90 years. 90 stories. One powerful legacy as Canada’s leader in youth exchanges. ❤️🇨🇦
This year, Experiences Canada is proudly celebrating 90 years of changing lives and strengthening young Canadians’ connection to Canada. Follow along as we share remarkable exchange stories that shaped learning far beyond the classroom.
Since 1936, Experiences Canada (formerly SEVEC) has been providing opportunities for Canadian youth to strengthen their connection to each other and their country. In partnership with the Department of Canadian Heritage, our national charitable organization has changed hundreds of thousands of lives by broadening horizons through a safe and affordable opportunity to exchange, explore, and experience Canada.
Over the past nine decades, more than 400,000 youth from all provinces and territories have participated in our bilingual programs and events. They have been on incredible reciprocal exchange adventures, made lifelong friendships, and have developed a strong appreciation for our country and the diversity of its people. We have better prepared them to become the active citizens and community leaders we need them to be. In doing so, we empower youth for the future of Canada.
Support our legacy of delivering life-changing youth experiences!
In recognition of this historical milestone, we welcome your gift of $90 and invite you to help us continue to empower youth for the future of Canada.
We know from testimonials and engagement with our volunteers and participants that our exchanges truly are life changing experiences, creating memories and friends from coast-to-coast-to-coast that last a lifetime.
How Expériences Canada came to be
1936 – The organization had its beginnings in 1936 when James H. Biggar, a history teacher from Upper Canada College in Toronto, created a summer exchange program for his students to live with Quebec families to further their understanding of French Canada.
Our founding name, Visites Interprovinciales was chosen by Biggar, who believed his students’ sense of “Canadianess” would be more rounded if they spent three weeks in the summer immersed in French language and culture, living with Quebec families. Of all the exchanges we now offer today, half of them continue to be bilingual exchanges.
James H. Biggar
1970s and 1980s – several youth programs emerged to help foster a more pan-Canadian approach to linguistic exchanges, notably the Bilingual Exchanges Secretariat championed by Ottawa educator and politician Jane Dobell. This program focused on facilitating group exchanges during the school year, as well as supporting individual exchanges during the summer months.
1981 – Initially known as two distinct organizations, Visites Interprovinciales and the Bilingual Exchange Secretariat, they merged to create a new charitable organization, the Society for Educational Visits and Exchanges in Canada, or SEVEC.
Over the years SEVEC, with the generous support of the federal government beginning in 2003, greatly expanded the number of exchanges offered, extending opportunities for Canadian youth to explore their country and connecting on a variety of themes and interests including Indigenous culture, sports, music, language, and community involvement.
2015 – In 2015, SEVEC changed its name as part of a major rebrand to a truly bilingual name that reflects our origins and core commitment to advancing opportunities for experiential learning in both official languages. Building on our proud history, our name, Expériences Canada, captures the essence of the opportunities and programming we offer for youth and for the educators and community leaders that serve them.
2026 – We are honoured to celebrate Experiences Canada’s 90th anniversary alongside our supporters from coast-to-coast-to-coast, and we are inspired continue this legacy well into the future. Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm, dedication, and stories with us over the years.
