Long before European settlers reached the continent, the canoe occupied a position of central importance throughout the territory that constitutes present-day Canada. Indigenous peoples engineered the birchbark vessel to accommodate the lakes and rivers of the northern forest, and certain accounts suggest that versions of the craft originated many thousands of years ago. The lightweight bark hull was stretched across a framework of cedar and sealed with spruce gum, an adhesive resin that rendered the vessel watertight. Because a single person could carry it, the canoe could be lifted clear of rapids and waterfalls and conveyed overland between waterways, a practice known as portaging.

The most remarkable characteristic of the birchbark canoe was undoubtedly the material itself. The bark was peeled from the paper birch in generous sheets during spring, when the ascending sap allowed the covering to separate cleanly without injuring the tree. This bark is naturally waterproof and possesses surprising strength, yet it remains so light that a finished canoe could weigh as little as a small child. Builders stitched the sheets together with split spruce roots, called watap. Any small leak could be remedied on the riverbank within minutes with a fresh dab of warm spruce gum.