IN THIS EMAIL:
 

- Learn more about how the RCAF is evolving to create space for Indigenous youth as we recognize its 100th anniversary 

- Explore the ecosystems living in the waters surrounding Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands with author and photographer Sara Ellison  

- Take a stroll around the streets of Vancouver with bestselling author Bill Arnott

- Don't know where to travel next? Take a look at some of the incredible trips being offered by CMH Summer Adventures, including heli-hiking in the Cariboos

As the RCAF turns 100, Cyle Daniels begins their own journey with the storied service

 A century after its creation, the RCAF is evolving to create space for Indigenous youth

By Kallan Lyons with photography by April Carandang

On a warm afternoon in the summer of 2021, Cyle Daniels flew over Long Plain First Nation, nestled on the banks of the Assiniboine River in Manitoba, and peered down at the crowd gathered below. It was his first time flying since he was a child — only this time, he was in the pilot’s seat. His cousins and siblings whooped and hollered as he circled around his grandmother’s house for a third time. It’s a moment none of them will ever forget — the day Miskwaa-Bineshiinh-Ikwe (Anishnaabemowin for “Red Bird Woman,” although Cyle goes by “Red Bird”) spread his wings and soared through the skies.

That afternoon, Daniels piloted a small two-seater plane. “It was very, very scary,” admits the 20-year-old Two-Spirit youth from Long Plain First Nation, but also “very thrilling.”

Daniels is a graduate of the Eagle’s Wings Flight School in Portage La Prairie, Man., just a five-minute flight northeast of his nation. Sitting next to Daniels on that first flight was the school’s founder, Royal Canadian Air Force Captain Josh Cordery, who runs the summer aviation program for Indigenous youth from southern Manitoba.

Last chance to see PRESSURE in Ottawa!

For the past 10 months, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society has been proud to play host to a wonder of exploration: DEEPSEA CHALLENGER, the state-of-the-art submersible that explorer and filmmaker James Cameron piloted to the deepest known point in the ocean in 2012. Our free exhibition PRESSURE: James Cameron Into the Abyss, is closing April 30, 2024, so be sure to plan your visit soon! 

Photos: Snorkelling Vancouver Island
 

Exploring the wonders of the Pacific and the unique ecosystems surrounding Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands with author and photographer Sara Ellison

By Suzanne Morphet with photography by Sara Ellison 

When Sara Ellison jumped into B.C.’s Salish Sea with a mask and snorkel at the height of the COVID pandemic, she was struck by two things. First, how cold the water was — no surprise there! — but also by the teeming world beneath the waves. It could have taken her breath away — had she not been holding it underwater.
 

“This cliff where we had chosen to go in was just covered with giant white anemones that I had never seen from the shore before,” she says, still sounding awestruck several years later. “I just had no idea that this was growing just a few feet below the surface.”

Vancouver’s hidden yin-yang
 

Exploring the streets of Vancouver with bestselling author Bill Arnott in anticipation of his new book, A Perfect Day for a Walk

By Bill Arnott 

(Photo: Scott Alexander Photography; Cover design: Jazmin Welch/Arsenal Pulp Press)

My name is Bill Arnott. I live on Canada’s west coast in Vancouver. And while I’ve been privileged to explore much of the world, I love the fact I can discover new things every time I step out my front door. More than new builds or development, I seem to unearth treasure even in familiar laneways and streets. Simply fresh eyes, new perspectives. Most days I do this on foot. My preference being the methodical pace walking brings, a connection that accompanies the cadence of footfall. A sense of presence and being, the I am contained in the iamb.
 

One recent day resonates. A particularly sensory excursion in which I was walking a broad looping route through the city, incorporating new architecture and old, concrete and soil, with views ranging from glass and steel corridors to open expanses of mountain and sea.

Canadian Geographic Adventures
 

Fly to remote viewpoints with your Can Geo Ambassador, Jenny Wong, for a day of hiking and travel writing instruction. You’ll cover topics including how to find your story angle, ways to capture your experience, and the art of descriptive writing.

Get inspired!