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Experience the rugged north with
P.O. Box 190 Moose Factory, ON P0L 1W0
705-658-4619 ext, 279 • moosecree.com
• Offering Camping • Snowshoeing • James Bay boat tours
• Island tours • Traditional cooking with the Cree
Lennox Island, take home more than
memories: make a traditional Mi'kmaq hand
drum, create a birchbark art piece with
porcupine quills or craft some beaded
flowers (www.lennoxisland.com).
New Brunswick invites guests to partici-
pate in Indigenous festivals and learn more
about the province's First Nations by
partying along the powwow trail all summer.
Discover traditional artefacts and practices
at Metepenagiag Heritage Park, which
houses a prehistoric Mi'kmaq village with
displays of archeological findings that
provide glimpses into ancient times. The
Augustine Mound, a cemetery dating back
beyond 600 BC, adds to the mystery and
history (www.tourismnewbrunswick.ca).
Across the bay in Nova Scotia, Elders
share stories about creation at the
Wagmatcook Culture and Heritage Centre
(www.wagmatcook.com). And in
Membertou, just outside of Sydney, the
Mi'kmaq Medicine Walk is an educational
stroll through the medicinal practices used
by their ancestors. It includes a dream
catcher workshop and the breaking of
traditional luskinikn bread (www.member
toutcc.com).
Less than two hours from Halifax,
connect further with the Mi'kmaq by joining
a guided cultural program at Kejimkujik
National Park. This starts with viewing some
of the 500 petroglyphs they created
centuries ago. Then witness the ancient
craft of birchbark canoe-building in person
with Todd Labrador and a Parks Canada
Interpreter at work (www.parkscanada.gc.ca/
kejimkujik).
NORTH
The Eeyou Istchee Baie-James region, 800
km (497 mi.) north of Montréal, is one of
Canada's best travel adventures. Traditional
Cree experiences, snowshoeing and hiking,
museums, coastal tours and cultural
festivals await (www.escapelikenever
before.com).
Increase the excitement in Puvirnituq, an
Inuit community in Nunavik, in Québec's far
north. Here you can enjoy a dog sledding
adventure across the sea ice and get a hands-
on course with an Inuk master igloo-builder,
and even sleep under the northern lights in
the igloo that you built (www.inuitadven
tures.com).
To explore Canada's Arctic waters in
comfort, book passage aboard an Adventure
Canada cruise ship. Photograph polar bears
and the aurora borealis from the deck, go
ashore at Mittimatalik for an Inuit welcome
and visit the Franklin graves on Beechey
Island (www.adventurecanada.com).
In late June, Yukon's Kwanlin Dün
Cultural Centre hosts the popular annual
Adäka Cultural Festival, which showcases
the arts and customs of Yukon First Nations
and Indigenous artists from around the
world (www.adakafestival.ca).
The Northwest Territories boasts some of
the world's best viewing of the other-worldly
aurora borealis. Watch the show from B.Dene
Adventures' cosy cabin on the shores of
Great Slave Lake, or at Aurora Village in
Yellowknife from the comfort of a teepee.
Nunavut offers unusual wildlife and
Arctic experiences. Trekkers wanting to live
the life can go winter camping like Inuit
families, hunt exotic big game or simply put
their feet up at one of the area's lovely
wilderness lodges.
For their valued visitors, Canada's
hospitable Indigenous People have created
spirited and spiritual journeys through
their history and culture, carrying on the
traditions of millennia. By educating
guests with authentic stories and
homegrown experiences, they send
positive vibes to the world. And that is
good medicine for the soul.
