It was an emotional welcome for a trio of canoeists as they made their final landing in Vancouver on Sunday afternoon, completing an 8,000-kilometre cross-country journey.
Despite a recent spate of stormy weather, Nolan Aziz, Will Vyse and Georges Kirijian landed near the Jericho Sailing Centre under sunny skies where they were greeted by family with hugs and tears, and supporters breaking into an impromptu rendition of O Canada.
The three 24-year-olds believe their journey from Tadoussec, Que., to Vancouver is the longest single-season canoe trip ever recorded, at more than 200 days.
The trio previously finished a 60-day trip in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and decided to see if they could push that further and travel across the country in support of Truth North Aid, a charity that helps northern and remote Indigenous communities.
The friends paddled long distances every day and camped almost every night on Crown land, provincial parks, or once on a farm, with the owner’s approval.
When travel by water wasn’t possible, they portaged over land, sometimes using a cart to pull the canoe, and other times carrying it on their backs.
Vyse said the coast-to-coast journey revealed the generosity and hospitality of the Canadians who greeted them at different stages of their trip.
“I think our biggest takeaway is that there’s a lot of really beautiful people out there, really kind people,” he said on the shore of Jericho Beach on Sunday.
Highlights of the trip included the icy waters of the Saguenay fjord in Quebec, the beautiful rocks and clear water of Lake Superior, and the Fond du Lac river in Saskatchewan with its sandstone shores and easy current.
“Athabasca sand dunes (in Western Canada) was something like we’d never seen before. It’s just like sand as far as you can see,” Aziz said.
The trip brought beautiful views, but challenges too.
Vyse said cold weather was a particular obstacle in Quebec, and a late thaw threw a wrench in the group’s timeline.
“We had to portage for like 3 weeks straight because the lakes just weren’t thawing,” he said, referring to the practice of carrying their canoe over land.
The group faced another tough portage in B.C. in order to avoid the unnavigable currents of Hells Gate and the roaring Fraser River.
Their longest portages reached between 50 and 80 kilometres, Vyse said.
In B.C., the group also climbed over a hydroelectric dam to get to the Peace River as they paddled through the Rockies.
Despite recent B.C. storms, Vyse said the group had good luck with the weather on the last leg of their journey.
“We’ve sort of been travelling in a little hole of sunlight with the clouds around us, just kind of perfectly escaping the rain,” he said.
Kirijian said the group faced their challenges with the awareness that they were sharing just one canoe, and that if something went wrong help wouldn’t come. That meant they made the decision to portage at certain stages of the journey instead of facing potentially unsafe rapids.
The tired trio said their first priorities back on land is a shower and a nap.
They thanked their supporters and said supporting True North Aid is one way of giving back to the northern communities who treated them with kindness, regardless of cultural or language barriers.
“We all have this really cool shared national identity as Canadians and it’s a really beautiful thing,” Aziz said.
-With files from Ashley Joannou
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2026.
By Marissa Birnie | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.