In Canada, it’s darker at this time of year. There are fewer waking hours and dusk and darkness are often inhabited by unexplained events and ghostly phenomena. We are not a superstitious people, not susceptable to assumptions of supernatural causation. But facts are facts, and we are a curious bunch. So every year at about this time we venture out, often by candlelight, in search of the truth that awaits us in the cold darkness…

The Haunted Stirling Mansion, home of Fright Night

European settlement in Nova Scotia dates back to the seventeenth century. In Canadian time, that’s a lot of history. @AuthenticCoast  and @travelbyterry have been tweeting me about an interesting Nova Scotia haunt. The DesBarres Manor Inn was built in 1837 in the seaside village of Guysborough on Nova Scotia’s eastern shore for Supreme Court Justice, W.F. DesBarres. Justice Debarres was the grandson of J.W.F. Desbarres, a military man and mapmaker who accompanied Major-General James Wolfe at the great battle on the Plains of Abraham. It is rumoured that Wolfe gave DesBarres his pocket watch at the moment of his death, and that it hung in the Manor for many years. Spooky!

Surrounding the Plains of Abraham is Québec City. As night falls, Ghost Tours of Québec guide visitors through the cobble stone streets and ancient buildings of the old city, regaling them with tales of murders, executions, mysterious sightings, tragedies and hauntings.

Mon Dieu! Tours are in English and French.

In Ontario (known before confederation as Upper Canada), Fort George is regarded by many as the most haunted place in Canada. It was headquarters for the British military in Niagara during the War of 1812, and the scene of much blood, death and suffering. Many soldiers and civilians alike are still buried on the grounds of the fort. Some people say that distant cries can still be heard there.

If you dare to set foot in the fort on a weekend in October, check out the Friends of Fort George Halloween ghost tour. This two-hour guided candlelit walking tour is conducted by Ghost Tours of Niagara.

In the Canadian Badlands of southeastern Alberta, ghost tours and other paranormal events are wafting through the mist. The Haunted Atlas Coal Mine has BIG BOO and LITTLE BOO tours into the darkest corners of the abandoned coal mine. The Medalta Ghost Hunt is a nocturnal tour through a 100 year old pottery factory led by the Medicine Hat Paranormal Investigation team. And in the normally peaceful village of Stirling, Alberta, the Haunted Stirling Mansion is one of the best-produced haunted houses I have seen anywhere in Canada.

On Twitter, the Stanley Park Hallowe’en Ghost Train is known as @Ghost_TrainYVR. This year’s theme is Circus of Disaster. @Ghost_TrainYVR has been tweeting little teasers about this year’s event. Example: “The 1st circus in Ancient Rome was called the ‘Circus Maximus’ & more than 200-thousand people came to watch the show” Here’s a review of this year’s ghost train from the Georgia Straight, a popular Vancouver area media outlet.

If you know of a ghost tour or spooky Canadian factoid, please share it with us in the comments below.

Not all of the city of Vancouver is by the water, but when I am walking around there, the ocean and the mountains are never very far away.

And the people of Vancouver always seem to be jogging or riding their bikes.

Granville Island is as much for the tourists as it is for the local people.

Vancouver has the highest real-estate prices in Canada.

It is a thriving port city on the Pacific coast of Canada.

The climate in Vancouver is mild (for Canada) and much of the city’s social life takes place out-of-doors.

In Vancouver, the ocean and the mountains are never very far away.

Canada’s wildlife often makes news headlines.

In the past year,  a grey whale wandered into Burrard Inlet in downtown Vancouver. A moose was  videotaped trotting down a footpath beside Calgary’s busy Memorial Drive. A cougar chased two girls down a street in an Alberta town. A coyote ate a small dog in Toronto’s Beaches and a deer was spotted outside of Toronto’s Union Station, the busiest transportation hub in Canada. As urban sprawl grows so do the number of unusual wildlife sightings in Canada’s urban areas.

One place that doesn’t make the news for wildlife sightings is the local dump. You won’t see pix of it in local tourism brochures but there’s a saying that if you want to see a bear, head to the local dump. That’s exactly where I was last summer when I spotted this motley crew of black bears which included a rare cinnamon gal. Double click the pic and you’ll see six bears. The guy at the dump told me Cinnamon Girl is an old gal that they had not seen in awhile.

Some of Canada’s wildlife are often seen in cities. Raccoons climb our back porch and skunks dig for grubs in our yard. Hawks and occasionally osprey hunt pigeons and black squirrels in downtown parks and on the local par 3 where I occasionally get out for a round, I’ve had fox run after my ball. Last year, I saw a weird animal I couldn’t identify. It had  a pink snout, spiky-looking fur and a long rat-like tail. My neighbours told me it was a possum. I didn’t grow up in this part of Canada but apparently, these critters are common in southern Ontario. Talk to anyone in my ‘hood though and they’ll tell you the ‘Toronto’ possum is a recent transplant that first arrived here on fruit trucks from the southern US. The trucks are destined for Ontario Food Terminal, a massive distribution point for fruit and vegetables in Toronto’s west end.

Commercial fishing and tourism exist side-by-side in Steveston Village.

In February, 2009, I visited Steveston, a historic fishing village in the southwest corner of Lulu Island, British Columbia. It’s not far from the Vancouver International Airport and the city of Vancouver. The village looks out on the south arm of the Fraser River delta. Steveston was founded in the 1880s and became a thriving centre for commercial fishing and canning. At its height there were 15 canneries along the shore packaging millions of pounds of salmon, herring and other species. Hard working fishermen were known to frequent the many hotels and saloons, as well as the occasional bawdy house. Apparently there was some gambling activity and opium consumption as well.

I stopped at Pajo’s Fish & Chips, a popular floating restaurant down among the wharves. It’s a casual place where great seafood comes in a paper cone and seating is on wooden picnic tables. Steveston is still a major fishing port and if your timing is right, fresh and frozen fish can be purchased off the boats. Much work has been done to promote tourism here. The Gulf of Georgia Cannery is a National Historic site right near Pajo’s. I took a bus tour from my hotel in Richmond and a local guide showed us the cannery and some sites along the coast.

Steveston marina in February – home to Canada's largest commercial fishing fleet, comprised of seiners, gillnetters, trawlers and other vessels.

The City of Richmond occupies the north part of Lulu Island closer to Vancouver. Here’s a map. Richmond is accessible from Vancouver on the new SkyTrain, so is the airport (YVR), and the Olympic Oval, but not Steveston.

North arm of the Fraser River from Lulu Island (Richmond) looking towards Vancouver

Check the Steveston Village Community website for more on local attractions and the latest news. Steveston is worth visiting if you are in this part of Canada. Here are some more directions on how to get here.