• Hide and seek: The race to save the Vancouver Island Marmot
• Acknowledging Forillon National Park’s controversial beginnings
• What the reign of King Charles III means for Canada
• An Exodus Travels adventure to Peru

It’s not easy to spot a Vancouver Island marmot in the wild. For the past 30 years, I have spent my summers hiking and swimming in the mountainous paradise of Strathcona Provincial Park on Vancouver Island. Founded in 1911, British Columbia’s oldest park showcases over 250,000 hectares of slate-grey peaks and flower-filled valleys. It is ideal marmot country. I never saw one.

On the park’s eastern border overlooking the Salish Sea, Mount Washington Alpine Resort has been home to the largest single colony of this elusive animal for decades. I spent summers riding the resort’s mountain bike trails. I never saw a marmot there, either.

Decades later, I’m standing in a dirt parking lot at the resort on a heavy grey autumn day. I’m here with a Vancouver Island University class learning advanced outdoor skills. With a dozen students surrounding him, Mike Lester, former field coordinator for the Marmot Recovery Foundation, holds aloft a wire contraption attached to a handheld radio. It looks like a TV antenna from the ’80s, and it provides me with my best chance — by far — of actually seeing a Vancouver Island marmot in its natural habitat.

The story behind a federal government pledge of $9.8 million to restore and present the heritage houses once owned by Grande-Grave’s expropriated families

Though today it is best known for its sweeping pebble beaches, coves, and stunning ocean views, the history of Quebec’s Forillon National Park on the Grande-Grave peninsula is steeped in discord and controversy.

Located on the traditional territory of the Mi’kmaq, before 1970, the area was home to just over 200 families spread across seven small communities. Today, that extended community is long gone, those families forced to leave their homes — many against their will — to make way for Forillon National Park.

This year, Forillon National Park is set to receive $9.8 million in funding to restore and present the few remaining heritage houses that remain some five decades after the controversial expropriation. Some of the money will also go toward commemorating the lives of the families that were forced to leave and to creating heritage-cottage-style accommodations for future visitors.

The wisdom King Charles III has gained through an extraordinary lifetime of service and many visits to Canada will guide his relationship with this country in the days and years ahead

By John Fraser

Coronations are historic, singular events. They happen rarely in anyone’s lifetime and reflect not only on the person who is being crowned but also on the people being served. They also speak volumes on the nature of the times. This was as true when Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine were crowned in 1154, and their realm became afflicted with a murderous conflict between church and state, as it was when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953. In the late queen’s case, the world was ready for a whole new story of hope after decades of depression and war. Contrarily, with the May coronation of King Charles III and his Queen Consort Camilla, the world turns out variously to be confused, grumpy, vengeful and not at all optimistic about the future.

If that is indeed the nature of our times, and there’s lots of evidence to support that take, then those countries like Canada fortunate enough to claim Charles as their head of state should thank their lucky stars. That’s because through a long life that sometimes looked like a game of snakes and ladders, all played out extensively in the media, this remarkable man who has finally succeeded to the role he was born to take on is not only a great survivor but also someone who turns out to be a champion of concerns and ambitions that align closely with those of many Canadians. These include a longing for a more caring treatment of the land with curbs on pollution and mindless development, as well as a more equitable relationship among all who live and work upon it.

A spectacular journey through Peru’s varied landscape encompassing coastal desert, snow-capped Andean peaks, the high altiplano, and lush cloud forest. The most famous sites are all visited including the mysterious Nazca Lines, awe-inspiring Machu Picchu in its incredible mountaintop setting, Lake Titicaca, where the night is spent in an island homestay, and the remarkable 3000m deep Colca Canyon. On the way, we encounter traditional culture, condors, llamas, and a warm welcome from the Peruvian people.

Meet your ambassador: Jill Heinerth

Check out these other upcoming trips:

- Consummate Explorer Package with Ocean Quest Adventures 
- Natural Wonders of Western Newfoundland with Charlene Bearhead 
- Heli-hiking in the Cariboos with Robin Esrock