Registering for the school program is easy! That said, please keep the following information in mind when planning your class’s outing.

• All programming on Friday, February 14 and Wednesday, February 19 will be presented in French. Please note that programming offered on Tuesday, February 18, Thursday, February 20 and Friday, February 21 are presented in English.
• Schools may book up to a maximum of 4 activities per group.
• All school groups attending a full-day will be scheduled into a lunch time slot. See the lunchtime section for more information.
• Adults, parents and children not registered in the Canada Life School Program will not be allowed access to any Canada Life School Program sites or workshops.
• Transportation costs are the sole responsibility of the visiting school group.
• All Canada Life School Program components are subject to changes.

1. Choose your programs!

Take a look at our program guide in order to plan your day at Festival du Voyageur.

2. Fill out the reservation form. 

Mark your desired activities in order of preference in the requested workshops section of our reservation form. You must select a minimum of 1 paid workshop appropriate to your students' grade level. You must fill out all of the requested fields on the form. If this information is not provided, your registration will be filed as incomplete and will lose its place in the queue.

Reservations will be accepted as of October 8, 2019 at 8 a.m.

3. State any special needs and comments on the reservation form!

We want all of your students to have an awesome day at Festival du Voyageur. Please be as specific as possible when explaining the special needs of your students. We will do our very best to accommodate your needs.

4. Submit your registration form via email.

All reservation forms must be submitted to [email protected].

5. We will acknowledge the receipt of your reservation form within three business days and you will be contacted in turn.

If you do not receive this acknowledgment within the specified time, please contact us immediately at 204-258-2569 or email at [email protected]

6. When Festival du Voyageur receives your form:

Based on your requested workshops, the School Program Coordinator will schedule your students’ day. If those workshops are not available, the School Program Coordinator will suggest alternatives by email and/or telephone.

Cost for students

There is a base registration fee of $6.50 per student. The cost of individual workshops varies between $2.00 and $4.00. GST is applicable to all registration fees. For example, the cost of one student’s visit might look like this:

$6.50 (base fee) + $4.00 (Fort Gibraltar Grades 3-7) + $3.50 (Winter Transport) = $14.00

Cost for chaperones and extra teachers

A maximum of one chaperone for every 10 students is allowed access with the group at no extra charge. Please remember to indicate how many chaperones will be attending on the reservation form, and notify us if this number changes, so we can adjust the cost and number of entry bracelets you will receive. Any additional chaperones will be charged $12.

Voyageur Park is closed to the public during Canada Life School Program hours.

Invoicing

Festival du Voyageur will send a confirmation of your registration as well as a copy of your invoice. On your registration document you will find a confirmation number. Please keep note of it so that we can access your file more easily when we communicate with you over the phone or by email.

Payment

a) You will receive an electronic copy of the invoice.

b) Invoices are to be paid within 30 days of issue. If payment is not received prior to event, students will not receive passes.

c) If we do not receive your payment within the timeframe mentioned above, your reservation may be at risk of being cancelled. Please make sure to verify the due date on your invoice.

d) Please indicate your confirmation number when making your payment. If your school division is paying for your outing, please request that your school name and your confirmation number appear on the cheque so that we may identify your payment as complete. We accept: Visa, Master Card, debit, direct deposit, cash, or cheque.

For secondary schools following a semester system: Teachers may reserve up to 50 spaces for students without paying a reservation fee. Upon the start of the second semester, you will be required to complete the reservation, including the final number of students and chaperones. Payment will be due in full.

Please make your cheque payable to:

Festival du Voyageur Inc., 233, Provencher Blvd. Winnipeg (Manitoba) R2H 0G4

Rules and regulations – modifications/ cancellations/ refunds

a) Since there are several fixed costs associated to the Canada Life School Program, the Festival du Voyageur will not issue refunds due to illness, absenteeism or due to bad and/or severe weather.

b) All Canada Life School Program components are subject to changes and cancellations without notice.

c) Festival du Voyageur will not issue refunds for bus breakdown or bus cancellations by the schools or school divisions.

d) The cancellation deadline is January 24, 2020. No refunds will be made after this date.

e) The deadline to bring modifications to your reservation is January 24, 2020. No modifications will be made after this date.

f) A REFUND MAY BE ISSUED IF:

• An activity is cancelled and not replaced without notice by the Canada Life School Program (refund is for the activity in question only)
• There is a change to your reservation before January 24, 2020.
• You decide to cancel your reservation before January 24, 2020.

• Above all, we care for the safety of your students.
• Help us care for the Festival site by not littering. Please use the garbage and recycling bins provided.
• The snow sculptures and walls are beautiful works of art, and our sculptors worked very hard to create them. Do not climb on them.
• Please do not disturb scheduled presentations or activities in progress.
• Do listen to any instructions given by the Festival staff in yellow smocks or historic costumes. If they tell you to stop doing something, there’s a good reason!
• Be careful on the slides, and wear the helmets provided.
• Take care around the horses. They are strong animals, and they don’t like surprises!
• We know it’s really tempting, but no snowballs!
• It is the responsibility of teachers, and not the staff and/or volunteers of Festival du Voyageur, to maintain discipline and supervise their group(s.)
• We encourage teachers and chaperones to model active listening, to silence cell phones, and to take necessary phone calls or conversations with other adults outside and away from the students while programs are in progress. This will ensure an excellent experience for your students.

This kit will be sent to you by mail in early February 2020 and will include:

• Your schedule of activities, including your lunch time and location
• A bilingual map of Voyageur park
• Entry bracelets for your accompanying chaperones
• Information about the Fort Gibraltar Summer program

Celebrate Festival du Voyageur all year long with a brand new ceinture fléchée (sash), a souvenir t-shirt or other Festival merchandise! We offer schools and their students the opportunity to order official Festival du Voyageur goods.

How to order

1. Distribute individual order forms to the students.
2. Collect the students' order forms and payments.
3. Send the master order form and payment to Festival du Voyageur.
4. Merchandise can either be picked up at our office (233 Provencher Blvd.) or be sent to the school to be distributed to the students. Please select your preferred option on the master order form.

One order form per school please! The order form will be available on our website as of mid-December and sent with your package.

It is important to note that Voyageur Park will be accessible to the official Festival du Voyageur photographers at all times, including during the Canada Life School Program. Schools are responsible for obtaining the necessary permissions from parents. Teachers are responsible for ensuring that students that do not have the necessary permissions are kept away from sight lines during photo shoots.

• To avoid confusion, please ensure that all teachers and accompanying adults have a copy of the itinerary prepared by the Festival du Voyageur School Program Coordinator.
• Lost students - please share our lost child procedure with your students prior to the outing

Hours: Activities are scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Departure from the park must be no later than 3 p.m.

Voyageur Park is designated as a non-smoking zone during the Canada Life School Program. As such, smoking is not permitted anywhere in Voyageur Park. Thank you!

Chaperones must arrive with their group or they will be refused entry to the park unless prior arrangements have been made with the School Program Coordinator.

Festival du Voyageur, along with its partners and volunteers, will not be held responsible for accidents that may occur on the Voyageur Park grounds or any of the Canada Life School Program sites.

Spending the entire day at the Canada Life School Program? We will reserve the space that best accommodates your activity schedule.

• Lunch seating will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.
• Only groups participating for a full-day will be assigned a lunch space.
• Place lunches in labeled boxes and take them to your assigned lunch space or leave them in your bus if possible.
• Menus of vendors on site will be posted on the website, heho.ca, in February.
• Lunch space availability is subject to change.
• In order to accommodate everyone, lunch spaces are provided for a length of 30 minutes.

Nut allergies

Please advise your students not to bring any nut products into the Canada Life School Program sites for the safety of those sensitive or allergic to nuts.

If you and your students are looking for free activities to do or need directions to your activities, please visit the Info Centre, located near the heated bathrooms. Our helpful staff are more than happy to assist you!

Have you lost or found something? Items may be dropped off or claimed at the Info Centre with our staff during the Canada Life School Program hours. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that your lost item(s) will be found. During the festivities themselves, you may claim lost items at Voyageur Park or call 204.233.ALLÔ (2556) to locate items. Lost and found items are kept for a month following the Festival du Voyageur at our offices located at 233 Provencher Blvd.

Festival du Voyageur will not be held responsible for any theft or loss of items that may occur while visiting Voyageur Park or any of the Canada Life School Program sites.

It goes without saying that February in Manitoba can be very chilly! Ask your students to dress warmly: winter coat, snow pants (or warm undergarments), tuque and/or ear muffs, scarf and/or neck warmer, mittens, two pairs of socks and a warm pair of boots.

In order to respect other schools taking part in the same workshops, we will attempt to start as scheduled.

We will not be starting presentations from the beginning to accommodate late incoming groups.

The Maison du Bourgeois, Fort Gibraltar and Maison Chaboillez are open only to those who have registered to attend activities within these buildings. We encourage students and teachers to come and visit these locations during the Public program on weekends, evenings, and on Louis Riel Day. If you are interested in visiting Fort Gibraltar with your class in May and June, see our website for more information.

First aid services are available within Voyageur Park. Please consult the Park Map before your visit to know its exact location. In case of a first aid emergency, signal one of our staff in yellow smocks or historic costumes and they will help you locate or contact our first aid team. Once it is safe to do so, please report any incident occurring in the park with our staff at the Info Centre.

When your school-bus arrives onsite, a volunteer from our parking team will board your bus and give you a number. Please keep this number with you and make sure that your students and chaperones also know the number!

If this number is even, your group will exit at the main entrance (#1 on your school program map). If this number in odd, your group will exit at the service entrance (#12 on your school program map). When you have your entire group and are ready to leave the site, please proceed to your designated exit. Give your number to the volunteer at the exit and they will call another volunteer in the parking lot to locate your bus and bring it to your exit. This may takes a few minutes. Please ensure that your bus driver is with his or her bus when you want to leave!

If you are from a rural school and need to leave the park earlier or are arriving at the park in a vehicle other than a schoolbus, please be sure to indicate this on your reservation form in the comments section. This will help us facilitate your departure from Voyageur Park.

To ensure the security of the Canada Life School Program, each student must be accompanied by an adult who is signed up with the Canada Life School Program in order to leave the site.

Students who are lost may find their way to the Info Centre where our staff will assist them in locating their group. They may also find help with any Festival employee - wearing a yellow smock, historic costume, or Tent MC. Please share this information with students.

To ensure students’ safety, any student needing to leave the site must be accompanied by an adult.

We appreciate your comments! Your feedback helps us innovate and improve the Canada Life school program.

We appreciate your comments! Your feedback helps us innovate and improve the Canada Life school program.

PRIZE PACKAGES – URBAN CATEGORY

AVAILABLE PRIZES: Three (3) packages valued between $120 and $200 dollars (Items that the prizes may include: program admissions, sashes, headbands, wooden spoons, beaded necklace and/or wooden dice game.)

PRIZE PACKAGES – RURAL CATEGORY

AVAILABLE PRIZES: Four (4) packages valued between $140 and $240 dollars (Items that the prizes may include: program admissions, sashes, headbands, wooden spoons, bead necklace and/or wooden dice game.)

Draw winners will be contacted by email in March.