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New Brunswick·Ann's Eye

Baskets have been 'a really good friend to our people,' says Indigenous workshop teacher

People spent two days making baskets from ash wood that can be used to gather fiddleheads.

Kisuhs Perley collected ash wood along the Tobique River for a basket-making workshop

CBC News ·
Two people bend over trips of wood, folding them into the base of a basket.
Using strips of ash that Kisuhs Perley stripped from trees he cut down himself along the Tobique River, workshop attendees learned how to weave their own baskets. (Ann Paul/CBC)

This is part of a series called Ann's Eye, featuring the work of Ann Paul, a Wolastoqey content creator. You can see more Ann's Eye pieces by clicking here.

Making baskets from wood has a deep history in Neqotkuk First Nation, according to Kisuhs Perley. 

Indigenous peoples have been weaving wood into baskets for centuries, but after colonization, Perley said families from Neqotkuk, also known as Tobique, used to make baskets and sell them in Maine and to Canadian farmers during potato harvests.

"This is what helped our communities out in a time when farmers in Canada weren't allowed to hire Native people," he said. "These baskets have really been a friend to our people, in good times and bad times, and I think that's why we're such friends with the baskets."

Perley recently taught a two-day basket-making workshop through the Under One Sky Friendship Centre in Fredericton. Scroll through the photos and watch the video to learn more.

Two photos are placed side-by-side. In the first photo, a woman with long black hair sits in front of an in-progress basket made of strips of wood. In the second, a different woman is placing a brim on a finished basket.
These baskets can be used for gathering fiddleheads, since the wood they're made from does well in the water. 'All ash can go in the water,' Ann Paul said. (Ann Paul/CBC)
A man with white hair, glasses and wearing a black t-shirt smiles.
Kisuhs Perley of Neqotkuk First Nation wants to leave behind the knowledge of basket making to others. (Ann Paul/CBC)
A man with white hair and glasses shaves wood.
The strips of wood used to weave a basket are split from larger pieces of wood. During the basket-making process, the strips are wet down with water. (Ann Paul/CBC)
WATCH | 'I want to leave behind the knowledge of making a basket,' says Kisuhs Perley:

Ann’s Eye: Indigenous teacher wants the knowledge of basket making to be his legacy

3 days ago
Duration 2:43
Kisuhs Perley of Neqotkuk First Nation, also known as Tobique, teaches a basket-making workshop ahead of fiddlehead season.
A smiling man with white hair and glasses stands in the midst of several woven baskets made of strips of wood.
'I wish him well on his journey as a workshop teacher,' Ann Paul said of Perley. (Ann Paul/CBC)
A woman with long black hair and wearing a black sweater stands smiling and holding up a basket made of weaved strips of wood.
Each part of Ann Paul's basket has a special meaning. The vertical strips of wood, called standards, represent family members. The strips weaved in horizontally represent community members, and the circular shape of the basket is the community as a whole. What you put in the basket are the tools you learn in life, she added, and the handle is what you carry in life. (Ann Paul/CBC)

Ann's Eye

Photographer Ann Paul brings an Indigenous lens to stories from First Nations communities across New Brunswick. Click here or on the image below to see more of her work. 

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