Volume 28 Issue 8
February 2026
Dawson Trail Arts and Heritage Tour Receives Governor General’s History Award
Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada, with Pierrette Sherwood and Mireille Lamontagne from Musée Dawson Trail Museum. Photo courtesy of Louis Dubé, Rideau Hall © OSGG, 2026
The Dawson Trail Arts and Heritage Tour has been named a 2025 recipient of the Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Community Programming, one of Canada’s most prestigious honours recognizing innovative approaches to public history. The award recognizes the multiyear, community-led initiative of the Musée Dawson Trail Museum, which reclaims the hidden and often repressed history of the Dawson Trail—the first all-Canadian, all-weather route linking Fort William near present-day Thunder Bay, Ont., to the Red River Colony, now Winnipeg.
The Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Community Programming honours projects that foster meaningful public engagement with the past. The 2025 laureates received their awards from Governor General Mary Simon at a ceremony in Ottawa. Each recipient received a $2,500 prize. The award is administered by Canada’s National History Society. Spanning 120 kilometres, the self-guided Dawson Trail Arts and Heritage Tour features 15 bilingual interpretive markers and eight art installations, supported by a comprehensive website. The
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