Anyone and everyone may help to shuffle the cards. For this game, with only two decks of cards, this isn't a hard task, but in Hand and Foot Canasta there are five decks of cards, so it is usually a good idea to have everyone shuffle.
There are several ways to choose who will deal first. When I usually play Canasta, the player who is keeping score deals first. This makes the rounds, especially when there are a limited amount of them as in Hand and Foot Canastas, easier to keep track of. You can also just randomly decide who goes first, or have the player to the right of the player who drew the highest card deal first. After every hand, the deal rotates clockwise. The dealer deals 11 cards, one at a time, to each player and places the remainder of the cards in the center of the table. These cards become the stock, from which each player must draw. The top card of the stock is placed face up next to the stock and becomes the discard pile. If the card turned over is a wild card (2 or Joker) or a 3, cards should be added to the discard pile from the stock until a natural card is showing.