RCGS News & Events

Meet the 2018 Can Geo Challenge national finalists
This coming weekend, youth from across the country will descend on Ottawa to take part in one of Canada's biggest student competitions. From May 26 to 28, the 23rd annual Canadian Geographic Challenge will see the country's brightest young geographers vie for the title of National Champion. More than 22,000 students in Grades 7 to 10 participated in this year's Challenge. Twenty students qualified for the national final, which consists of a written ... Full story »

MEC announced as official outfitter of the RCGS expeditions program
Two of the biggest names in exploration are teaming up to help make Canada better known to Canadians and the world. The Royal Canadian Geographical Society is pleased to announce Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) as its official outfitter. Since 1929, the RCGS has supported and celebrated Canadian exploration, from the windswept heights of Yukon’s Mount Logan to the still-unknown depths of the Bisaro Anima cave. Now, when explorers carry the flag ... Full story »

Featured Fellow: Michael Gervers
People have carved churches out of solid rock since at least the 11th century, but until recently, scholars thought the practice had died out. Enter Michael Gervers, a professor in the department of historical and cultural studies at the University of Toronto Scarborough and expert on Ethiopian history. While travelling throughout rural Ethiopia to digitize ecclesiastical manuscripts, he encountered hundreds of rock-cut churches, some carved not ... Full story »

Remembering Inuit oral historian Louie Kamookak
Louie Kamookak, a respected Inuit oral historian and Honorary Vice-President of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society, died Thursday, March 22 in hospital in Yellowknife. Born in 1959 at a seal-hunting camp on the Boothia Peninsula near modern-day Taloyoak, Kamookak dedicated his adult life to working with youth in his hometown of Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, where he was a school teacher and more recently an Elder, preserving and passing on traditional ... Full story »

Singer-songwriter Cœur de pirate awarded Bernier medal
Béatrice Martin, one of Canada’s finest musical talents, has taken the global music scene by storm since her 2008 debut. Known internationally by her performance name, Cœur de pirate, Martin was awarded the Capt. Joseph-Elzéar Bernier Medal and an honorary fellowship on Feb. 28, 2018 at the inaugural Sights, Sounds and Tastes of Canada gala dinner in Toronto, at which she also performed. Martin has had an enormous cultural impact with her revival ... Full story »

Two new Explorers-in-Residence announced
The Royal Canadian Geographical Society is expanding its Explorer-in-Residence program. At the first annual Sights, Sounds and Tastes of Canada gala, held at Airship 37 in Toronto’s historic Distillery District Feb. 28, RCGS CEO John Geiger announced that Fellows George Kourounis and Adam Shoalts have been appointed Explorers-in-Residence. They join underwater cave diver Jill Heinerth, who for the past two years, with the support of The W. Garfield ... Full story »

Giant floor map of Newfoundland and Labrador unveiled
Students in Newfoundland and Labrador will now be able to explore their province’s unique geography and geological history right in their schools thanks to a first-of-its-kind teaching tool unveiled March 2 in Conception Bay South. A Giant Floor Map of the province joins Canadian Geographic Education’s suite of gymnasium-sized maps and is the first provincial map in the popular collection. One map will tour schools free of charge for teachers, ... Full story »

Featured Fellow: Meric Gertler
University of Toronto president Meric Gertler is a world leader in urban theory, focusing on the geography of innovation, creativity and culture in city centres as economic drivers. Besides authoring, editing and co-editing several influential books and dozens of academic publications, he has been an advisor to North American and European governments, to the Euro­pean Union and the Orga­nisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, in Paris. ... Full story »

The Great Trail: Stories celebrating the world’s longest, most diverse path
Is summer already on your mind? Canadian Geographic has a few ideas in its January/ February issue to get you outdoors and onto The Great Trail! Inside this issue, you’ll find stories and photographs that perfectly capture the essence of what makes this 24,000-kilometre trail a national treasure. The magazine provides great examples of how any Canadian can take advantage of it to explore our country, no matter their capabilities or interests. Full story »

Duo to attempt first-ever winter ascent of Yukon’s Mount Lucania
They’re calling it a frigid first, and it’s hard to imagine a better name for an expedition that will see two Canadians attempt the first winter ascent of Mount Lucania, Canada’s third-highest peak at 5,226 metres. Lonnie Dupre and Pascale Marceau plan to depart on their Lucania — A Frigid First expedition from Whitehorse this week, weather permitting, heading first to Yukon’s Burwash Landing airport. From there, they’ll be flown to icefields ... Full story »