Today’s guest is Jimmy Ullikatalik, the manager of the Taloyoak Hunters and Trappers Association and project manager for the Aviqtuuq Inuit Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) (https://www.arcticwwf.org/the-circle/stories/working-to-protect-aviqtuuq-for-future-generations/), a proposed 90,000 square kilometres of marine, terrestrial and fresh-water ecosystems in Nunavut. Jimmy also represented Nunavut at COP26, the UN Climate Change conference in Glasgow.In October, I was lucky enough to make...

Best-selling author Karen Pinchin is our guest on this episode of Explore. Her new book, Kings of their Own Ocean, is the phenomenal tale of an incredible fish, the bluefin tuna, which has gone from being the cornerstone of the Roman Empire to the much sought-after catch brought to near extinction in the past century in our own boom-bust, globalized economy. Ultimately, this is a heartening wildlife story, filled with an incredible cast of characters, a globetrotting look into the history of...

I’m thrilled to have Mark Terry with us today. He’s had a long and interesting career that includes everything from being a newspaper reporter at the Toronto Star to making a documentary about the master of horror Clive Barker to his ongoing work with the UN producing groundbreaking documentaries about the impact of climate change on our polar regions. This is a fun and interesting conversation with a true innovator. We get into everything from swimming with penguins to how he wound up on the...

In January 2023, Caroline Coté set the record (https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/meet-caroline-cote-the-fastest-woman-to-reach-the-south-pole/) for a solo expedition to the South Pole by a woman, travelling 1,130 kilometres on skis from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole in just 33 days. This is a fun and fascinating conversation. The bulk of it is about her record-breaking trip to the South Pole on her own, dragging everything she needs in a sled behind her through harsh terrain and...

*Trigger Warning. This episode is about Residential Schools and includes descriptions of abuse. It may only be suitable for some listeners. If you require emotional support, there is a 24-hour Residential School Crisis Line, which you can reach at 1-866-925-4419. Jeannie Ehaloak was just four years old when she was taken away from her parents on Victoria Island in what is now Nunavut and sent to a Residential School far away in Inuvik. The impact on her was profound and long-lasting. It is a...

We're thrilled that Gary and Joanie McGuffin are joining us for this last episode of our 2023 Summer Canoe series. Be sure to check out the previous two, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau  (https://canadiangeographic.ca/podcasts/a-canoe-conversation-with-prime-minister-justin-trudeau/)and RCGS Explorer-in-Residence Adam Shoalts (https://canadiangeographic.ca/podcasts/adam-shoalts-on-his-epic-canoe-journey-from-lake-erie-to-the-arctic/). Arguably no couple has paddled more of Canada's...

"That's what was in my head. If anything went wrong, if I let the paddle slip out of my hand, if it broke, if I had some freak muscle spasm or cramp, I'm going over Niagara falls." It's always great to have RCGS Westaway Explorer-in-Residence Adam Shoalts back on the podcast. And this conversation underlines why. He joins us to talk about his epic, solo 3400-kilometre canoe and hiking journey from his backyard near Long Point on Lake Erie all the way to the Arctic Ocean in northern...

We're thrilled to have Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as our guest on Explore as we kick off our second annual Summer Canoe series. This is a fun one.As you will hear, he is absolutely passionate about canoeing. It's a past-time he fell in love with early while paddling with his father, the late Prime Minister and fellow canoe enthusiast, Pierre Trudeau and continues to enjoy today whenever his busy schedule allows.In this episode, he talks about the canoe trips he took with his father, both...

“When you have that moment of empowerment — when someone believes in you — all of a sudden, a switch is thrown in your head, and you believe it’s possible.” James Cameron, ocean explorer and Oscar-winning director of Titanic, Avatar, Aliens and more, is our guest with Dr Joe MacInnis on this episode of Explore. The two friends took part in an intimate conversation honouring the important role that MacInnis, Cameron's longtime mentor, played in his career and in ocean exploration. It's a...

Professional wildlife photographer Ryan Tidman has an up-close view of the damaging impact logging old-growth forests is having on Vancouver Island. The Trebek Initiative Grantee is investigating how cutting down the last remaining giant cedars and redwoods is taking away the dens of the island's black bear population. On that rainy island, caves are too wet for bears to live in, so holes in giant trees are where they spend their winters and raise their young. But for how much longer,...

When Pascale Marceau came up with a name for her latest high Arctic expedition, "Arctic Awe," she thought this would refer to the awe she felt looking at the stark beauty of the land and sea ice she encountered. It wound up being so much more than that, awe born from extreme external challenges and the need to dig deep within herself. We're lucky to get Pascale, just weeks after finishing her ski expedition with partner Scott Cocks, in the depths of winter, across the sea ice from Ellesmere...

In her Great Island Expedition, RCGS Explorer-in-Residence Jill Heinerth and her team went to raise the voices of lives, ships and an aircraft lost during the Second World War (https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/second-world-war-era-bomber-discovered-in-gander-lake-newfoundland/) from the waters in and around Newfoundland.When we last had Jill Heinerth on the podcast, one of the stories she shared as she prepared for this diving expedition was about Lanier Phillips, an African-American...

"I've done a lot of hard things. At last count, I think I've done 33 or 34 expeditions, and I would say this was the hardest thing I've ever done. Chemo and the monoclonal therapy that I was doing... I was a mess. I would build myself up (between treatments) over the course of a few weeks, where I'd have a seven or ten-day decent period where I would go and do stuff. I was on Baffin Island in February, across the Paalik Valley, a combination of skiing, trekking and snowmobile. Doing it!"When...

"On our way back out, we hit all the volcanic gases. It was like the volcano had burped. We had hydrogen sulphide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. We were hoping to not find sulphur dioxide because that's one of those gases that is more indicative of an active magma chamber."RCGS Fellow Christian Stenner joins Explore to talk about his adventures inside Canada's most active volcano. Last year, the Calgary native and one of the world's leading cave explorers was part of...

It’s always a special moment when one of the RCGS Explorers-in-Residence drops by the podcast. This conversation with George Kourounis is no exception. George is one of the world’s leading storm chasers, broadcasters, and adventure travellers. His busy schedule has him doing everything from chasing tornados to jumping into volcanoes to surviving epic hurricanes and major weather events. He is all about exploring those moments on our planet when nature is at its most extreme and then sharing...

“If you want to understand what it means to be fully human, go to Africa.”Mario Rigby’s claim to fame is an impressive one. The RCGS Fellow was the first person to walk from Cape Town to Cairo solo. A Toronto based eco-adventurer, focused on sustainable travel and transport, Rigby covered 12,000 kilometres over two-and-a-half years and had a lifetime’s worth of adventures along the way. He was robbed of most of his money on just his second day out; he was attacked by wild dogs, pinned down...

George Angohiatok grew up as among the last Inuit to live a fully traditional, nomadic life in the Canadian Arctic. As a child in Nunavut in the 1950s and 60s, he lived with his parents, siblings and grandparents on the land, seal hunting on sea ice in the winters, and returning to land to hunt game and fish in the warmer months. That all came to an end when George was sent to Residential School, and his family was forced by the government into the community of Cambridge Bay. Those days on...

In this second episode of Explore from Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, we're passing the mic to two of our star students from our Canadian Geographic Podcast Workshop at the Canadian High Arctic Research Station. Tyler Agligoetok and Sinclair Lyall were among local Inuit youth who took part in five days of podcast training and community open houses. In this conversation, Sinclair interviews Tyler about his favourite memories of a recent goose hunt out on the tundra of Victoria Island. They discuss...

"Indigenous People have the knowledge. And if we work together with scientists, we can come up with so much more than what only Inuit know or what scientists know. It's a great tool." - Jeannie Ehaloak, Polar Knowledge Canada, Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.We're thrilled to bring you the first of three episodes from our December visit to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, where we visited with the Inuit community and spent time at the new Canadian High Arctic Research Station there. CHARS, as it's known, is an...

"The boreal forest is the largest intact forest left on the planet, it holds a quarter of the world's wetlands. It is a climate regulator."You could argue there is nothing that binds Canada together like our boreal forest. It's defined by vast stands of spruce and seemingly endless lakes and swamps stretching beyond horizons. It runs in an uninterrupted band from British Columbia across the three territories and every province into Atlantic Canada. And it's a hugely important part of efforts...

For our final episode on board the Polar Prince, sailing Atlantic Canada's Bay of Fundy, we're spending some time under the waves and looking to the skies, as we join a fascinating cross-section of scientists, students and researchers who make up this Students on Ice Ocean conservation expedition. With the team from New Brunswick's Huntsman Marine Science Centre, we dive into the Fundy waters, gathering samples for baseline databases, crucial to understanding the changing nature of the Bay...

We're still riding the Bay of Fundy waves this episode with the Students on Ice - Ocean Conservation Expedition. Today we're leaving the sea and heading up the Point Wolf River in New Brunswick's Fundy National Park, with the story of a remarkable effort to bring the Fundy Atlantic Salmon back from the brink of extinction. A unique subspecies, unlike all other Atlantic Salmon, the Fundy Salmon doesn't migrate to Greenland after leaving its spawning grounds. It stays in the Bay of Fundy, in...

For our 50th episode, Explore is taking to the seas!We join a Students on Ice expedition to the Bay of Fundy aboard the Polar Prince, on an Ocean Conservation Expedition led by RCGS Fellow and SOI President Geoff Green. This is a working expedition with scientists, researchers, commercial fishers, Indigenous youth, students and artists.Over the next few episodes, we’ll ride the Bay of Fundy tides, the highest in the world, exploring the many wonders of this spectacular part of Canada’s...

It's mushroom season, so we happily took up Keith Seifert on his offer to go on a mushroom and fungi walk in the Gatineau Hills.  Keith is one of the world's leading experts on fungi, having spent over forty years studying them on five continents, both as a research academic and as the top scientist on the subject for Agriculture Canada. He is the past president of the International Mycological Association. Keith is also the author of the new book, "The Hidden Kingdom of Fungi -Exploring the...

"Many people have said this was genocide. Justice Sinclair says it's genocide. The former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has called it genocide. So how do we investigate that? What are the patterns that we see from Residential School to Residential School in relation to the deaths of the children, and who do we hold accountable for that?"Kimberly Murray is our guest on this episode of Explore. She is Canada's first Independent Special Interlocutor for Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites...