Northern Lights in Canada

Depending on the time of year, when you arrive in Churchill, your nose will probably have already begun to get a little numb. Before you get to your hotel, you’ll stop by the Parks Canada Visitor Center, located right in the train station, which will help you learn a bit more about the area.

First thing today, you’ll visit the Miss Piggy Plane Wreck, a small cargo plane that crashed in Churchill in 1979. Next, you’ll visit the Eskimo Museum. You’ll learn about the ways that indigenous people from Manitoba lived off the land. A historical expert will talk to you about the lives of these people and provide some perspective on some of the discrimination indigenous people in Canada have faced and continue to face to this day.

Today you’ll have your first chance at glimpsing the Northern Lights. Make sure you have your camera! You’ll have a meet and greet with some adorable sled dogs. Then once it gets dark, you’ll strap in for an authentic dog sled ride! Make sure to keep your eyes trained on the sky to see whether the aurora borealis are out.

Northern Manitoba’s Hudson Bay coastline is host to the largest population of beluga whales in the world, totaling over 57,000 whales. Today, you’ll kayak through the frigid Canadian waters to go whale watching!

This morning, enjoy a breakfast of pancakes and authentic Canadian maple syrup. There’s really nothing like it! Now, you’ll spend some time that the Churchill Northern Studies Center. You’ll learn from a scientist here about the ecology of Churchill and about the science behind the Northern Lights. Once the sun has set, it’s another chance to see the Northern Lights! You’ll head far outside the city to escape any light pollution, then hop into an Aurora Pod, which has a glass roof and sides so you can get a 360-degree view of the show!

You’ll head to the Wapusk National Park to look for polar bears! Churchill is one of the only human settlements where polar bears live in the wild. A tour guide will take you nature watching to give you the best chance of seeing some bears. Your guide will also give you some resources for the best way to protect the habitats for these magnificent creatures. Even if you don’t find a polar bear, the park is beautiful enough on its own to make it worth the trip.

As you zip up your winter jacket, you might see Canada very differently. What many think of as a snowy wasteland is actually teeming with new life and vibrant colors, and it needs our help to make sure that its environment and its creatures are safe.