National Network for Equitable Library Service

This is your guide to dozens of spectacular and often hidden beaches on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island between Qualicum and the Malahat. While some of them are well used by people living nearby, many are virtually impossible to find without combing through official maps and back-road guides. From tiny rocky coves to broad sandy beaches, these public-access spots are enormously diverse. Just as important as finding these spots is knowing what to expect. Thus each location is accompanied by detailed information that any beach explorer should know before setting out.

Read all about it: Hikers to Walk From East Coast to Vancouver Canadians have long been fascinated with trekkers who conquered this country sea to sea, from John Hugh Gillis in 1906 to Terry Fox in 1980 to Rick Hansen in 1985. This adventure tale celebrates five Canadians who hiked from Halifax to Vancouver in 1921. For a nation struggling with post-war inflation, labour unrest and unemployment, the prospect of the 3,645-mile hike was a welcome distraction.

The years from the fall of New France in 1763 to the amalgamation of the Hudson’s Bay Company and North West Company in 1821 were marked by fierce competition in the fur trade. Traders from the warring companies pushed west, undertaking incredible voyages in their search for new sources of furs.

Remembered in Broze and Stone evokes the years immediately following the First World War, when grief was still freshly felt in communities from one end of Canada to the other. This book tells the story of the nation’s war memorials—particularly bronze or stone sculptures depicting Canadian soldiers—through the artists who conceived them, the communities that built them, and, above all, those who died in the war and were immortalized in these stunning sculptures raised in their honour.

Bankrupt, homeless and with only an old Toyota Tercel to her name, Barbara Stewart has taken a job as a camp attendant at Trinidad 11, an oil-rig camp in northwestern Alberta. She was told it’s a “dry” camp—good news for a person hoping to stay sober—but she soon finds out this isn’t true. During the day, she mops floors, scrubs bathrooms, changes smelly beds and picks up empties. At night, as she burns garbage in the incinerator, she finds solace alone under the stars and tries to reconcile her past with an uncertain future.

Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands are home to over two dozen active lighthouses. For over a century, these coastal beacons have guided ships through the fog and represented hope for countless mariners.

A century of dealmaking and government misdeeds forms the backdrop of this entertaining account of sternwheelers, iron horses and mountain roads. Battling factions of rail builders crossed many a line in the sand as they carved up both the land and the spoils of industry. Did both federal and provincial politicians wittingly sabotage road-construction programs to the benefit of the rail barons? Were Cornelius Van Horne, Major A.B. Rogers and Andrew McCulloch fully deserving of the accolades bestowed on them? Was railway man J.J. Hill a genius or an opportunist? R.G.

No vessel that sailed the Arctic seas has raised so much speculation or triggered imaginations as has the legendary Hudson's Bay Company ship Baychimo. In the 1920s, Baychimo set up trading posts in eastern Canada, sailed on fur-trading expeditions to Siberia during the turbulent years of the Russian civil war and made dangerous annual voyages around Alaska to Canada's western Arctic coast, shouldering her way through ice floes to resupply the HBC's remote trading posts.

Simply the Best delivers rare insights on success straight from the hearts and minds of winning coaches Scotty Bowman, Marc Crawford, Jacques Demers, Clare Drake, Ken Hitchcock, Mike Keenan, Dave King, George Kingston, Andy Murray, Rodger Neilson, Pat Quinn and Brian Sutter. These world-renowned hockey visionaries, recognized as some of the greatest coaches in the game, talk about what it takes to be a champion and the strategies that have made them successful.

These inspiring true stories illuminate the courage and wisdom of five 19th-century Native leaders and famous Métis who fought against impossible odds to preserve the culture and rights of their people. The visionary Cree leader Big Bear sought peace and a better life, only to be hunted mercilessly and imprisoned unjustly. Jerry Potts, the legendary North West Mounted Police guide and interpreter, helped smash the whisky trade and negotiate treaties.