Mādahòkì Farm

Sign up for a tour with Indigenous Experiences, and you’ll get a taste of many First Nations cultures from across Canada. You’ll be welcomed by someone playing a hand drum and you’ll watch demonstrations by Indigenous dancers from around the country — a jingle dance, perhaps, or a hoop dance. Try a meal, maybe venison sausage, three-sisters soup (beans, squash, and corn) or wild rice. There’s even a voyageur option, where you paddle down the historic Ottawa River and arrive at the Aboriginal Experiences grounds by canoe, an experience which is a member of the noteworthy Canadian Signature Experiences collection. “We give people an introduction to Indigenous people in Canada,” says Linda Sarazin, director of operations. “And we explain that Canada is immense and that First Nations culture is not just one culture.” The location, however, is important for myriad people in the country, as it’s on sacred land between Ottawa, Ontario, and Gatineau, Quebec, at an ancient trading stop on the Ottawa River. From one side of the facility, you can see Canada’s Parliament Buildings; from another, the province of Quebec. Indigenous Experiences is open from May to mid-October for guided tours with a minimum of 25 people per group. All tours must be booked in advance. (In winter, Indigenous Experiences focuses on outreach to regional schools.) “People arrive as guests and they leave as friends,” Sarazin says. “We give people the hunger to know more because they learn about how diverse our country is.”