St. Mary's First Nation chief wants 180-year-old canoe to stay in N.B.

A Fredericton-area First Nations chief is hoping to find a way to keep what is believed to be one of the world's oldest birchbark canoes in New Brunswick.

The 180-year-old Akwiten grandfather canoe will be staying at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery until Aug. 31, as the University of Ireland searches for a permanent Canadian home for the canoe.

Candace Paul, chief of the St. Mary's First Nation, said she wants to create a museum or centre that would display Maliseet history and culture for future generations. This canoe, which has a lot of significance to the Maliseet, would be a great start, she said.

"We are Wolastoqiyik people, and that means people of the river," Paul said. "So the canoe is the symbol of who we are and it represents us as people."

Terry Graff, the art gallery's curator, said everyone at the provincial art gallery is excited to be part of such an important occasion of bringing the canoe to the area.

"When the canoe arrived at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, there was a ceremony, a smudging ceremony, there was drumming," Graff said. "It was just an important historic event. It meant that the canoe was finally coming home to the Maliseet people."

The University of Ireland, which was home to the canoe for many years, is deciding on where to keep the canoe in Canada. The university has said the canoe's eventual home must be able to care for it properly.

According to the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the canoe appears to have been sold to British military Capt. Stepney St. George while he was working at a Canadian outpost, and he shipped the boat to his residence in Galway, Ireland.

When St. George died in 1847, the canoe was donated to the National University of Ireland in Galway.

Some First Nation members, however, are arguing that the canoe may have been taken from the colony and it should be returned to New Brunswick.

No historic documentation has yet been found to either prove or disprove its sale.