Writer/director Michael McGowan (2004’s “Saint Ralph”) has packed most of my favourite Canadiana icons - Stanley Cup, Tragically Hip, “roll up the rim” coffee cups, World’s Largest Hockey Stick – into his latest feature and he has done it all in ONE WEEK (94 mins. PG)

As the film opens bored Toronto schoolteacher Ben Tyler (Joshua Jackson) discovers he has an aggressive form of cancer and may have only weeks to live.

How does he deal with his impending health crisis?

He buys a vintage Norton motorcycle and sets off on a cross-country trek from Toronto to Tofino.

His fiancée (Liane Balaban) urges him to check into a hospital for treatment. But Ben has other ideas.

Through flashback scenes we learn he has spent most of his life trying to please others.

Now, with limited time on the clock, our youthful hero decides to do something to please himself.

A trek motivated by desperation turns out to be a journey of discovery as Ben not only learns about Canada, he discovers who he really is and what his life means to him.

So how does Duncan enter the picture? Well, it seems Ben has a thing about larger than life roadside attractions which gives McGowan an excuse to slip in shots of the world’s biggest nickel (Sudbury, Ont.), a massive tepee (Medicine Hat, Alberta), humungous fire hydrant (Elm Creek, Man.), giant red paper clip (Kipling, Sask.) and, yes, the World’s Largest Hockey Stick (the “Cowichan Community Centre” is listed in the closing credits.)

Hip lead singer Gord Downie plays a marijuana smoking cancer survivor with whom Joshua shares a late night joint and some conversation.

Canuck indie rock goddess (and onetime Duncan Garage Showroom headliner) Emm Gryner has a small role as a wandering neo-hippie folksinger with whom Ben shares a romantic interlude while camping in the woods.

On paper this may look like one of those dark brooding little flicks for which Canada has become famous (or infamous) at film festivals around the world.

Yes, the film is thought-provoking but it is also warm, charming and filled with great Canadian scenery.

Not surprisingly, Cowichan Valley Hospice Society chose the film to run as part of its Reel Alternatives film series earlier this year at Caprice Theatre.

Every year the Hospice Society offers a caregivers course. I took the course awhile ago and the manner in which McGowan tackles some potentially depressing subject matter in this film reminds me of the positive approach taken by the Hospice folks in their line of work.

“One Week” urges us not to take life for granted, to appreciate each day we get to spend in this beautiful country of ours … the people we meet, the places we visit, our experiences en route, all of these things play an important part in who we are and how we choose to live our lives.

Poignant, sensitive, entertaining and unapologetically patriotic, “One Week” is must-see viewing in the truest and best sense of that well worn phrase.

VIDEO TO KNOW: Although he is best known as one of the starts of U.S. TV “Dawson’s Creek” Joshua Jackson was born in Vancouver and got his start in Canadian films like DIGGER (1993) and MAGIC IN THE WATER (1995).

Toronto native Liane Balaban made a memorable film debut in 1999’s NEW WATERFORD GIRL.