It may surprise you to know that it is only mostly illegal to carry a handgun in Canada.  If you can convince the chief firearms officer in your area that there is a compelling reason, they can grant you that privilege.  Unfortunately the standards for permission are essentially at the whim of said official; although a good starting point is that you work in the wilderness.  

An advocacy group is attempting to convince the federal government to set reasonable guidelines and a path to legally carrying your handgun while you hunt. https://wildernesscarry.wordpress.com/

Two people hunting 40 kilometres west of the Alaska highway - and roughly South-West of Fort Nelson - were surprised by a Grizzly sow in late afternoon on September 6 (2015).  This follows an attack on a bow hunter by a sow and 2 cubs near Cranbrook on September 2.  In both cases the hunters were attacked with, essentially, no warning.
All three hunters required evacuation to hospital.  The Fort Nelson hunters waited for over nine hours, until 3 a.m. on Sept. 7 while a SAR Cormorant helicopter flew in from Comox to evacuate them to the Fort Nelson Regional hospital.  The Cranbrook hunter was flown to Calgary for medical treatment.