Canadian Canoe Museum

February-March 2001

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
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by Wendell Phillips

Long before the arrival of Europeans in the Western Hemisphere, canoes and kayaks were at the centre of Aboriginal life in what is now Canada. The canoe was the principal means of trade and communication between First Nations. With almost half the fresh water of the world and the world's longest coastline, it's little wonder that paddling craft were so crucial in the development of Canada. The Canadian Canoe Museum, located in Peterborough, Ontario, includes 600 craft, from a great ocean-going whaling dugout of the Nootka people, to a folding kayak that fits in a pack, to Inuit hunting kayaks.

The Museum has saved many historic Aboriginal craft from oblivion and promotes canoe and kayak building with courses. Peterborough has been one of the world's foremost canoe building centres for more than a century. Located within the beautiful Kawartha Lakes region, it is close to major tourist arteries that link Montreal, Toronto and the USA.

For more information on the Canadian Canoe Museum, call 705-748-9153, email info@canoemuseum.net or check out their website at www.canoemuseum.net

To learn from the First Nations of the Kawartha Lakes, near the Museum, contact Kawartha Lakes Tourism 800-461-6424 www.thekawarthas.net