Ontario to ban use of cellphones in school classrooms starting in September
Ontario is introducing a suite of measures that will crack down on cellphone use and vaping in schools.
Todd Labrador, a Mi’kmaq man from the Wildcat Reserve in Queens County, N.S., has made it his life’s work to preserve the traditional craftsmanship of birchbark canoes.
Labrador, who is a member of Acadia First Nation, was born in Bridgewater, N.S., in 1960 and grew up on the reserve with his father who was the first Chief of the Acadia First Nation. It was there that Labrador learned the traditional craft of building birchbark canoes from his great grandfather and father, according to a Facebook page dedicated to his art.
The Mi’kmaq travelled the lakes and rivers of eastern Canada for thousands of years in the canoes, and deep in Kejimkujik National Park, Labrador continues the tradition, using generational knowledge that was all but wiped out through Canada’s forced assimilation residential school system and genocidal colonial history.
“I always said, if you don’t have patience, don’t try to build birchbark canoes,” Labrador said in an interview with CTV National News.
The process for making a traditional birchbark canoe is time consuming, from combing the forest for the summer bark that will peel properly, to stretching it over the “ribs” of the canoe with heat, to stringing and scraping spruce roots.
The skills required to build a birchbark canoe were usually passed down from generations of master craftsman. The canoe frames were typically made of cedar, soaked with water to make them malleable to bend into the shape of the canoe.
The joints were sewn with spruce or white pine tree roots that traditionally would have been pulled up, split and boiled by Indigenous women. The seams would then be waterproofed with hot spruce or pine tree resin.
Birchbark makes an ideal construction material as it is smooth, light, hard, waterproof and its grain wraps around the tree rather than lengthwise – allowing it to be shaped easily.
Birch trees are found almost everywhere in Canada, making them an abundant resource for Indigenous people, which is why birchbark canoes were the principal means of waterway transportation for many First Nations -- and later, the voyageurs.
“Learning about nature, learning about wood, bark, that was always my interest,” Labrador explained of how he pieced together stories and details from his family on the construction process. “I wanted to do what my ancestors did.”
Labrador has made more than a dozen canoes, and is the sole practitioner of the craft in his area, making his teaching skills highly in demand.
“Canoe building is so much more than just building canoes,” he said. “It’s community building.”
Ontario is introducing a suite of measures that will crack down on cellphone use and vaping in schools.
A recent report sheds light on Canadians living abroad--estimated at around four million people in 2016—and the public policies that impact them.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
Laurentian University's board of governors approved a budget of just over $201.7 million for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
One person has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of a man who fell from a balcony following an altercation inside a Toronto apartment building.
Dozens of people raised their arms in the fascist salute and shouted a fascist chant during ceremonies Sunday to honor Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on the 79th anniversary of his execution.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued a recall for a specific chocolate brand sold in Ontario and Quebec.
Zendaya and castmates Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor have been on a globetrotting press tour to get the word out about Italian director Luca Guadagnino's original film, which opened in 3,477 locations in the U.S. and Canada.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”