While many travelers come to Quebec to experience the province’s francophone heritage, the province is also home to rich and varied Indigenous cultures.
Eleven Indigenous nations have territories within its borders. In Montreal and Quebec City, First Nations communities welcome visitors with experiences centered on culture, food or art. Vibrant urban Indigenous communities are especially visible in the local art scenes of both cities.
Art Experiences in Montreal
“Indigenous Voices of Today,” a permanent exhibition at the McCord Stewart Museum, offers a good introduction to the Indigenous peoples who live across Quebec. The showing includes art and belongings from different communities and addresses the sobering legacy of the residential school era, when the Canadian government forced Indigenous children to attend church-run boarding schools in an attempt to eradicate their traditional cultures. The museum is in downtown Montreal, near the McGill University campus.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, also downtown, devotes a permanent space to art by Inuit creators. The works, which date from the 1940s to today, include sculptures, paintings, prints and more by artists from Nunavik (in northern Quebec) and from the Canadian territory of Nunavut. The museum’s temporary exhibitions often feature Indigenous artists as well.
A unique outdoor art installation in downtown, the Peel Trail extends from the Lachine Canal to Mount Royal Park. Each of the path’s 11 stops incorporates two bronze spheres, one created by Indigenous artist MC Snow, the other by non-Indigenous artist Kyra Revenko, positioned facing each other as if in a dialogue. The project was inspired by archaeological excavations conducted in this neighborhood between 2016 and 2019, which uncovered the remains of an Iroquoian village tracing back to the 1300s. To guide your art walk, download an audio tour with details about the pieces and the region’s Indigenous heritage from the Portrait Sonore website.
daphne, Montreal’s first Indigenous artist-run center, highlights work by contemporary Indigenous artists. Located in Mile End, the center typically presents a handful of exhibitions a year by creators from Quebec and beyond.
Over in Old Montreal, Boutique Wachiya is the city’s only Cree-owned and -operated shop. It sells high-quality jewelry, textiles, artwork, moccasins, books and more, with a focus on arts and crafts from Eeyou Istchee, the Cree homeland in the James Bay region.
A New Indigenous Cultural Center
On Montreal’s South Shore, less than a 30-minute drive from the city center, the Kanatahkwèn:ke Cultural Arts Center opened in September. The center includes a multimedia museum detailing the history and culture of the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) community of Kahnawà:ke, whose traditional territory stretches from Quebec into what is now upstate New York. For more than a century, many Kahnawà:ke men have been ironworkers, helping to build skyscrapers from Toronto to New York City, including the original Twin Towers.
The center also hosts performances and workshops, and visitors are welcome at many community events and festivals.
Indigenous Experiences Around Quebec City
The Musée de la civilisation gives an excellent overview of the First Nations and Inuit peoples of Quebec. Its permanent exhibition, “This Is Our Story,” combines artworks, artifacts, clothing and other objects with audio and video stories from members of Quebec’s 11 Indigenous nations, showcasing not just their past but their present-day culture.
Quebec City’s fine arts museum, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, is worth a visit if you’re interested in Inuit art. Its collection includes more than 2,600 sculptures, primarily by Inuit artists from Nunavik and Nunavut, many from the past 50 years.
On the edge of Quebec City, the Huron-Wendat community of Wendake has a museum, several contemporary Indigenous restaurants and an illuminated forest trail that illustrates traditional Wendat stories.
At the Huron-Wendat Museum, you can learn about Wendat history and customary crafts, which include baskets, snowshoes, plant medicine, foods and more. Book the “Myths and Legends” activity to hear Wendat stories by the fire inside the wood-and-bark longhouse next to the museum.
La Traite Restaurant is the Wendake community’s signature dining room, where executive chef Anora Collier and her team incorporate ingredients like wild boar, venison, Arctic char and other regional products into creative contemporary plates. Also in Wendake, Restaurant Sagamité serves dishes such as elk terrine, cold-smoked trout and smoked bison. It has a second location in Old Quebec and will open a third at Quebec City’s Jean Lesage International Airport later this year.
Open after dark, Onhwa’ Lumina takes you on a journey through Wendat culture, from traditional legends to village life to the wisdom of the elders, shown with light, sound and video, as you walk through the forest.
More Indigenous Tourism Opportunities Around Quebec
If business takes you to the Palais des congrès de Montréal, the city’s convention center, look for the Québec Autochtone lounge, which not only provides conference attendees with a quiet place to take a break but also offers information about the Indigenous nations in different Quebec regions. A map shows where Indigenous communities are across the province, and videos share tourism experiences available in each region.
The lounge was created in partnership with Indigenous Tourism Quebec, whose website includes a directory of Indigenous-run accommodations, restaurants, tour companies and more across Quebec — it’s useful as you plan ways to immerse yourself in these vibrant cultures.
