate artifact was saved.
"It sat up in the rafters for a long time,"
Chief Paul said. "What they're saying is it was
probably in a damp place and the humidity kept
the canoe from drying out."
Grandfather Canoe is now on display at the New
Brunswick Museum in Saint John.
The extremely fragile vessel was
transported in a specially built case 8 metres long and more
than 1.5 metres across and high. It's
being displayed
 under carefully controlled
temperature and humidity levels.
Peter Larocque, the New Brunswick museum's curator, said the
canoe benefited from only being used for one
generation.
"It hadn't suffered a lot," he said. "It really
is a beautiful object, the lines [and] the
grace, it's a masterful piece of construction."
Chief Paul and the Maliseet Nation are
seeking funding for a facility to house
Grandfather Canoe, along other Maliseet items, in
a controlled environment.
"There's pieces of our history in basements of
museums all over the world," she said. "We need
our own museum to display these."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090402.wcanoe02/BNStory/National/home 
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