Canada is surrounded on three sides by oceans.
To the north, the Arctic Ocean borders Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.
Off the west coast of British Columbia is the Pacific Ocean.
The Atlantic Ocean, meanwhile, sits to the east of Canada’s Maritime provinces, which include Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island.

Dear Angela,
I’ve come up with a great idea to add to your tourist booklet of interesting and unusual things to do in our province. As you know, I’m on vacation for 4 weeks. I decided to check out apple picking as a seasonal worker. Can you imagine me picking apples? This wasn’t my original plan, but I saw a few ads for pickers posted at a café, and I thought it would be interesting. Although, I was a little worried because the work is extremely different from my usual web design job.
After applying for one of the jobs, I bought cheap work clothes from a store in a nearby town. The employer suggested I get bug spray and sunscreen, as well. Although it’s fall, the orchards still have insects and the sun is still strong. I had heard getting work at an orchard was easy in autumn, and it was true! They didn’t even ask for a resume or references. They just wanted to know how long I would be available, and when I could start. The pay is low and it’s in cash, and the hours are longer than I expected, but they provide free accommodation on the farm and three big meals a day. I left my computer and smartphone at work, thinking I could live without them. Well, I’m certainly doing that! Imagine handwriting a letter like this in the twenty-first century! Unbelievable! I’m also keeping a handwritten journal.
A full day picking apples can be very tiring. We climb up and down ladders to get all the apples on a tree. We carefully twist the stem of each apple to get it off the tree. Once picked, the apple goes gently into a container. After you master the technique, it’s amazing how many apples you can pick in a day. At the end of the day, we all get together in the kitchen and talk about many different things completely unrelated to apples, until we’re too sleepy to say another word. I’m learning a lot about what people do outside my little web design world.
I would love to hear how your booklet is going. Mail is delivered directly to the apple farm several times a week, so hopefully you can get a letter to me before I get back to the city.
Sincerely,
Janice

A. Just north of the city of Ottawa, Gatineau Park extends over 36,000 hectares and is considered the National Capital Region’s principal green space. However, 400 years ago, the Gatineau Hills served as the hunting and fishing grounds of the Algonquins, one of Canada’s many Indigenous peoples. According to archaeological findings, the Gatineau region was home to the Algonquin peoples for at least 4,000 years before its settlement by Europeans in the early 1600s. The area’s forests, rivers, and underground resources attracted European trappers, loggers, miners, and merchants who exploited the land for economic gain. The area remains a regional economic booster today.
B. By the early nineteenth century, locals living near the Gatineau Hills began recognizing the benefit of preserving the region, not only for future generations to enjoy but also to defend the region’s resources against excessive mining and deforestation. It took decades to convince the federal government to authorize protected status for the Gatineau Hills. More urgent issues occupied the government’s attention until 1938, when Gatineau Park was officially founded. Although private homes located throughout the area prevented it from being granted status as a bona fide National Park, it is managed in much the same way as a national park by the National Capital Commission (NCC).
C. Today, Gatineau Park is one of the National Capital Region’s principal tourist attractions and home to an extensive range of year-round recreational opportunities, including downhill and cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and ice-skating. Weather permitting, visitors can also enjoy swimming, canoeing, and kayaking, not to mention cycling, climbing, camping, and hiking. The last of these activities is particularly popular during fall’s final weeks, when the trees show off their most vivid colours. The region’s natural beauty is also exhibited in the park’s Visitor Centre, where photos and paintings of the region are sold as souvenirs. The Visitor Centre also displays information on the park’s history and wildlife, and sells park passes.
D. Gatineau Park’s continued protection remains a priority for the NCC. The administration faces ongoing challenges, most significantly, a dispute over private residence construction within park boundaries. Nonetheless, the NCC regards Gatineau Park as a successful example of government-sponsored cultural and environmental conservation. Plans for the park include preserving and restoring its natural resources. In future years, the development of recreational and ecotourism activities will aim to increase revenues to support the park. Finally, the NCC will expand community education facilities highlighting the role the Gatineau Hills have played in the region’s history.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.

Tourism British Columbia recently announced a plan to inject public dollars into promoting the rapidly growing travel niche of ecotourism. The province’s natural beauty attracts 20 million tourists annually. The government agency believes that number will soar if the province promotes ecotourism. The problem is deciding exactly where to channel those marketing and advertising dollars. The agency’s marketing coordinator, Mijung Park, says the plan, for now at least, is to sell British Columbia as a premier destination for kayaking. “Kayaking lets tourists experience British Columbia’s waterways without disturbing the surrounding ecosystems,” says Park. “Ocean and river kayaking are both highly marketable. Our agency’s next step is deciding on questions of which and how.”
Business owner and tour guide Eric Ferland is making a push for the bulk of funds to be channeled into promoting established ocean kayaking businesses like his own, Kayak-O Inc. Ferland says amateur kayakers have long been drawn to the coastal waters and open sea, where the need to circumnavigate obstacles is nonexistent. “These river kayaking companies that have been popping up lately are promoting themselves as more of an ’extreme’ sport, but ocean kayaking provides an equally exhilarating, yet less arduous, ecotourism excursion that spans a wide demographic, including older clientele,” says Ferland.
But River Adventures Ltd. owner Lars Norgaard suggests Ferland’s view ignores key differences in the two kayaking options. “River kayaks, in general, are designed for stability and maneuverability, as novice paddlers are often at the mercy of strong currents. We have clientele of all ages who want a more white-knuckle experience than what ocean kayaking can offer them. But any genuine fear subsides when clients discover that river navigation is straightforward, and nearby shores can be used as reference points.” According to Norgaard, his young company boasts an impressive number of first-time, one-off customers, thanks to its competitive pricing.
Asked about her agency’s future funding priorities, Park seems to imply that a rising tide will lift all boats. The decision, she insists, “needs to take into account the broad interests of the province, not the profits any individual enterprise stands to gain.”