Meet with Indigenous Peoples in Quebec

The Québec City area is home to a vibrant Indigenous community welcoming visiting families eager to learn about their ancient and continuing culture. Wendake, about 15 minutes from the city, is the home of the only Wendat Nation in Canada, and its people are proud to share their culture, traditions and history.

Your first stop should be Huron-Wendat Museum, a multifaceted space with a tremendous collection of artifacts. On display are those with particular significance and items showing how their ancestors lived, worked, traded and dressed. The museum also highlights important figures in Wendat history, but its overall message is this small First Nations group is keeping the culture and traditions alive in a changing world.

Kids’ favorite part of the museum is outside, the Huron-Wendat Ekionkiestha’ National Longhouse, an authentic reconstruction of the dwelling used in the pre-contact era.

The construction alone will fascinate: strong, straight timbers for poles; younger flexible saplings for the arched top; and the entire frame covered with sheets of cedar bark. Even the lashing that hold the timbers and sapling together are made from strips of flexible tree roots. You can listen to Wendat myths and legends told around a campfire in the longhouse center.

Craft workshops offered year-round include one on making a talking stick, used in tribal councils to make sure everyone gets a chance to speak without interruption. Complete the First Nations experience by staying in Hôtel-Musée Premières Nations, a contemporary hotel with family-sized suites. Kids will especially like its evening story-telling programs.