before the arrival of europeans, the aboriginal peoples of canada used symbolic artwork to denote their allegiance to a particular clan or pantribal sodalities, and to show legendary and religious themes. for the west coast peoples this would be done with carvings on totem poles, carvings integrated into longhouses and smaller wooden objects like boxes, masks, and canoes. for plains people the plains hide painting tradition painted images onto tipis, shields, and other animal-hide objects.