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Carving a Future
Acouple of tourists park their SUV and
stroll across the parking lot to watch
the men chipping away on a dugout canoe.
They survey the area and see two giant
logs being worked and an array of hand
tools and power tools spread on the bench.
One of them looks at the chainsaws. “You’re
cheating,” he says.
Carl Martin’s black eyes flash a grin as
he answers. “I didn’t see you arrive here on
your horse.”
Carl and his brother Bill are master canoe
carvers, and are working here with four
young apprentices. Along with their brother
Joe, they are among the few Nuu-chahnulth
(the traditional inhabitants of the outer
west coast from Neah Bay, Washington to
the Brooks Peninsula on northern Vancouver
Island) who know how to carve traditional
Nuu-chah-nulth canoes, using authentic
designs and traditional techniques
(aside from the odd power tool). They
learned this from their father and their
grandfathers, by researching canoe designs
from books and museums, and also by trial
and error.
Cultural knowledge, such as the art of
canoe carving, was traditionally passed
down through families by parents and
grandparents. However, a century of removing
children from their families and putting
them into Christian residential schools not
only disrupted this transfer of knowledge,
it also subjected generations of children to
physical and sexual abuse. Although the
residential schools have been closed now
for several decades, the psychological damage
that their students sustained lives on in
the form of addictions to alcohol and other
drugs, and continuing cycles of abuse that
pass through the generations today. Carl and
Bill’s canoe-carving projects are, to them,
an important part of the healing from generations
of abuse—for themselves, for other
family members, and for their community.
The brothers are working on two canoes,
both being carved from a single 800 yearold
red cedar log. The dugouts have been
commissioned by the Tin Wis Best Western
Resort, with funding from the Nuu-chahnulth
Economic Development Corporation,
and are being constructed in a carving shed
beside the hotel’s parking lot in Tofino. The
smaller canoe is 18 feet in length, and the
larger one is 34 feet.
The Martins usually carve their canoes
in remote inlets, close to where the giant
trees grow. It is not often that a canoe is
carved in town where people can watch
the progress, and these two canoes have
generated a lot of interest. Members of local
First Nations communities come to learn
about parts of their culture that were nearly
lost, Tofino locals check in periodically to
witness the process, and tourists are fascinated
to learn about the local native culture.
Carl, Bill and their apprentices are happy to
take time to show visitors around, explaining
the techniques they use and showing
Jacqueline Windh
Carl Martin shapes the stern of the canoe, which will be fitted on to the hull (he
wears a traditional cedar bark hat made by his sister Mary Martin).
photos of other canoes they have built and
canoe gatherings they have attended.
The Tin Wis canoe project is a special
one for Carl and Bill. Although the three
Martin brothers and their late father have
carved over thirty dugouts, until recently
this knowledge seemed to be stuck at their
generation. Now they are working with four
young apprentices, including their nephew➝
February/March 2003 www.WaveLengthMagazine.com
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