Kwitns (canoes) were very important to the Mi’kmaq. Since most of their travelling was done inland, for hunting and fishing, most of their canoes were small and so portable they could be carried by one man. Using these small craft meant that they would have to keep a close eye on the sky and observe the signs for the weather, even the song of birds, the behaviour of animals, the voices of nature in order to know when they could or should not go to sea. However, they did build bigger canoes, equipped with a keel, for sea-going.

Canoe-making is one of the skills that all men had to possess; some were especially dexterous. A kwitn is made essentially of cedar, fashioned into thin boards and boiled in order to give just the perfect shape for speed and manoeuvrability. They covered that frame with the precious bark of the birch tree. The gunwales and crossbars were of black ash, while all the seams were made of spruce roots. The caulking was made with a mixture of spruce gum and animal fat. They sometimes used their canoes as shelters from the rain and could even sleep under their cover.