This article is part of a series celebrating communities, culture, traditions, and adventures throughout Canada. We’re spotlighting exciting people and places across the country’s provinces, from British Columbia in the west to Newfoundland and Labrador in the east. Read more stories on our Canada guide page.
Engaging with Indigenous cultures has become an increasingly popular motivation for world travelers, but it’s something I have been interested in since my preteen years, when I met my birth mother, who told me that her family was Huron-Wendat from Québec. This revelation led to a lifetime of interest and exploration of Indigenous cultures for me, and in recent years Indigenous tourism has blossomed throughout Canada—experiencing nearly 70 percent growth between 2021 and 2023. With that boom has come a variety of experiences, ranging from traditional to high-tech, that matches the diversity of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada. (More than 70 distinct Indigenous languages are spoken across the country.) From foraging for Native ingredients to flying over the Rocky Mountains in a helicopter, here are six unique ways to engage with Canada’s Indigenous People.
Marvel at Québec’s immersive Onhwa’ Lumina multimedia exhibit
The Montreal-based multimedia studio Moment Factory created Onwha’ Lumina to share the Huron-Wendat People’s legends and stories.
Photo by No Mans Land Photography
Storytelling is deeply ingrained in Indigenous cultures, and Onhwa’ Lumina, an award-winning multimedia night walk through a forest in the community of Wendake, about 10 miles from downtown Québec City, applies modern technology to the ancient practice. Along the 0.75-mile trail, which was created in 2022, visitors encounter video projections, interpretive panels, music, and words that illuminate the culture and history of the Huron-Wendat People. At the beginning of the looped pathway, there’s an explanation of the Huron-Wendat Great Circle, a belief that all beings are equal and interdependent. Farther along the pathway, there are places to pause and sit to listen to stories or watch projections about the creation story, life in a traditional longhouse, and more. (There’s even a section with projections that make you feel as if you’re surrounded by stars.) I’ve done the walk twice, and despite my maternal ancestors being Huron-Wendat, I’m still learning about the culture; I love the explanation of the creation story and the circular belief that every life form participates in the well-being and balance of the world.
“Storytelling will always be how our culture is shared,” says Dominic Ste-Marie, a Wendat storyteller and the sales marketing manager for Tourisme Wendake, which represents the Huron-Wendat reserves near Québec City. “In our legends, the stars are children dancing in the sky. Onhwa’ Lumina invites you to dance among those stars, which is an amazing way to walk in our moccasins.”
How to get there
Onhwa’ Lumina is seven miles northeast of Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport (YQB), which a variety of international airlines serve, including Air Canada, Air France, American, and United. The attraction is in Wendake, the name for the Huron-Wendat urban reserves.
Forage for herbs and eat a precontact meal on Ontario’s Manitoulin Island
Wikwemikong Tourism’s culinary experience includes a hike along vast Lake Huron and a traditional meal of trout or venison prepared in an outdoor kitchen.
Photo by MotionPixxle Studio/Shutterstock (L); Debbie Olsen (R)
The Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory is the fifth-largest First Nation reserve in Canada, with most of it on Manitoulin Island (aka Odawa Mnis), across Lake Huron from the upper part of Michigan’s mitten. This beautiful island is home to the Wiikwemkong First Nation—composed of Ojibwa, Odawa, and Potawatomi peoples—whose tourism arm offers a variety of experiences for visitors seeking to learn more about Indigenous culture. The tastiest of these is a foraging hike and precontact traditional meal.
The itinerary, which is available from June to October, begins with a 1.2-mile interpretive hike on the Warrior Trail section of the Bebamikawe Memorial Trail, a part of the TransCanada Trail that goes through a treed area at the edge of Lake Huron with magnificent views of the second largest Great Lake. When I went, in September 2022, a guide led my group along, pointing out edible plants, like wild hawberries, and helping guests harvest a few of them.
Afterward, we helped our guide and chef prepare the meal in an outdoor kitchen, using the ingredients we had foraged, including edible leaves that were wrapped around rainbow trout before it was caked in clay and baked. The trout (stone-cooked venison is also an option) was served along with herbs and berries we had harvested, corn, sweet potato, squash, maple syrup, and mint tea. The food had that rich, roasted flavor you only get from cooking outdoors, simple and delicious, and the meal created a sense of bonding between hosts and guests.
“I’m on my own healing journey from residential school trauma,” said Vince Manitwabi, who was the chef on my tour. “Having [guests] here shows me that we can come together. I’m complimenting the ancestors by preparing food the way they once did.”
How to get there
Sudbury Airport (YSB), which Air Canada serves from Toronto, is about 125 miles northeast of Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory. The foraging experience is $163 per adult, $155 per youth or senior, or $391 per family, with a minimum of four participants and a maximum of six.
Explore the icy (yet surprisingly lively) coastline of Nunavut
Most of the mammals visible on a floe edge safari are nonmigratory and live in the Arctic year-round.
Photo by Michelle Valberg
The floe edge, where landfast ice meets open water during the spring melt, has long been important to Inuit communities. This dynamic liminal zone, known as the sinaaq in Inuktitut, attracts a wide array of wildlife, including walruses and polar bears, which travelers can see by taking a tour with Arctic Bay Adventures, an Indigenous-owned and -operated company in Nunavut, Canada’s first Inuit self-governing territory.
“You see animals that can’t be seen anywhere else in the world,” says Arctic Bay Adventures general manager Chris Mitchell. “We camp out on the ice and make daily safaris to the floe edge to see Arctic birds, seals, polar bears, narwhal and beluga whales, and other wildlife.”
Arctic Bay Adventures’ tours take place in May and June, ranging from 4 to 10 days and roughly $5,775 to $12,000 for a solo traveler. The operator focuses on providing experiences that showcase Inuit culture along with the wildlife and unique landscapes of the Canadian Arctic. (For a similar itinerary in a different location, check out Polar Outfitting or Baffin Safari on Baffin Island.)
How to get there
Arctic Bay Airport (YAB) is three miles southeast of Arctic Bay, and is served by Canadian North airline, with connections in Iqaluit.
Hike, kayak, and learn about Saskatchewan’s historic Fort Carlton with Pêmiska Tourism
The restored Fort Carlton features a fur and provisions store where visitors can see and touch bison hides and beaver pelts.
Photo by Mostofa Mohiuddin/Shutterstock
Walking into the beautifully reconstructed wooden garrison at Fort Carlton Provincial Historic Park, it’s easy to imagine what this place might have looked like from 1810 to 1886, when it was a bustling Hudson Bay Company fur trading post. The significance of this location extends far beyond westward expansionism, however: In 1876, Fort Carlton was the site of the signing of Treaty 6, the historical agreement between the Government of Canada and several First Nations, including the Plains and Woods Cree. The treaty involved the First Nations relinquishing land rights in exchange for peaceful coexistence, provision of reserves, and promises of assistance. (There are now a total of 96 recognized treaties and agreements in Canada that outline rights, obligations, and shared responsibilities between the Canadian government and Indigenous Peoples.)
Today, the fort, which burned down during the Northwest Resistance of 1885 and was rebuilt in 1967, remains important to the Willow Cree People of the Beardy’s and Okemasis Cree Nation. It serves as Pêmiska Tourism’s hub for activities and overnight stays. The award-winning tourism group offers comfy tepee-inspired lodges, along with old-fashioned tepees, and a variety of cultural experiences and outdoor adventures (guided hikes, canoe and kayak tours, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing).
“The Cree word pêmiska means come find it, which represents the hospitality of the Willow Cree People,” says Kevin Seesequasis, director of tourism development for Pêmiska Tourism. “Our community has always been a gathering place—welcoming newcomers and visitors is just part of our nature.”
On my visit to Fort Carlton in September 2022, a big highlight was Pêmiska’s dinner-and-dance show. Audience members dined on wild rice, bison, veggies, and berry crumble while watching people from the nation perform a variety of dances, including a Métis-style jig by the Creeland Dancers. Throughout the evening, the heart of the nation shone brightly—as did mine.
How to get there
Fort Carlton is about 60 miles northeast of Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport (YXE), which has service from Minneapolis and most major Canadian cities.
Take an Indigenous-led helicopter tour of Alberta’s Jasper National Park
On her Fallen Mountain Helicopter Tours, Lauren Moberly tells the story of how her ancestors were forced to leave the land that became Jasper National Park.
Courtesy of Fallen Mountain Helicopter Tours (L); Din Zwick/Unsplash (R)
Few sights can compare to the majesty of Jasper National Park taken in from a soaring helicopter. It’s sheer sensory overload: jagged mountains, prodigious glaciers, turquoise blue lakes. Now, thanks to Fallen Mountain Heli Tours, which introduces the park from an Indigenous perspective, that experience carries even greater weight.
This new offering (starting at $1,788 for up to five people) comes courtesy of Lauren Moberly, a member of the Aseniwuche Winewak community. Jasper National Park is Moberly’s ancestral homeland, and on one- or two-hour tours, she shares the meanings of traditional names for landmarks, including the Athabasca (where there are reeds in Cree) River. The tours also typically stop at the historic Moberly Homestead, a former Métis settlement; here, Lauren Moberly tells the story of how Indigenous people, including her ancestors, were forcibly removed from their beautiful home after Jasper was designated a park in 1907. “We are known as the Rocky Mountain People,” she says. “We have many legends and stories related to these lands, and I love sharing them on these tours.”
How to get there
Edmonton International Airport (YEG) is the closest international airport to Jasper National Park; Air Canada, Delta, and United are among the airlines that serve it. Helicopter tours operate out of Jasper–Hinton Airport, 205 miles west (about a 3.5-hour drive) of Edmonton.
Go fishing and paddleboarding during a stay at British Columbia’s Liberty Wilderness Lodge
Liberty Wilderness Lodge offers kayaking on remote Babine Lake, as well as intimate cultural retreats for writers, bird-watchers, and others.
Photo by Lia Crowe
“We named our rustic, off-the-grid accommodation Liberty Wilderness Lodge because it’s all about freedom in the wild,” says co-owner Teara Fraser, a proud member of the Métis Nation. “It’s all about being immersed in nature—watching and listening to the calming sounds of hummingbirds, eagles, ravens, beavers, and other wildlife.”
Perched on the edge of British Columbia’s gorgeous Babine Lake, the two-year-old property is remote, located more than 400 miles north of Vancouver and only accessible by boat or float plane. The lodge has the obvious benefits of access to the great outdoors, with activities such as fishing, kayaking, surfing, and paddleboarding available, but it doesn’t skimp on amenities: sustainable composting toilets, Wi-Fi, a wood-fired sauna, a hot tub, and private-island dinners.
Fraser adds another layer to the experience by incorporating cultural touches. The included meals feature home-cooked Indigenous cuisine made with local ingredients, such as bison pot roast with sage roasted potatoes and haskap berry pie with sweetgrass-infused whipped cream. The on-site library consists of books by Indigenous authors—pick up a copy of Michelle Good’s Five Little Indians, which won the Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction in 2020. The property also offers retreats that share Indigenous knowledge and teachings, such as a Warriorship in the Wilderness Retreat that is led by Fraser; it includes meditation, journaling, Indigenous storytelling, and activities designed to connect participants with nature. (Stays from $290 per night, all-inclusive.)
How to get there
Liberty Wilderness Lodge is a 30-minute boat ride from Granisle, which is a 60-minute drive southeast of Smithers, B.C. Smithers Airport (YYD) has daily direct flights from Vancouver International Airport (YVR), served by a wide range of airlines.
