Important places in our past are all around you. No matter where you live or travel in Canada, there are museums, historic sites and all kinds of other special places to explore. In each issue of Kayak, we tell you about some that relate to our theme — check them out below! And if you have a favourite historic place, tell us about it.

A Look at the Fur Trade

There are many places around Canada where you can see what life was like during fur trade days.

Upper Fort Garry, Manitoba

For years, it was just another intersection in Winnipeg. But thanks to hard work from a lot of people, Upper Fort Garry Provincial Park opened to the public in August, 2015. The area was once the site of an HBC post but is also important to the history of Manitoba as the centre of thousands of years of Aboriginal activity and the Red River colony.

Fort Edmonton, Alberta

At the recreated 1846 fur-trade centre at Fort Edmonton Park, you can visit First Nations tipis, try bartering for trade goods and meet costumed characters from that time.

Fort Lachine, Quebec

The stone warehouse of The Fur Trade at Lachine National Historic Site was built in 1803 to store furs for the North West Company. Lachine was an important spot for the Nor’Westers — trading expeditions left from here, furs were shipped out to Europe and trade goods came and went.

York Factory, Manitoba

You can’t get to York Factory National Historic Site by road — you have to fly or paddle in — so not many people make it to this fur-trade post on James Bay. But for 273 years, York Factory was one of the most important Hudson’s Bay Company locations in the country. There were once more than 50 buildings on the site. The main building still stands, along with a cemetery and ruins of two other structures.