First, we’d like to thank the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC)—especially Elyse Mailhot for all her support and passion—CTC’s Canada Program and Air Canada for their generous support of this project.
I’ve always been a dreamer. I’m a big believer in working hard, working with integrity and never giving up. And it is with those intentions that this project came to live and evolve into what is now, Canada’s A Big Place blog. The project was created with the most sincere, positive and sublime intentions to showcase our beautiful and vast country to the world. And it would not have been possible without everyone involved.
In all honesty, when first met Elyse, her energy and passion really struck me; here was someone I wanted to work with. We met at a media function where, naturally, we started discussing travel, tourism and the changing landscape of media. Initially, when I first created the “pitch” to Elyse for this project, I never dreamt that it would materialize. But I kept fingers crossed. My goal, actually, was just to suggest ways the CTC Media Centre could better utilize its social media efforts on the new site.
We soon realized we had the same ideas, possibly future visions for how to engage online viewers, media and Canadians in general. We wanted to not only tell people about the “secrets spots” on locals know in Canada, also let them discover it for themselves by starting an online conversation. So with a lot of preparation, lots of team work and thinking big, this little blog-idea-that-could turned into this amazing, once-in-a lifetime opportunity.
We are so happy to have found Carolyne, a remarkable soul, up-and-coming writer and photojournalist superstar from Montréal, QC. And more so, we are so honoured, excited and happy to share this with you, hopefully inspiring you to plan your own adventure. Thanks, and happy travels!
With gratitude,
Victoria (with Carolyne)
