Main Stage 10:00 am - 10:30 am Tibert the Voyageur 10:30 am - 11:00 am Pow Wow Demonstration 11:15 am -12 noon Michel Payment 1:30 pm - 2:00 pm Pow Wow Demonstration 2:15 pm - 3:00 pm Tibert the Voyageur

Lacrosse12:45 pm - 1:30 pm, 3:15 pm - 4:00Field pm Ancient Lacrosse Demonstration Presentation10:00 am - 10:45 am Stage Marcel Beneteau 10:45 am - 11:15 am Walpole Island First Nation History: Dr. Dean Jacobs 11:30 am -12 noon Walpole Island First Nation Traditional Medicine: Ron Sands 12:30 pm - 1:00 pm Marcel Beneteau 1:15 pm - 1:45 pm Michel Payment 2:00 pm - 2:30 pm Walpole Island First Nation Storytelling: Linda Lou Classens 3:00 pm - 3:30 pm Marcel Beneteau 3:30 pm - 4:00 pm Walpole Island First Nation Environment: Clint Jacobs Main Stage 10:00 am - 10:25 am, 1:45 pm - 2:15 pm, 7:00 pm -7:30 pm Tibert the Voyageur 10:30 am - 11:30 am Arrival of the French Voyageurs Opening Ceremonies, Pow Wow and Smudging Ceremony 11:45 am -12:15 pm, 3:15 pm - 4:00 pm, 5:30 pm - 6:00 pm Michel Payment 12:30 pm - 1:00 pm, 2:30 pm - 3:00 pm, 7:45 pm - 8:15 pm Metis Strings and Jigging 4:45 pm - 5:15 pm Pow Wow Demonstration

Pier10:00 am - 1:00 pm Just Fishin Friends Derby

Lacrosse1:00 pm - 1:45 pm, 4:00 pm - 4:45Field pm Ancient Lacrosse Demonstration Presentation11:45 am - 12:15 pm Stage Walpole Island First Nation History: Dr. Dean Jacobs 12:30 pm - 1:15 pm, 2:15 pm - 2:45 pm, 6:15 pm - 6:45 pm Marcel Beneteau 1:15 pm - 1:30 pm Just Fishin Friends Award Presentation 1:30 pm - 2:00 pm, 4:15 pm - 4:45 pm Walpole Island First Nation Traditional Medicine: Ron Sands 3:15 pm - 3:45 pm Walpole Island First Nation Environment: Clint Jacobs 5:00 pm - 5:30 pm Tibert the Voyageur

Detroit8:30 pm - 9:00 pm River Pyro Musical Fireworks Show

Lacrosse the Ancient Game A re-enactment of the game featuring Ojibwa, Odawa and Potawatomi nations using Great Lake sticks. Visitors will learn about the history and culture of lacrosse and then be invited to learn how to play following the demonstration.

Survival in the Bush Be sure to visit Survival in the Bush a 17th century courier de bois encampment featuring fire-starting demonstrations with flint and steel, cordage making, furrier display, and more. Make a leather pouch for $5.

Tibert the Voyageur A Franco-Manitoban, Tibert Le Voyageur is a storyteller, author, stage performer and poet who shares his passion for history and culture with people of all ages.

Michel Payment Franco- Ontario singer, songwriter Michel Payment will bring his unique folk, folklore and rock musical style to RV. You won’t want to miss his high-energy performance!

Le Voyageur Errant & Metis Roots Witness the 18th Century history, culture and way of life featuring historic clothing, trade goods and furs at Metis Roots, an authentic 1700 French-mixed blood, fur trade encamp- ment. Le Voyageur Errant provides visitors with an authentic interpretation of the fur trade life.

Walpole Island First Nation Visitors are invited to the Walpole Island First Nation Pow Wow demonstration featuring drummers and dancers and presenters who will share their culture including history, environment, the Anishinabemowin language, smudging/medicine, storytelling, and canoe exhibit. Metis Strings and Jiggers This young trio including siblings Alicia and Liam Blore and Megan Southwell have never forgotten their Métis roots. Audiences are sure to enjoy their high energy show that showcases their own brand of unique storytelling through music and dance. They will fiddle and jig their way into your hearts!

Re-enactors Travel back in time as re-enactors live the life of a voyageur. See what it took to survive as an explorer and the life skills needed, respect for the land and the import relationship with the First Nations people.

RV Place de la Famille Free family fun in the RV Place de la Famille! Enjoy period activities and games including rag dolls craft, archery, face painting, tattoos, children’s games, storytelling, inflatables, entertainment and more.

RV Le Marché Shop RV Le Marché for unique merchandise including leather items, wood crafts, jewelry, home baked goods, preserves, spices, fresh produce and more. Food vendors will tantalize your taste buds with festival favorites and unique eats including corn on the cob, french flapjacks and more!

Marcel Beneteau Marcel Beneteau a popular folk singer will entertain visitors with traditional French songs that best document the folklore of Ontario francophones.

Pyro Musical Fireworks Extravaganza Enjoy a fabulous Pyro Musical Fireworks Extrava- ganza on the Detroit River starting at 8:30 pm featuring the sounds of both our French and First Nations culture. Come early to get the perfect spot and enjoy the final showing of L’Écho d’un peuple starting at 7:45 pm. Bring your own chair. As an integral part of the Canadian fur trade, voyageurs transported furs by canoe from indigenous villages and trading posts to larger metropolitan areas. Once there, the furs were sold by large corporations, such as the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company. The job required strong navigational skills and an understanding of Aboriginal languages, as voyageurs often had close relationships with the local indigenous populations that they encountered. They ate significant amounts of pemmican, a dried meat product that was easily transportable and did not expire during long peri- ods of travel. This fuel gave them the energy to travel more than 100 kilometres per day by canoe. They also used portages, or inland trails, to cross the

distancesVoyageurs between rivers or lakes. After a brief rest each night, they would then wake before sunrise to repeat this rigorous routine. Due to the physical stress of the job, voyageurs occasionally suffered broken limbs or hernias while working. Many of the frequented routes led to Montreal, which was a major hub for trading. The journey to Montreal involved travelling through the Ottawa or St. Lawrence Rivers to reach the Great Lakes, mainly Lake Huron. Thus, the Windsor-Essex area, with access to the port of Detroit, was significant to the growth and success of the fur trade by way of the Detroit River. Windsor relied on the fur trade to support its economy in the 17th and 18th centuries. Voyageurs were known to stop in the area before continuing on their journey north.

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was a French explorer during the mid-seventeenth century. He belonged to the Jesuit order, taking his vows in 1660. However, he lost his vocation and turned his interests instead to trade and exploration. He travelled to New France, arriving there in 1667. His goal was to find the Pacific Ocean through the Ohio River. He and his party of religious officials, who had an interest in converting the indigenous populations of the area, relied heavily upon Aboriginal tribes in order to navigate the unknown territory of the Great Lakes region. He was influential in establishing Fort Frontenac, located in what is now Kingston, Ontario. René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle also helped to develop the French fur trade in North America. He strengthened industry in the Great Lakes region through a shipbuilding operation near the Niagara River. This shipyard produced the Griffon. LaSalle used this ship to venture through the Great Lakes, particularly Lake Michigan. During this venture, he created Fort Miami on the Miami River. He later travelled to the Mississippi River Delta in order to claim the lands of Louisiana for King Louis XIV of France and extend French lands to the borders of New Spain. His trip was fraught with disease and starvation. Many of his crew members deserted him, and one of his ships was destroyed. He landed in Matagorda Bay (present-day Texas) and died in 1687 when the remaining members of his crew revolted and murdered him. FIRST NATIONS: OTTAWA, OJIBWE, POTAWATOMI AND THE HURON/WYANDOT The Great Lakes region was the traditional land of many indigenous tribes, including the Ottawa, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and the Wyandot. The Wendat tribe was believed to have migrated to Southern Ontario and Michigan in the early eighteenth century, and it was then that the migrants changed their name to the Wyandot. The early Aboriginal groups of the area lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, relying on the local population of animals and fish for food and clothing. This included beaver, deer, and other fur pelts, which were used both by the indigenous populations themselves and as a trading commodity with European settlers. Women in these tribes, particularly the Ojibwe, were often heavily involved in healing, spiritual practices, and tribal governance. In later years, the indigenous populations in Southern Ontario and Michigan had close personal and commercial ties with the French colonists that populated the area on both sides of the Detroit River, and they commuted across the river regularly. However, the colonial settlers greatly influenced the lifestyles of the indigenous populations in the Great Lakes region. Upon later British expansion, Aboriginal lands were put under land treaties. In most cases, these treaties meant that the amount of land on which the indigenous populations may live and hunt was greatly diminished. The majority of southern Ontario became covered under the McKee Purchase of 1790 or Treaty 35 of 1833.

From the sixteenth century onward, the cultivation and sale of beaver pelts became one of the most lucrative trade operations FUR TRADE in New France, particularly in regions along the St. Lawrence River. The enterprise sustained the new colony’s economy while settler communities and industries were still being developed. The sale of fur pelts also strengthened relationships between the French and the indigenous populations during a period in which the settlers depended upon their knowledge of the land for survival. This arrangement was established when French merchants began to commission settlers in New France to collect beaver pelts through trapping methods developed by Aboriginal tribes in the area. There were many crew members involved in this process, including navigators, translators, and clerks that recorded each transaction. The fur would be transported back to Europe, where it would be crafted into highly sought-after commodities such as fur hats. Coureurs des bois, French settlers who worked with Aboriginal tribes to purchase the furs illegally, were considered criminals in New France. However, they also maintained the closest connections to the indigenous tribes, as they often lived amongst the Aboriginal peoples and intermarried with Aboriginal women. The fur trade also created opportunities for settlers in New France to trade with the local indigenous groups, frequently swapping fur pelts for other goods such as blankets and tobacco. This trade circuit culminated in the rise of large trading posts, including what would later become the Hudson’s Bay Company. Hello, and welcome to LaSalle, Ontario! We are proud of our community and proud to share a bit of our heritage and culture with you. The Rendez-vous Voyageur Festival is a very unique event. We will bring you back to the 1600-1700’s to commemorate our local history including the First Nations, métis and French cultures. From authentic entertain- ment to re-enactments, crafts and traditional cuisine, the festival is full of activities that will interest our youngest to our oldest visitors. We are proud to call LaSalle home and sincerely appreciate that you have joined us. Enjoy your time at the Rendez-vous Voyageur Festival! Sincerely, Marc Bondy Mayor, Town of LaSalle

Bonjour et bienvenue à la ville de LaSalle, Ontario! Nous sommes fiers de notre communauté et fiers de partager un peu de notre patrimoine et de notre culture avec vous. Le festival Rendez-vous Voyageur est un événement unique. Nous vous ramènerons aux 17ième et 18ième siècle pour commémorer notre histoire locale, incluant les cultures des Premières Nations, métis et des Français. Des activités authentiques jusqu’aux reconstitutions historiques, l'artisanat et la cuisine traditionnelle, le festival est plein d'activités qui intéresseront les plus jeunes comme les plus vieux visiteurs. Nous sommes très fiers d’appeler LaSalle notre chez-nous et nous apprécions sincèrement que vous nous avez rejoint. Profitez de votre temps au festival Rendez-vous Voyageur! Sincèrement, Marc Bondy Maire, Ville de LaSalle

EXPLORER: LE GRIFFON:

BIRCH BARK CANOE:

TOURISM PARTNERS: PADDLE SPONSORS:

MEDIA SPONSORS: