I have visited the Colca Canyon. It is an amazing experience. If you get there early enough, you may have the opportunity to see a Condor fly. And that looks just incredible. Of course, the timing and everything else depends in if the Condor decides to oversleep or if he's in the mood for a short flight. But overall, it's great.

I got there as you mentioned. I'm from LIM, so I took a LIM-AQP flight, stayed and visited around for a couple days, and then went to Chivay. Spent the night in an eco-hotel (which had no wi-fi, would recommend double checking with them if they have Internet access before booking anything, I personally didn't like that 'relaxing' experience). Then, woke up really early in the morning (probably around 3 or 4), had a quick breakfast, and then a chartered bus took us to the Colca Canyon. We probably were there for a couple hours, and then got back to Arequipa.

Even though it was a short trip, it was a memorable experience. Oh, and it gets pretty cold, though I don't think you'll have a problem with that being from Canada.

WRT SPDF: I don't believe that is actually a commercial airport. Probably something for military planes to land on, or something similar. Even chartered flights. But not commercial planes. And I don't think any (known) airlines around fly to SPDF.

Hope you do get to come to Peru, and visit the Canyon!