Canada's Heartbeat: Unforgettable History Museum Tour

One learns a lot about the indigenous people of Canada, their lives, struggles, and their way of doing things. The exhibit about Canadian musicians and stamps were very interesting, too. One can easily spend 3-4 hours looking at the various exhibits.

We came here to learn more about the indigenous cultures of Canada and for the children's museum. They have a great set up here, we were able to go to the children's museum right after getting our tickets to wear out our daughter a bit before going to the main museum. The children's museum is really interesting, much more than we had expected. It is really great that they have so many interactive and educational displays about different cultures around the world. Following the path from Asia, to Egypt to Mexico was a lot of fun. They have the room to rent marbles and other things to build as well. Definitely a must stop if you have kids. After she got a bit of her energy out we went upstairs to see the main exhibits. The long hallway with the mirrors telling the stories of places around the country was really interesting, a bit tricky to read, but very unique. The layout to walk through is fantastic. Walking through history from the indigenous communities, to the invasion from the French and British, to the modern day is so well laid out. Not too many interactive displays to keep our daughter entertained, but just enough. It was absolutely fascinating to basically walk through the history of Canada. Going downstairs to the great room/hall was incredible, the totem poles are enormous. Getting to see them in person and read about how the people carve them out was really impressive. I'm really glad we made the trip here and feel we got our money's worth.

Excellent museum experience. The museum is on several levels and starts on the lower ground floor with a large hall of First People’s history, including several totem poles, sculpture and artifacts. On this level is also an exhibit of every stamp issued by Canada Post. Next level is a coffee shop, children’s museum, gift shop and special exhibit area. Carry on up and you then move through a fairly chronological history of Canada, displayed in an interesting and informative way. Allow plenty of time if you want to get the most out of this museum. I did not go to the children’s museum but did take about 30 minutes for lunch and was there 4+ hours and could have stayed longer. Enjoyed this museum, I can see it is not for everyone but if you like history or are interested in Canada’s historical story this is a good place to visit. There is a cafe/ restaurant on the lower ground floor as well as the main floor coffee shop.

Lets start with how impressive the architecture of this building is! Wide open and unique with floor to sky windows! The Indigenous first nations exhibit and the Retro Rock exhibits were our favorites - lots of amazing stories tucked into every corner of this museum! Visiting here was a great way to spend an afternoon and learn some history we never knew before! Nice location and the views from behind the cafeteria across the Ottawa Rive are spectacular! (They even have a kids exhibit ....surprise! .. although we never actually checked it out we thought it was a nice touch -- especially for those families bringing young'uns along! Definitely worth seeing if you are checking out the sights in the Ottawa/Gatineau area. Vince & Cath August, 2025

The museum is lovely on the outside, but not as interesting on the inside. It would have been better to have more opportunities for interaction and immersive learning. We found that the exhibits were hard to connect with (despite being Canadian) and that they did not necessarily accurately reflect the experiences of Canadians who were actually here during many of the events shown. The museum felt biased and lopsided, and there seemed to be a lack of staff around to provide additional information or answer questions.

Visited with two kids and two nephews this week, ages 11-13. They loved reliving their childhood memories of the Children’s Museum :) as well as the rest of the displays, especially the WWI and WWII eras of the Canadian History hall.

Fantastic museum with in depth and expansive presentations from all eras of Canada's history, warts and all. A must visit to understand more about Canada.

Very nice museum. We learnt a lot about Canadian history. We only had 2 hours and it's definitely not enough. Would definitely recommend a visit.

Excellent museum! The hall with the totem poles and First Nations exhibits were very well done. We learned a great amount about Canada on the upper floors that we did not know previously. Highly recommended!

Wonderful exhibits. Would have liked the guides to be more interactive with the visitors. The story of Canada was so informative and insightful