According to the CBC, the Canadian government is sponsoring a new search—the latest of many—for Sir John Franklin and his ships, both lost in the Northwest Passage more than 160 years ago. I suppose the rapidly melting ice in the passage could make the hunting easier than in the past, but it also makes the search more urgent: It’s no secret that the expedition is Canada’s latest move in the ongoing political maneuvering by several governments to claim the area as their own. 

I fancied myself pretty darn literary at age 10 when the spunky exploits of L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables sparked my imagination, and I hungrily read the series’ eight novels in under a year. Apparently, oodles of Anne fans more inspired than myself took that challenge further over the years, traveling to Prince Edward Island—the setting for Anne’s tales—to pay homage to the author and her characters. 

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It’s been a busy season for rock ‘n’ roll museum openings. First we noted the debut of the Woodstock Museum, and now the National Post brings us this article about the new Youngtown Rock & Roll Museum in Omemee, Ontario—Neil Young’s childhood home. Omemee is about 80 miles northeast of Toronto, and it helped to inspire the “town in north Ontario / with dream comfort memory to spare” that Young sings about in “Helpless.” Here’s video, also featuring The Band and Joni Mitchell: 

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Today the capital city of Canada’s Quebec province turns 400 years old. This weekend will see the peak of a months-long celebration that began in January and will continue into October. It’s funny, you’ll rarely read a travel article about Quebec City that doesn’t describe it as “the most European city in North America” (or, at least, of having a European sensibility, or being European-flavored), thanks to its heritage buildings, cobblestoned streets and devotion to fine food and wine. But to me, as a Canadian, it’s always been the most Canadian of cities. 

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“Toronto. I can’t stand it—the place drives me mad. I’m allowed to say this because I’m Canadian. ... It’s trying to be the New York of the Midwest.” The singer-songwriter also reveals some of his more positive travel experiences and more in this Q&A with The Observer.

Photo by Ian Muttoo via Flickr (Creative Commons)

A recent U.S. decision to ban the import of polar bear hides and other bear-hunting trophies could put an end to hunting-related tourism in Canada’s Arctic. The ban stems from the polar bear being upgraded to “threatened” status under the U.S. government’s Endangered Species Act. 

I’m sure The Independent meant well with this effusive profile of “the world’s most liveable city.” On the other hand, I’m not so sure that Vancouver’s tourism authorities will be thrilled at the association of their fair city with canned corn niblets.

Photo by D’Arcy Norman via Flickr (Creative Commons)

In anyone else’s hands, Annapolis Royal: Enchanted Valley would likely be just another roundup of “cute” shops in a “quaint” historic town. But when Noah Richler (son of Mordecai, and with at least some of his father’s enormous talent) is the writer, it becomes a meditation on the turning of the seasons. “Summer plays tricks on Canadian visitors,” he writes, and it has “done so since the nation’s very start. ... How cruel it must have seemed to the Frenchmen in the New World that a place so utterly idyllic in summer would prove so difficult to endure come winter.”

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We’ve touched on what a navigable passage through the Arctic will mean for international shipping and travelers. The latest issue of Foreign Affairs offers a thorough look at the economic and political implications of an ice-free Northwest Passage, something that, according to experts, could happen as soon as 2013.

Related on World Hum:
* Seven Wonders of the Shrinking Planet

Photo of the Arctic Sea by wili_hybrid, via Flickr (Creative Commons).

Independent bookstore closures are hardly a new phenomenon, but this one really stings. As Canada’s oldest bookstore, The Book Room has kept readers in Nova Scotia supplied with bound volumes for 169 years—since 1839. But as a result of declining sales, the Halifax store is selling down its inventory in preparation for a March closure. Said the store’s president Tuesday, “The staff and I are both really sad about having to do this.”

If you’re a Canadian or U.S. citizen crossing into the U.S., you’ll now need to show a government-issued photo ID—a driver’s license will do—and proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate. Those under 18 need only a birth certificate. Of course, a passport is all you really need, but the new rules are a precursor to a mandatory passport rule, which has been postponed until at least 2009. Cross-border commuters fear long waits and headaches as the new rules take effect today. Hopefully the scene at checkpoints won’t look anything like this. The U.S. State Department has the official word on requirements.

Update, 11:40 a.m. PT: Word from the Tijuana-San Ysidro border crossing this morning is that the wait is perhaps slightly longer than usual.

In Washington D.C., visitors can go sleuthing around the International Spy Museum. In Berlin, they can look back on the reign of the Stasi at the DDR Museum. But in Canada’s capital, and my own hometown of Ottawa, tourists aren’t allowed even a spyglass-eye’s view of the top-secret Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) museum. And they most certainly can’t buy souvenirs. 

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