Basketry, the Forest and Steel

Baskets, Commonplace Items in Québec Homes

Our great-grandparents and grandparents purchased baskets for their usefulness: baskets for collecting berries, baskets for holding sewing material or balls of wool, baskets of all shapes and sizes for all sorts of uses. Painstakingly made from ribbons of black ash and sweetgrass, the baskets were fragrant. People would buy them in summer, on roadsides near First Nations communities and in popular tourist sites, such as the docks in Tadoussac and Rivière-du-Loup. In summer, many Odanak families regularly travelled to La Malbaie and other towns along the Charlevoix coast, as well as the Eastern Seabord, including Maine and New Hampshire, to sell their wares.

Annette Nolet, an Abenaki Elder, teaching a young Atikamekw girl, Lisa Petiquay, how to make ash baskets at the Kiuna college in Odanak.

Photo credit:  Pierre Lepage

In the 1980s, basket weaving was a flourishing industry at the Mi’gmaq arts and crafts cooperative in Maria, in the Gaspé Peninsula (renamed Gesgapegiaq).

Photo credit:  Unik, postcard, collection of Pierre Lepage

Modern-day basketry is derived from southern and eastern First Nations. This commercial activity was a major source of income for numerous Mohawk, Mi’gmaq, Maliseet, Abenaki, Algonquin and Huron-Wendat families. Sadly, this once-flourishing industry is now under siege from the emerald ash borer beetle.

In this photo, taken at the Pointe in Rivière-du-Loup in 1925, tourists proudly show baskets purchased from First Nations craftsmen and craftswomen.

Photo credit:  Photographer unknown, collection of Pierre Lepage