Faces of the Wilds
Atikokan Woman Builds Wood Canoes
On the map, Atikokan is a small town in Northwestern Ontario, just east of the wilderness paddling paradise of Quetico Provincial Park. But Atikokan also has a special "northern wilds" status – it’s the Canoe Capital of Canada. It is also home to one of the few women canoe builders in North America, Thelma Cameron.
Years ago, when legendary canoeist, author, filmmaker, and conservationist Bill Mason was up in the Yukon doing a canoe talk, he tried out a handmade
canoe designed and built by canoe builder Paul Fletcher, an Ontarian living in the Yukon. Mason paddled for hours in the icy waters of Yukon River and was so impressed with the canoe, he endorsed it, allowing his name to be used on the Fletcher Canoes as the "Bill Mason ‘Heavy Duty’ Special."
Today, the custom craft of Fletcher Canoes has moved to Atikokan. And it is Fletcher’s niece Thelma Cameron that is carrying on the tradition of building each Fletcher canoe by hand.
Taking the canoe from a big block of wood to a beautiful craft takes a lot of work and patience, but like her uncle, Thelma says it’s also a ‘’labour of love." But she chuckles when she recalls how she first got into canoe-making.
"It was in 1990 that my husband Randy and I went to the Yukon to pick up our red "Bill Mason ‘Heavy Duty’ Special" canoe that we had ordered from my uncle, Paul Fletcher. We got up there and he told us that he wanted to retire, that it was time to pass on the canoe business. He asked if we’d be interested in the business....it was his dream to keep it in the family. So we made a deal with my uncle for the business.
"We brought our personal red Bill Mason canoe back with us to Atikokan, built a log house to provide room enough to make the canoes and the following year went back up to the Yukon and brought back with us everything to do with the Fletcher Canoe business. My uncle Paul Fletcher also came back to teach us how to make the canoes."
The Fletcher Canoe Shop is a busy place, making canoes year-round. Many canoe orders come from south of the border.
"Americans are our biggest customers. Many decide to pick up their canoes and go on a trip into the Boundary Waters with their new canoe," said Thelma.
The Fletcher canoes come in two models–the 17 l/2-foot Bill Mason ‘Heavy Duty’ Special and the 15- foot Fletcher’s Fancy. Both are 15 inches deep. Local white cedar is used for the hull, planks, and tapered ribs. Hardwoods of oak, cherry, maple, and ash for the trims. Each canoe is fi tted with hand-caned seats and comes in one of four colors--ivory, bright red, loden green, and oxford blue.
It takes about 2 l/2 to 3 months to build each canoe. Thelma is the main builder, with Randy helping out when the job needs two people, like ribbing and taking the canoes off the mold.
Now into her sixteenth year of canoe-making, Thelma said, "Meeting all of the wonderful people who have bought a canoe and seeing their pleasure when they see their canoe is what makes my job so satisfying."
Visitors are always welcome, and unless Thelma is painting a canoe or putting on fi ller, she’s glad to show people around the Fletcher Canoe Shop.
