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The following information has been prepared to inspire future visits to Niagara Falls and we look forward to welcoming visitors back safely in keeping with any health and safety restrictions.  Due to fluctuating COVID-19 restrictions, we recommend visitors contact businesses directly to confirm availability.

The Niagara Region was a place of awe and wonder for the Indigenous peoples who first walked this land.  Their ancestors’ footsteps arrived approximately 13,000 years ago as the melting glaciers retreated northward, revealing the great lakes of Erie and Ontario and the mighty Niagara River.

Discover the rich indigenous history and culture of Niagara Falls with these experiences:

NIAGARA FALLS ILLUMINATION FOR NATIONAL INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY

On the evening of June 21, 2021, Niagara Falls will be illuminated in honour of National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada. Please see the illumination calendar for further details.

INDIGENOUS NIAGARA: LIVING MUSEUM TOURS (premiering Spring 2022)
Presented by Landscape of Nations 360º (LON 360º)

Indigenous Niagara Living Museum Tours, the Niagara Region’s first guided Indigenous tour operation, will premiere Spring 2022 in Niagara Falls.  Featuring animated encounters and engagements with Indigenous peoples, cultural interpreters, historians, food specialists and artisans. The deep and compelling Indigenous history and culture of the Niagara Region serves as the foundation for authentic tours of important Indigenous destinations known for their historical and cultural significance to Indigenous peoples, including Niagara Falls itself!

These tours will help to build an enlightened and inspired understanding of Indigenous peoples who have lived in the Niagara Region over the course of some 13,000 years. This unique guided tour program will be of interest to North American and international travellers, educational field trips, and group tours for lifelong learners of all ages.

In addition to the beautiful vista that is Niagara Falls itself, with its stories of powerful forces and influences upon Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabek identities, the tours will also explore the geology of the Niagara Escarpment with these highlights:

• Indian Council House (The Commons)
• Fort George
• Willowbank School of Restoration and Indigenous Community Love Garden    
• Landscape of Nations Commemorative Memorial (Queenston Heights Park)
• Niagara Glen Nature Centre
• Niagara Falls
• Battle of Chippawa Site
• Old Fort Erie
• Niagara Falls History Museum and Battle of Lundy’s Lane site
• First Nations Peace Monument (Battle of Beaver Dams site)
• Niagara Escarpment Environment (Laura Secord Legacy Trail)
• Norton's Cabin (The Brown Homestead)
• Curtain Call (FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre)
• Indian Trails of Niagara (drives on St. Paul Street and Mississauga Road)

About Landscape of Nations 360°

Landscape of Nations 360° is a not-for-profit organization that creates, designs, and implements educational and expressive arts programs that convey the meaning, depth, substance, and contributions of Indigenous peoples to Canadian history and society. The organization develops projects that are intended to enlighten and transform the public’s understanding of — and engagement with — Indigenous peoples.

NATIONAL INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY IN CANADA (JUNE 21, 2021)
On the evening of June 21, 2021, Niagara Falls will be illuminated in celebration National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada. Please see the illumination calendar for further details.

• THE GREAT NIAGARA ESCARPMENT INDIGENOUS CULTURAL MAP (Virtual)
  Begin exploring important Indigenous sites in the Niagara Region online at thegreatniagaraescarpment.ca by clicking on the blue pin destinations to reveal information, photos, resources, and videos.
  Click here for information.

• EMPATHIC TRADITIONS (Virtual)
  (Presented by: LON 360º and Niagara Falls History Museum)
  The Niagara Region was a place of awe and wonder for the Indigenous peoples who first walked this land.  Their ancestors’ footsteps arrived approximately 13,000 years ago as the melting glaciers retreated northward, revealing the Great Lakes of Erie and Ontario and the mighty Niagara River.  Explore the collection featuring objects that reveal the presence of Indigenous peoples, their art and history in the Niagara region, extending back hundreds of generations up to the present day.  Explore videos created by curators Rob MacDonald, Rick Hill and Dave Labbe as they explain the source materials, uses and beauty of the Indigenous artifacts in the collections.  Solve the mystery of the bannerstones!
  Click here for the exhibit.  To learn more about the history of Indigenous peoples in Niagara Falls visit Niagara Falls History Museum.

JUNE 2021  NIAGARA PARKS: INDIGENOUS MONTH SPEAKER SERIES (VIRTUAL)
Explore some of Niagara’s past and present Indigenous connections with this three-part speaker series.
Niagara Parks has partnered with Landscape of Nations 360° to offer a virtual speaker series in June in celebration of National Indigenous History Month. The three-part series features commentators specializing in Indigenous history, art and culture with a focus on Indigenous connections along the Niagara Parkway. The series features a diverse line-up of Indigenous leaders, historians and artists.

• June 10, 2021: Designing the Landscape of Nations Memorial, Tim Johnson, Tom Ridout & Raymond Skye
• June 17, 2021: Strawberry Moon Matriarch Circle, Renee Thomas-Hill & Jackie Labonte
• June 24, 2021: The Battle of Chippawa: The Divide Among Peoples, Jim Hill & Travis Hill

The land along the Niagara River has been recognized as a spiritual place with rich ties to Indigenous history and culture for many generations. Oral tradition and archaeological evidence indicate that Indigenous peoples have lived along the Niagara River, from Fort Erie north to the shores of Lake Ontario in Niagara-on-the-Lake, for 13,000 years and the series will provide attendees with an in depth look at this history. Each session will include an interactive question and answer period with the speakers following their presentations.

Additional event details, speaker bios and tickets are available at niagaraparks.com/indigenous. Tickets are $15 per event, with access to all three events available for $35. All sessions will begin at 7:00pm.

Media assets are available here.

NIAGARA FALLS MUSEUM OF HISTORY: INDIGENOUS PROGRAMMING
Visit the Niagara Falls Museum of History for regular Indigenous programming throughout the year.

• June 17, 2021: Indigenous Symbolism in Beadwork
  Join us for a conversation with Samuel Thomas where he explores the importance of the strawberry in Haudenosaunee culture. Sam is a member of the Cayuga Nation and a respected beadwork artist with pieces in the permanent collections of museums across Canada and the United States, including the ROM. Click on the link to register.
• June 24, 2021: Power of Music
  Join Phil Davis; an established local musician of Haudenosaunee decent whom partakes in Traditional Haudenosuanee songs, is a Pow Wow and Creee Round dance singer, and co-founder of the 7-piece blues/rock/funk/jazz jam band Ol’Child. 
  “My focus of sharing is to speak to the importance of our music and how they play a role in our daily lives. The meaning of songs, the importance of them to us, and how that knowledge translates to today’s world that we all share. Why does music affect us as human beings, how long has it been around, what purpose did/does it have? I believe we all absorb and gravitate towards sound because it is an important aspect to our being.  I find sharing my experiences and perspective of music leads to great dialog about the self and the world we share. It knows no boundaries and continues to be the universal language.”

MAY 19, 2021  7:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Virtual) - 13,000 YEARS OF INDIGENOUS SETTLEMENT IN THE NIAGARA REGION
Niagara Parks Speaker Series: Dr. Rob Macdonald and Dr. Martin Cooper
Archaeological evidence suggests that as the Laurentide Ice Sheet receded 13,000 years ago, Indigenous peoples adapted to a new landscape in the Great Lakes area. The location of their settlements and the technology they created demonstrate a transition that evolved for thousands of years. In this seminar, discover how Indigenous peoples responded to drastic landscape changes in the Niagara region, and shifted from a hunter-gatherer economy to an agricultural economy over the course of 2000 years.
Click here to register.

NOVEMBER (Annual) - VALOUR AND VICTORY 
The Landscape of Nations memorial is the location of a solemn Remembrance Day ceremony each November for Indigenous veterans and the Six Nations and Native Ally contributions and sacrifices made during the Battle of Queenston Heights and the War of 1812 in support of their British and Canadian compatriots.

LANDSCAPE OF NATIONS: THE SIX NATIONS AND NATIVE ALLIES COMMEMORATIVE MEMORIAL
(Queenston Heights Park, Niagara Falls)
A nationally significant public artwork that was unveiled on Oct 2, 2016, the Landscape of Nations is a living memorial dedicated to the contributions and sacrifices made by Six Nations and Native Allies on Queenston Heights and throughout the War of 1812.
Click here to learn more.

NEW – INDIGENOUS ART MURAL COMING TO DOWNTOWN NIAGARA FALLS
The unveiling of a new mural in downtown Niagara Falls by renowned artist Leona Skye-Grandmond, a Niagara Falls-based artist of Ojibwa/Mohawk descent will be unveiled on National Indigenous Peoples Day June 21, 2021. Skye-Grandmond was the winning artist of an Indigenous art mural installation competition. Her piece will be installed on the Third Space Café on Queen Street, celebrates Indigenous ways of knowing and will be part of a weeklong Indigenous art exhibit showcasing various submissions at The HUB Art Gallery on Queen Street. Click here for more information.

THE OSSUARY
The largest First Nations burial ground in the Province of Ontario was found in 1828, when a violent thunderstorm blew down a large tree. Bones and First Nations relics such as pipes, pottery and arrowheads were found to be entangled in the roots. A stone cairn marking the site of the Ossuary was unveiled by the Lundy's Lane Historical Society on October 5, 1934. Rising to a height of twelve feet, the monument is topped with a carved limestone arrowhead pointing in the direction of the Ossuary, 200 yards north-west of the cairn.

• CELEBRATION OF NATIONS (September, annual)
  (FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, St. Catharines)
  Indigenous celebration exploring culture and history with musical performances, theatrical, cultural traditional arts, cooking classes, achievement awards, lectures and film festival.
  Click here to learn more.

Please contact Irene Knight, Public Relations Manager at [email protected].

Please contact Irene Knight, Public Relations Manager at [email protected].

ABOUT NIAGARA FALLS CANADA
Home of the legendary Canadian Horseshoe, American and Bridal Veil waterfalls, Niagara Falls is a four-season destination renowned for its awe-inspiring natural wonders combined with world-class accommodation, thrilling entertainment and a burgeoning culinary scene.  Visitors from Ontario, across North America and around the world who come to experience adventure, discover family fun, feel the romance and create unique and memorable experiences have made it Canada’s #1 leisure travel destination.

PLAN YOUR VISIT
For more information about unique and memorable experience in Niagara Falls, please visit www.niagarafallstourism.com and these helpful resources:

WHERE TO STAY
Book a room in nearby hotels within walking distance of the Falls or a Fallsview room to enjoy a Room with a View, the majesty of the Falls from the comfort of your bed, any time of the day. Niagara Falls campgrounds and cottages afford visitors a special way of getting a little closer to nature.

RESOURCES

• Niagara Falls' commitment to guests and employees: SafetoPlay.ca, Health and Safety Guidelines, COVID-19 Information
• What's Open in Niagara Falls:  Niagarafallstourism.com/blog/whats-open-niagara-falls/
• Niagara Falls Illumination: Niagarafallstourism.com/Illumination/
• Niagara Falls Itinerary Ideas: Niagarafallstourism.com/blog/itinerary/
• Attraction Packages: Niagarafallstourism.com/attraction-packages/
• Niagara Falls 24/7 Live Cam: Niagara Falls Live Stream

LET’S STAY CONNECTED

Website:              www.niagarafallstourism.com
Instagram:          @NiagaraFallsTourismCanada
Facebook:           @NiagaraFallsTourismCanada
Twitter:                @NFallsTourism
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