Page 23 - 2025-2026 Travel Guide to Canada

staff house is part of a national historic site
that commemorates the company’s early
operations. The area is also home to the Cree
Cultural Interpretive Centre, where visitors
can learn about the fur-trading era through
displays of artefacts, furs and photographs.
Moose Cree Outdoor Discoveries and
Adventures adds boat tours, cooking
demonstrations and hunting and fishing
expeditions (www.moosecree.com).
EAST
The largest freshwater island in the world,
Manitoulin Island in Ontario, is home to six
Anishinaabe First Nations that provide a rich
cultural backdrop for tourists. One of these,
the Wiikwemkoong, hosts the Annual
Cultural Festival comprising one of North
America’s longest-running powwows with
colourful dance competitions, Indigenous
cuisine and handmade arts and crafts. On
their Unceded Journey tour, learn about
historical treaties and awe-inspiring
legends, including Zhibzhii, the underwater
spirit (www.wiikwemkoong.ca).
In Ottawa, Ontario, the Summer Solstice
Indigenous Festival is a four-day interactive
arts festival that attracts 50,000 annually.
Highlights include First Nations, Métis and
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TEA BREAK BY THE IGLOO WITH INUIT ADVENTURES, NUNAVIK, QC • ISABELLE DUBOIS
Inuit artists, powwow competitions,
culinary events and lots of family fun
(www.summersolsticefestivals.ca).
Farther south at the Six Nations reserve near
Brantford, visitors can stop at the Chiefs-
wood National Historic Site to tour the
home of the legendary E. Pauline Johnson, a
mixed-race Mohawk who helped define
Canadian literature. Across from the
property, rent canoes and paddle down the
Grand River (www.chiefswoodnhs.ca).
Within the vast province of Québec, there
are more than 190 uniquely enriching
opportunities to experience the protective
values of the Indigenous cultures and heritage
intertwining art, culture, gastronomy, nature
and adventure. Discover the variety of
customs and history transmitted by elders
from generation to generation, sharing a rich
culture of authentic, ancestral and contempo-
rary traditions (www.discoverindigenous
quebec.com).