Drew heads to his hometown, Curve Lake First Nation, to explore the traditional uses of a birchbark canoe. At the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Victoria Grant, Timiagma Anishinaabegwe (Deep Water Woman) describes how each nation’s boats matched their needs, from the light birchbark canoes of Ontario and the freight canoes of the fur trade to the massive log canoes of the West Cost Haida.

Tim Smoke from Alderville First Nation takes Drew out to the shallows of a lake to gather wild rice (manoomin) in the traditional way. Manoomin has been an important grain staple for the Anishinaabe for centuries, and harvesters always reseed some of the rice back into the lake. Marcel Labelle shows Drew how to handcraft a traditional Anishinaabe birch bark canoe and make its cedar ribs. Then Drew paddles out in Bon Echo Park to see ancient Anishinaabeg pictographs on a rock cliff, only accessible by boat.