You've never heard of VFR OTT (over the top) in Canada? It should be on the PPL syllabus. It means you are flying above the top of the clouds, often full cloud cover.
Be aware, when flying OTT, that performance rules require you to land safely as well, so you should be careful in a single-engined aircraft.
Generally, when you are being radar vectored, ATC assume responsibility for terrain avoidance, but that is not an excuse for you to shrug off all responsibility! Check the CARs for specific stuff for Canada.
Talking of which, here is an extract from CARs In Plain English:
602.116 VFR Over-the-Top
You can do this in the cruise by day if you are at least 1,000 feet vertically from cloud, or have a vertical distance between layers of at least 5,000 feet, with at least 5 miles visibility and the weather at the destination is forecast for scattered cloud or clear and visibility of at least 5 miles with no precipitation, fog, thunderstorms or blowing snow from 1 hour before to 2 hours after ETA if you rely on a TAF. Otherwise, the after ETA time increases to 3 hrs. One point to note with OTT (and night) flight is that you must carry all relevant charts and publications for the proposed route and probable diversions, which essentially means you can't go without a map. Your choices are VNC, WAC or VTA. Normal VFR doesn't need charts, but you must be familiar with appropriate information for the trip.