Canada

Big country, lots of options! To keep this blog post from getting too long, I’ll just pick my favorite from each of the ten provinces and three territories of Canada and present them in approximately the order I encountered them. Even so, I’m leaving so much out! Feel free to let me know your favorites that I missed.

Yukon

The Call of the Wild by Jack London wasn’t just one of my childhood books, it was among all the dog stories my father brought from his childhood. The Call of the Wild was my first experience in traveling the world while staying at home, taking me, like Buck, from a comfortable life in California to the experience of a sled dog in the Yukon winter. It is available free online from Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/215

Prince Edward Island

From the complete opposite side of Canada, I also read Anne of Green Gables and several of its sequels as a child. It is also available free online from Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45

Between Anne of Green Gables and The Call of the Wild, you might be able to catch the attention of every eight to ten-year-old you know. I recently read a book over Zoom to my eight-year-old nephew who I wouldn’t have believed could sit quietly and listen for 30-40 minutes a night. If you are thinking of reading to a child (which could earn endless gratitude from their parents), Zoom’s free account limits you to 40 minutes if there are three participants or more, but 1:1 meetings are unlimited. Sign up here: https://zoom.us/

Nunavut

Never Cry Wolf is a book by Farley Mowat, a biologist who studied caribou and wolves in the Arctic. The related Disney film caused some chaos at my Christian high school when the faculty assumed it was safe to show an auditorium full of teenagers. The scene where Mowat runs fully naked seemed quite long as teachers rushed to the balcony to cover the projector. I couldn’t find a free version of either the book or the movie, but they are available in all the usual formats through your favorite bookstore.

British Columbia

Allan and I went to Victoria, British Columbia the year after we were married, visited Butchart Gardens, and brought home a 1000 piece puzzle. I just googled Butchart Gardens puzzle and there were 160,000 results. I’m recommending a puzzle, but to take a virtual tour of Butchart Gardens there are both professionally done videos you can buy or amateur videos on YouTube.

Newfoundland and Labrador

My brother-in-law was among the over 33,000 airline passengers who were diverted to Canada on September 11, 2001. Twenty percent of those passengers landed in the small town of Gander, Newfoundland. That story is told in The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede and the Broadway musical Come From Away. The soundtrack for Come From Away can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mdoyKYzkoI

Ontario

When I read The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood for my graduate class on Men and Women in American Literature, I underlined something on every page! If you want a conversation about the form of the book, just ask. For here, I’ll just note that it centers on an interesting passage on how “forgiveness too is a power.” The series on Hulu is also excellent and the first season follows the book closely. Of everything from Canada, I’m most passionate about the form and message of this book.

Quebec

A few years ago, my family joined Allan’s best friend’s family and we camped in a national park just north of the city of Quebec. Among all the amazing food we picked up at Quebec’s farmer’s market, I particularly remember blueberries the size of quarters. We spent a day wandering around the city, so I was happy to find that you can do the same using Google Streetview: https://artsandculture.google.com/streetview/historic-district-of-quebec-city/SgGtys-WqMnU9g?hl=en&sv_lng=-71.20581350184471&sv_lat=46.8135501965247&sv_h=-35.8671579752&sv_p=22.746424466700006&sv_pid=dszGvAOqSfm5rMTb2Go71Q&sv_z=1

Quebec is a huge part of French-Canadian history. An excellent book covering that history is Champlain's Dream by David Hackett Fischer. It covers Champlain’s roots in France, American explorations, relations with the Native Americans, and French politics which impacted their colonies in North America. I listened to it on CD from the library, but there are some online versions of it as well: https://sites.google.com/site/bi016banyu8/Santam9987Mk1313

Saskatchewan

Little Mosque on the Prairie presents humor and humanity in the interactions between conservative Muslims, liberal Muslims, and non-Muslims in Saskatchewan. It was originally made for Canadian television and it now can be found on YouTube with the first episode at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xJQwqb7jh4

Nova Scotia

The movie Maudie starring Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke is the sweet, true story of Maud Lewis, an artist and woman with special needs who sold paintings for $5. Now her paintings might sell for around $20,000 and one went at auction for over $125,000. I watched Maudie on a DVD from the LA County Library.

Manitoba

Just like the United States, Canada has its share of murder mysteries, young adult novels, and other books that are great easy reading. I read Mistik Lake, a young adult novel by Martha Brooks, right after I had finished reading the Icelandic novel Independent People. The characters in this Manitoba story have a strong Icelandic connection. Canada, like the United States, is a country of immigrants with a beautiful and meaningful tangle of roots stretching from around the world.

Alberta

Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King then reminded me that Canada also has strong and deep roots from right where they are. This story of Blackfoot Indians in Alberta is funny and challenged me to look at old literature in new ways.

Northwest Territories

Green Grass, Running Water had parts that were wonderfully light and fun. The Lesser Blessed by Richard Van Camp is a much more serious First Nations story. You can watch the movie based on the novel at Kanopy.com if you sign in with your library card number.

New Brunswick

Our stop in New Brunswick isn’t long, but have you ever seen a 45 foot tide? This is where I want to go when I get the chance to travel again! Here’s the YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnDJ6_XpGfo

In summary, Canada has always been one of the most beautiful and easy to reach international destinations for Americans. Search for Canada at thecrazytourist.com and you’ll find more than 70 galleries: https://www.thecrazytourist.com/?s=canada. When this pandemic is over and the border opens again, you might want to plan travel to Canada using your local travel advisor. Shout out to my favorite travel advisor, Kaitlin Darnell at Laura's Travel in Redlands. May the travel industry survive and thrive - may we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Canada and throughout the world.

Photo Credit: John Lee https://unsplash.com/photos/oMneOBYhJxY