Dawson Trail Arts and Heritage Tour

Musée Dawson Trail Museum, Richer, Manitoba

The Dawson Trail Arts and Heritage Tour was a multi-year initiative to reclaim the hidden history of the first all-Canadian, all-weather route linking Fort William (near modern-day Thunder Bay) in Ontario to the Red River Colony (modern-day Winnipeg). The self-guided tour features fifteen bilingual interpretive markers and eight art installations spanning 120 kilometres, as well as a robust website.

The trail itself crosses the Canadian Shield and is built on an ancient route through Anishinaabe, Anishinaabe-Ininiwuk, Nehiyaw, Dakota, Nakota, and Red River Métis ancestral lands, which predate the road’s construction by 4,000 years. While the route is known for its use by British and Canadian troops sent to suppress the Red River Resistance of 1869-70, the Arts and Heritage Tour privileges the Dawson Trail’s important but lesser-known Indigenous stories and place names, and those of the francophone communities that dot its path, to bring forward a new understanding of the impacts of the road and colonization.

Gathering of oral testimonies from volunteers, Elders, and artists, as well as archival research, allowed for the highlighting of largely unknown yet critical community histories. Extensive consultations and partnerships across multiple jurisdictions ensured historical accuracy, inclusive representation, and cultural appropriateness. The Dawson Trail Arts and Heritage Tour is a model for community-led heritage programming and collaboration, leaving an economic, cultural, and educational legacy that honours the goals of truth and reconciliation.