Kejimkujik National Park

Kejimkujik National Park

The Kejimkujik National Park is picture perfect Arcadian forest landscape: luminous mixed forests, crossed by countless rivers, lakes and brooks. The park owes its name to a large lake of the same name, the Kejimkujik. In the language of the Mi'kmaq – one of the oldest First Nations of Canada – it is called "tired muscle", in reference to the effort required to cross the lake. The canoe has been the means of transport of choice here for thousands of years.

The film accompanies members of the First Nation, such as the canoe builder Todd Labrador, who passes on his knowledge about the production of traditional longboats to future generations. The First Nation storyteller Ursula Johnson tells the legends and story of her people through vivid rock paintings, the petroglyphs, which have captured the life of the Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia for generations.

The many waterways in the park make Kejimkujik National Park a paradise for amphibians and reptiles. The park's native Blanding’s turtle has recently been added to the list of endangered species. To ensure that the turtle thrives in Kejimkujik, Parks Canada relies on the help of volunteers, who help to cope with its declining population. We are there when a group of helpers go on search for the turtles in the swamps.

The Seaside Adjunct of Kejimkujik is just 50 kilometres away: white quartz sand beaches create a Caribbean feeling. The biologist Gabrielle Beaulieu fights against the invasion of the European green crab, which was introduced some decades ago and which endangers the whole ecosystem of the surrounding seaside.