City Trails & Northern Lights

Visit Toronto, Vancouver, and Montréal on a map, compare English and French greetings, and investigate maple syrup, ice hockey, and the Northern Lights. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis are distinct Indigenous peoples with living cultures and many languages. A short adventure cannot stand in for their own voices.

Canada adventure illustration

Roly’s Adventure Journal

Fictional journal entry, not a real travel account.

I put three dots far apart on my map: Toronto, Vancouver, and Montréal. I wrote hello and bonjour beside them. My biggest question was not which city is best, but whose stories I should listen to in each place. Before looking for sky colours, I drew a maple leaf with five broad points.

Bobo’s hello-and-bonjour beat

An original bilingual MaiMai greeting chant, not an Indigenous song or a traditional Canadian tune.

Alternate saying hello and bonjour over a slow four-beat clap. Invite a partner to answer. Do not copy ceremonial songs or invent an Indigenous chant.

Language snippets

Cultural facts

  1. Ottawa is Canada’s capital; Toronto is not the capital of Canada.
  2. Toronto is in Ontario, Vancouver is in British Columbia, and Montréal is in Quebec.
  3. English and French are Canada’s official languages at the federal level.
  4. Not every Canadian speaks both official languages; many other languages are spoken too.
  5. First Nations, Inuit, and Métis are distinct Indigenous peoples, not three names for one culture.
  6. Indigenous communities have many different languages and traditions that continue today.
  7. Ice hockey is Canada’s national winter sport, while lacrosse is its national summer sport.
  8. Maple syrup is made by concentrating maple sap, usually by boiling off water.
  9. The Northern Lights are also called the aurora borealis.
  10. Auroras occur when charged particles interact with gases in Earth’s upper atmosphere; seeing them depends on location, darkness, weather, and solar activity.

Explore by age

Ages 3–7: Greetings and maple leaves

Wave hello and bonjour. Look at a maple leaf and compare its shape with a leaf near your home.

Trace a leaf, then roll a soft ball between two paper goals. An adult can offer a small taste of maple syrup if it is suitable for you.

Ages 8–12: Three cities, many voices

Locate Toronto, Vancouver, and Montréal. Recognize that French is widely used in Quebec, while language use varies between people and communities.

Make a travel notebook with one question for each city. Use the Indigenous language resource links below to learn whose voices and languages belong to a specific place.

Ages 13–18: Listening beyond a label

Explore how official-language policy differs from the many languages people actually use. Colonial policies, including residential schools, harmed Indigenous families and languages. Indigenous communities continue language revitalization and cultural leadership.

Choose an Indigenous-led resource linked through the government directory. Name its author or community and summarize what it says, rather than speaking on that community’s behalf.

Locate Canada

Free Canada word search and answer keys · Country facts

Sources for further reading

Source-based content; independent cultural-advisor review is not claimed.