Title: Northwest Coast Indigenous Peoples in Canada | The Canadian Encyclopedia
Headings: Northwest Coast Indigenous Peoples in Canada
Northwest Coast Indigenous Peoples in Canada
Indigenous Peoples of the Northwest Coast
Geography
Traditional Life
Early Settlement
Food and Economy
Dwellings and Transportation
Clothing
Society
Culture
Language
Religion and Spirituality
European Contact
Douglas Treaties
Land Claims and Self-government
Contemporary Life
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Indigenous Perspectives Education Guide
Indigenous Peoples Collection
Further Reading

Content: Generally known as plank houses, these structures were covered by split cedar planks decorated in distinct regional styles. Cedar was of primary importance, as its long, straight grains were ideal for both artistic and functional woodworking. ( See also Architectural History: Indigenous Peoples .) Carpentry was men’s work, and with blades of stone and shell, wooden wedges and stone hammers, they fashioned not only plank houses but other items of everyday use. For example, craftsmen carved dugout canoes, which provided transportation along rapid streams and on the open sea. Clothing
Women were responsible for making clothes for the family. Women twined cedar-bark skirts and cloaks for everyday wear. On special occasions, people in northern communities wore elaborately decorated Chilkat blankets of twined cedar bark and mountain goat wool. Coast Salish people twilled mountain goat wool supplemented by dog wool into heavy blankets with decorative borders.