“The work I do, everything in my life right now is just about being real,” shares Helen Pelletier. She is a member of Eagle Clan from Fort William First Nation and her traditional name is White Wolf Woman. Previously, she worked at the university and in culture and recreation in her community, now she works with birch bark, mostly winter birch bark.

Nearly thirty years ago, when she was working at Fort William Historical Park in Thunder Bay, Ontario, her boss taught her how to work with birch bark. She learned to build homes from it, called wigwams, gathering materials out in the bush. She also made baskets and panels for homes and canoes, learning traditional Ojibway practices that her people had done since the beginning. “I felt a complete displacement from land and who I was, my identity as Anishinaabe person, and from that point on, I made it a passion to get to know elders, teachers, storytellers and just learn. That's what I did for 18 years, probably longer, I just learned,” she recalls. She learned as part of a group, not feeling confident to do so on her own.

Eventually, in 2018, when she was working at the university, she learned to collect winter birch bark. She felt compelled to step away from her computer as the pandemic was unfolding and she wasn’t feeling mentally well. She needed to be out on the land and she was making things out of birch bark all the time, crafting baskets 12 hours a day for months. It became her passion and eventually she was offered a solo show at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery. The show was the first of its kind as they had never had a solo birch bark show.  

When she went to a mainstream school, she learned English and non-Indigenous ways. “I felt like nothing I do is right, nothing I do is feeling good. But when I work with birch bark, I'm so happy. I've never been happier in my life, and it's brought me to so many places,” she explains. While she does traditional work with old-style etchings, she also makes contemporary objects. She has pieces in Montreal, etched birch bark skirts, and for an upcoming show in BC she is making a birch bark vest.

As far as inspiration goes, Pelletier draws it from her community and her surroundings. Living in Northwestern Ontario, she has birch all around her. Raised on the land, her parents nurtured her passion by taking her out on it. She makes maple syrup and her designs and drawings are inspired by the land and what she sees, like flowers, medicines, plants, animals. Her obsession with winter birch bark led her to making earrings and top hats. She’s enjoyed making things with kids through the Connected North program and sharing videos on TikTok of her harvesting techniques. She likes to work on small projects with the kids, giving them a sense of accomplishment so they will want to do more.

If she could share a message with her younger self, she would encourage herself to do what she loved. Growing up in the eighties, she was encouraged to go to post-secondary and find her career, which ended up being something she didn’t enjoy. “I hated doing the things I did, until I found working with birch bark,” she recalls.

When it comes to her approach to overcoming struggles, Pelletier says “It’s always been the land.” Going to the land helps her cope. She’s also had elders and people to talk to. Her elder told her that making baskets is healing for her people because it’s their tree of life. “You're just doing what you're supposed to be doing,” she was told, which made sense to her.

Her advice to someone who isn’t feeling connection to land, elders or themselves or who is struggling on their path is to try and find their happiness within the moments. “That’s all we can do right now,”” she offers, thinking of the challenges her adoptive son has been facing. What she’s noticed is that in addiction people disconnect from culture, land, and family and they can be hard to reach.

For a youth considering leaving home to go to school, her advice would be, “Find your people. We only get a short chance at this life, and so it's really important that you find positive influences.” Finding people who share common interests and who are positive to be around is what she recommends.

It’s advice she takes herself. “Working with this kind of material, you need community. You need to go out there, you need to ask questions, you need to build relationships… In the Anishinaabe world, you need to have relationships. In order to gain knowledge, that's how you do it. You don't just expect it for nothing. It's always reciprocated…. Community is really important. Because for me, when I go out and gather materials, I can't just go out there and do it alone, because I do it in the bush… I have to have someone with me. It's always important to have that group of people with you who will always help, and even when we do hide work or when I make maple syrup, it's not just me, it's everybody. It's a family of people. That's my other message: build that relationship with community and people.”

What she finds is that connection to community and family is powerful for identity. After making syrup with the kids, her daughter was saying, “I'm from Fort William First Nation, and we make maple syrup.” Traditional activities informed her daughter's education around sustainability.  

Logging off of her computer and plugging into land-based activities, harvesting and crafting with birch bark has been part of Helen Pelletier’s work and life mission of just being real. The land has been healing for her and working with birch bark, as part of her people’s tree of life, has been transformative for her as a practice for almost thirty years. Sharing that with the next generation through Connected North has brought her joy and given her the chance to inspire with the wisdom she’s been given, etching new memories in the minds of students like she does on the birch.