The top 10 vacation spots in Canada — voted by you

The Current's Canadian travel list features locations across the country, as voted by the audience. (CBC)

This year, many people have decided to spend their travel dollars here in Canada, given simmering tensions with the U.S. To help, The Current set out to build a Canadian travel guide. Listeners sent in more than 2,000 suggestions of places to visit, which we whittled down to a shortlist of 20 destinations all over this big, beautiful country.

After close to 50,000 votes were cast, we've put a spotlight on the top 10 locations. Read more about them, including: 

• Why a beach in Basin Head Provincial Park, P.E.I., is called the Singing Sands
• What to do in Stratford, Ont., when you're not seeing a show at its famous theatre festival
• Surfing, hiking, cycling and more outdoor activities in and around Tofino, B.C.

How friendship centres support, heal and connect urban Indigenous people

Elder Marjorie Muise, third from the right, alongside fellow elders from First Light, a friendship centre in St. John's. (Submitted by Leah Randell)

When Mi'kmaw elder Marjorie Muise moved from the small town of St. George's, N.L., to the bustling city of St. John's a decade ago, she was met with more than just a change in scenery. 

The urban environment left her feeling overwhelmed and out of place. She was also disconnected from the culture and traditions that had always been a part of her life.

It was through attending First Light, an Indigenous-led friendship centre in St. John's, that Muise found a path back to the community and ceremonies she had lost.

"It creates … the home feeling," Muise said. "It's a space where [we] can just be without judgment." 

First Light is part of a broader network of 125 friendship centres across Canada, based on 2021 numbers from the National Association of Friendship Centres.

These Indigenous-led community hubs offer culturally appropriate programs and support services to First Nations, Inuit and Métis people living in urban areas. 

Why more Canadians are getting divorced later in life

Canada has the second lowest divorce rate in the G7. But the amount of grey divorces, married couples older than 50 breaking up, has been on the rise for decades, according to Statistics Canada. (CREATISTA/Shutterstock)

Marnie Wraith and her common-law partner met when she was 50, a few years after her first divorce. They bought a house in Meaford, Ont., and spent their free time travelling. She says they had a good eight years together, but she felt there was more life to experience.

"I was coasting and I felt that I wasn't growing, and being almost 60, there were still more meaningful connections and adventures in life that I wasn't going to get in my situation," she said.

Wraith's breakup is what some call a "grey divorce", when people aged 50 and over split. Canada's divorce rate hit a 50-year low in 2020 but the rate of grey divorces has been rising for decades, according to Statistics Canada. 

Data shows the average age of the married population is increasing because younger Canadians are choosing common-law unions instead of marriage. The average age of the general population is also aging.

How an abandoned couch brought joy and mystery to an English village

Photographer Elton-Wall captured portraits of 170 people. Some posed alone, while others gathered in groups. (Submitted by Alex Elton-Wall)

For weeks, photographer Alex Elton-Wall passed the same discarded two-seater sofa, abandoned on a patch of waste ground in the middle of the rural village of Lydbrook, England. But one morning, something clicked.

Elton-Wall, a self-described amateur photographer with a passion for capturing community life, was inspired by the contrast between the cozy, homely sofa and its wild woodland surroundings — and he saw the unusual setting as a chance to create a "snapshot in time" of his community.

He posted a message in the local village Facebook group, inviting residents to take part. "I know this is a strange request," he wrote, "but I'd love to take pictures of people on the sofa." 

To Elton-Wall's delight, the community didn't just respond. It rallied.