This article is over 5 years old and may contain outdated information.

Kids

Canada's Coolest School Trip arrives on the shores of the St. Lawrence River

Highlights from the first day of Canada's Coolest School Trip
  • Jun 05, 2018
  • 525 words
  • 3 minutes
Students on Canada's Coolest School Trip Expand Image
Advertisement

It had been pouring rain all day, but by a stroke of luck, the skies cleared and a rainbow lit the horizon over the St. Lawrence River as Mrs. Henderson’s Grade 8 class arrived at Ontario’s Thousand Islands National Park Monday. 

In April, the class from Dr. Roy Wilson Learning Centre in Medicine Hat, Alta. won Canada’s Coolest School Trip (CCST) — an all-expenses-paid trip to Parks Canada places in southern Ontario — and the campgrounds at Mallorytown Landing were their very first stop of the five-day tour.

The students flew into Ottawa International Airport, where they were welcomed to the nation’s capital by Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, who is a Parks Canada Honorary Guide. She praised the class for their commitment to environmental stewardship and congratulated them on their winning photo essay about the work they did to raise fire safety awareness in Elkwater Provincial Park.

From the airport, the students piled onto the bus that would take them along the St. Lawrence River to Mallorytown Landing. At the campgrounds, they had just enough time to stretch their legs by running around on the river docks before another burst of rain drove them indoors. The drizzle didn’t dampen their spirits, however, and they had dinner while exploring the visitor’s centre.

At Mallorytown Landing, Parks Canada offers visitors a chance to interact with some local and endangered wildlife. A couple of students from the class got up close and personal with a gray ratsnake, Ontario’s longest snake.

“It feels so soft,” said Aleena Eaglerib. She gently cradled the snake as it lazily looped around her arm, flicking out its tongue to scent the air. Aleena seemed to bond with the snake immediately. When Parks Canada staff started to corral students back outside, promising them a chance to see the animals being fed the next morning, Aleena was already making plans. “I’m waking up extra early tomorrow!”

As the sun began to set, the students gathered in the large waterfront gazebo for a presentation by cultural educators from the Native North American Travelling College. Rasentonkwa Tarbell and Karahkwino-Tina Square shared the history of their people and how the Haudenosaunee Confederacy came into existence under the leadership of the Peacemaker.

Tarbell told the story of how the Peacemaker helped to unify five warring nations by encouraging them to “bury the hatchet” as a way to bury the old ways of thinking. Square explained to the students that the new society that grew out of this united family of nations was a matrilineal one, where clan mothers would choose the chiefs that would govern their people. Arihonni David, the storyteller of the group, finished off the evening with a legend about The Hunter and Four Dogs. As students listened to the harrowing tale of a man and man’s best friend, freighter ships quietly drifted past them on the St. Lawrence, their lights twinkling on the water.

The day ended with marshmallows and hot chocolate around a campfire as some students tried their hand at telling their own campfire stories.

Day 2: Kayaking on the St. Lawrence and camping in a 19th-century fort

Advertisement

Are you passionate about Canadian geography?

You can support Canadian Geographic in 3 ways:

Related Content

Andy McKinnon

Places

Canada’s first national urban park

It’s an ambitious plan: take the traditional Parks Canada wilderness concept and plunk it in the country’s largest city. But can Toronto’s Rouge National Urban Park help balance city life with wildlife?

  • 3601 words
  • 15 minutes

Science & Tech

20 Canadian innovations you should know about

Celebrating Canadian Innovation Week 2023 by spotlighting the people and organizations designing a better future 

  • 3327 words
  • 14 minutes
A crowd of tourist swarm on a lakeside beach in Banff National Park

Places

Smother Nature: The struggle to protect Banff National Park

In Banff National Park, Alberta, as in protected areas across the country, managers find it difficult to balance the desire of people to experience wilderness with an imperative to conserve it

  • 3507 words
  • 15 minutes

Environment

I am Mutehekau Shipu: A river’s journey to personhood in eastern Quebec

In February 2021, the world was introduced to Mutehekau Shipu — also known as the Magpie River — when the people of Ekuanitshit, Que. and the regional municipality made a joint declaration granting the river legal personhood and rights. The declaration carries broad implications for the fight to protect nature across Canada and around the world.

  • 3623 words
  • 15 minutes