Many First Nation creation stories begin with a giant turtle that carried mud on its back to begin life, as we know it today. The Anishinaabeg origin story features Nanaboozhoo. When the world was flooded, Nanaboozhoo asked the birds and animals to fetch some soil so that he could restore the earth. It was not the strong or the gifted, as might be expected, who retrieved the soil. Rather it was the least of their kin, the muskrat, who dove and brought back the small bit of soil. The soil was placed on a turtle’s back and Nanaboozhoo breathed life into the soil, which became the world that we live in. This is why North America is sometimes referred to as Turtle Island.

https://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/aborig/fp/fpz2f30e.html#:~:text=The%20Anishnaabe%20origin%20story%20features,to%20form%20a%20crude%20raft.