AllWays Traveller Features
Only in Québec
The Canadian province of Québec is the only one with a predominantly French-speaking population.
It offers a number of unusual experiences, quirky food traditions and adventure attractions that can only be found in Québec.
Ice Canoeing
Québec is the home of ice canoeing and is the only place in the world that offers this sport.
Originally, ice canoeing was a means of transport between Québec City and Lévis, located on opposite sides of the St Lawrence River, when there was too much ice on the river for the ferries to cross.
Today, the sport involves crews of five alternately pushing their canoe across the ice on the frozen parts of the river and rowing against currents of four knots, tides of over 15 feet and ice blocks blown towards them by the wind!
Nowadays, it is a competitive sport and those visiting the region can even try it out for themselves on an 'Ice Canoe Excursion' with Québec Ice Canoeing.
Visiting a 'sugar shack'
As the world's largest producer of maple syrup, Québec is one of the only places in the world where visitors can visit an authentic 'sugar shack'.
A sugar shack, or cabane à sucre, is a private house or farm estate where sap created from maple trees is collected and boiled into maple syrup that has opened its doors for visitors.
Visitors can taste maple products at the sugar shacks, which are also known as a 'sap house', 'sugar house', 'sugar shanty' or 'sugar cabin', and are most prominent in Eastern Canada due to the high volume of maple syrup produced in the region.
The sugar season runs from March to April each year.
Québec's First Nations
First Nations, or the indigenous people of the Americas, have cultures that span over thousands of years and are still very much present in today's world.
Nowadays, Québec is home to 55 Aboriginal communities, of these, there are 11 Aboriginal nations which belong to the three major North American language groups: Algonquin, Iroquois and Inuktitut.
Québec's Aboriginal people are very proud of their heritage and want to teach visitors about their deep-rooted values and traditions.
There are a number of aboriginal tourism projects available across Québec which allow visitors to meet with the First Nations and hear tales of survival which have been passed down through the generations.
The Québécois French
The only Canadian province with French as its official language, Québec is a predominantly French-speaking.
Québécois French is different to other French dialects and cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
The origins of Québec's first language can be traced back to 1534, when Jacques Cartier began his exploration of the St Lawrence River which subsequently led to 'New France', the area in North America that was colonised by France.
Each August, the people of Québec celebrate the arrival of the first Europeans on American soil with the 'Fetes de la Nouvelle-France' in Old Québec.
Tradaditional 'poutine'
Originating in Québec, poutine is the province's most well known dish. It is made with chips and cheese curd and topped off with gravy.
The hearty dish is thought it have been created in the 1950s in rural Québec but it's still under dispute as to who officially invented it.
One claim is that it comes from Warwick, a small dairy-farming town in Québec where in 1957 a customer asked the chef to throw together cheese curds and French fries into a bag as the customer was in a rush.
The customer then remarked in Québécois French "This is a 'poutine'" which is slang for 'mess'.
Alternatively, the nearby city of Drummonville also lays claim to the dish and each August they celebrate it at the Festival de la Poutine de Drummondville.
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