Marcel Labelle is proud of his Metis heritage. His mother is Iroquois and French
and his father is Algonquin and French. Marcel grew up in Northern Ontario and spent
most of his childhood on the trap line. This is where he learned how to live with
and from the forest. Today he builds traditional Birch Bark Canoes and demonstrates
his craft at many venues. He also instructs a course in the Indigenous Studies field
at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. He is supported by the Metis Nation
of Ontario through their Training Initiatives Program. He is also the recipient
of an 2008 OAC(Ontario Arts Council) Aboriginal Arts Projects grant towards Birch
Bark Canoe Building. He received the highest individual amount for an OAC grant
recipient Aboriginal Arts Project, 2009.
|
|