Unboxing Canada – Manitoba
· 7 min. read
This article may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
One of my favourite provinces in Canada is Manitoba. I love the dynamic mix of English and French language, as well as their fun and quirky traditions like the infamous "Manitoba social". I also really love how the province celebrates their Indigenous history (after all, Louis Reil was from there). I don't show Manitoba enough love on my blog, but thanks to the folks over at Tourism Winnipeg and Travel Manitoba, I put together a list of 100 Facts You Didn't Know About Winnipeg several years ago.
I also worked with those tourism boards, plus Parks Canada, when I visited Riding Mountain National Park in 2018.
With all that said, the folks over at Travel Manitoba were thrilled to hear about my Unboxing Canada series, and I was equally as thrilled to have them participate in it.
For those unfamiliar with my Unboxing Canada series, I am unboxing a package from each of the provinces and territories across Canada. The purpose is to encourage Canadian travel and help people discover what makes Canada such an amazing country. Hopefully I'll be doing thirteen of these articles, but with the tourism industry in the current state that it is in, it may take some time.
You can see the unboxing video below, or keep reading for my breakdown of the contents:
Travel Manitoba sent me a half dozen items in their box, all of which shows why Manitoba is the heartbeat of Canada.
The first thing they sent me was an official Travel Manitoba facemask. I'm writing this during the COVID-19 pandemic, and, in many places, facemasks are mandatory right now. On one side of the facemask is the provincial tourism branding, and on the other side is the provinces' most famous animal: a crisp, white polar bear standing amid a field of pink orchids.
The next thing they sent me was a small, circle metal tin with nearly a hundred polar bear-shaped paperclips inside. Not only are these super cute, but they're ingenious too! Saskatchewan is literally known for their giant paperclip, yet I've never seen Saskatchewan-styled custom paperclips like this. What a great, inexpensive marketing idea!
The next items Travel Manitoba sent me were two small pads of paper. One pad shows the famous polar bear, while the other shows the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. I really, really love this museum, and it is one of the places I put on everybody's Canadian travel bucket list. This museum explores the challenges of human rights the world has faced ? and is not afraid to say Canada is guilty of human rights violations too. It covers everything from the Holocaust to Holodomor to the Armenian Genocide to the Rwandan Genocide. But it also digs in deeper, discussing personal instances of systemic racism, like how Wilcox County High School has their fixed mixed racial prom in 2013 ? only eight years ago!
The museum also talks about people like Viola Desmond and Georges Forest who stood up against a racial system in Canada and transformed the country we know and love.
It also makes mention time and time again of the genocide committed against the Indigenous people of Canada by the Canadian government. While it doesn't specifically state the Indian Residential School program was genocidal in nature (since the museum is funded by the federal government and the government hasn't acknowledged that fact), the museum puts those atrocities in the same category as other genocides.
On a lighter note, Travel Manitoba also sent me a deck of playing cards. One the back of each card is a wild buffalo, probably the same ones that I saw while in Riding Mountain National Park. I secretly love playing card games, so this was an unexpected but really sweet surprise to find in the box.
The next item was something I already have, but I'm happy to have another one: a Travel Manitoba notebook. I received an identical notebook from them in the past, but it's been a few years so they figured I probably could use another one. It's a fantastic quality notebook with a thick cover, a strap that closes it, a pen and a spot in the notebook to store the pen.
Lastly, Travel Manitoba sent me a beautiful ruby red water bottle. It shows the Travel Manitoba branding in both English and French, and geometric vectorized polar bears between them. It's good for both cold and hot beverages and is perfect for putting in your backpack or on your bike for a long trip.
All in all, I really loved this package from Travel Manitoba. It showed what Manitoba was known for ? polar bears, human rights and the beautiful outdoors ? and offered a bite size taste of what to expect if you visit it.
Thank you again to Travel Manitoba for sending me this package, and for participating in my Unboxing Canada series. Please visit their website and check them out on social media if you also want to plan your trip to Manitoba. Also, if you've always wondered what makes Winnipeg so cool, please read my 100 Facts You Didn't Know About Winnipeg.
Have you ever been to Manitoba? What is your favourite thing to see in there? Have you visited the Canadian Museum for Human Rights? Let me know in the comments below!
Don't forget to pin it!
Categories: Canada, Manitoba, Unboxing
Sharing this article helps the blog grow!