QuebecCanadaHistoryArt & ArchitectureJune 29, 2016 | 4 min read
A Wendake student trip introduces learners to Huron-Wendat history, culture, traditions, and contemporary community life. The strongest experience centres local interpretation and encourages respectful questions rather than treating Indigenous culture as something from the past. Located 15 kilometres north of the Old Town, it offers a guided encounter with the history, material culture.
Contemporary life of the Huron-Wendat Nation that goes considerably further than any museum exhibit. The Wendake Huron-Wendat territory offers a Quebec student trip experience that no museum exhibit can replicate.
The Huron-Wendat Nation is one of the most historically significant First Nations in the history of what is now Canada. The Wendat Confederacy was a trading and agricultural nation of the Great Lakes region whose territory extended from Lake Simcoe in present-day Ontario to the St. Lawrence Valley.
They were among the first First Nations encountered by French explorers in the 17th century. Their relationships with Samuel de Champlain shaped the early decades of French settlement in North America.
A guided visit to the traditional village at Wendake begins with a welcome from a community member. The longhouse tour, led by guides dressed in traditional clothing, covers the architecture, social organisation. Domestic life of the Wendat people. Explicit connections drawn to contemporary Wendat identity and culture.
Students can sit in a handmade birchbark canoe, step inside a sweat lodge. Observe traditional dance performances. The natural medicine workshop covers medicinal uses of plants the Wendat cultivated and gathered. Connecting directly to biology and environmental science curricula. Our Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City Tour includes a Wendake visit as a standard component.
At Wendake, the community members leading the tour speak from inside their own history and identity. Not presenting an archived version of someone else’s culture. When a Wendat guide explains the significance of the longhouse. They are speaking as a member of the nation whose longhouse it is. That directness produces a different quality of learning than anything a passive museum exhibit offers.
A Wendake visit connects to Canadian history, Indigenous studies, environmental science, social studies. Performing arts. For teachers in Canadian schools where Indigenous content is mandated across multiple subject areas. Wendake provides field experience supporting the curriculum across several areas simultaneously. Our Bonjour Quebec: Spring Journey includes a Wendake morning visit on the final day of the itinerary.
Prometour includes Wendake as a standard component of most Quebec City itineraries. Browse theOttawa, Montreal and Quebec City Tour,Bonjour Quebec: Spring Journey. Or Quebec City Winter Carnival Tour to start planning. For teachers planning a wendake huron-wendat student trip quebec, the curriculum connections and logistical support available make this one of the most rewarding programmes to build.
