Sorry to hear all this. I am glad your father is doing all good considering.
Try to remember, there is 100x more good out there in the bush than there are wreckless or with bad intent.
Try to stay positive and see all the good out there. Had some negative encounters and totally understand the stain from an ordeal like that but just remember there's way more positive than negative out there.
If feasible just leave the vehicle tucked away on a spur, leave a couple camp chairs and a stove around. The naughty types (if any roll up by chance) just see a camp and figure you aren't too far and might be watching.
Ticks in Princeton not sure, never stomped around there. Fraser Valley is probably the worst deal for that, I can pick up 20 in a 5 minute walk. Just tuck your pants into your socks, shirt into your pants, check your legs once every 5 mins, move brush out of the way if possible vs letting it rub you.... you'll bust 99% of ticks that way, pick them off with your fingies and give them a dose of BIC lighter flame. They'll die well before the flame burns you. If any borrow in, gentle work with needle nose tweezers pulls them out in tact. Once they're out, light em up (never burn one that is attached to you though, that's a good way to get infected with the badness) Probably slayed thousands of those little buggers and been bit 100+ times before I got wise (most detected early) and I'm still alright.
If you are wearing camo or black or whatever, you can give your clothes a once over with a lint roller at the end of the day, turn inside out and repeat, or just strip down, toss the clothes in a garbage bag outside the sleeping quarters and deal with it next day. That's how we roll.
caddisgirl for whatever reason picks up less hitch hikers than I do, takes all the same precautions but ended up with one in her undies last trip... a bit close for comfort on that one... died with extra prejudice haha
What you don't want is a tick attached to you for more than 48 hours (ideally 24) because that's when their digestion process involves regurgitation back into you which is how some get infected with the bad stuff (along with dumb stuff like burning them while attached or putting Vaseline over it, or any other silly remedies aside from clean plucking) Stay vigilant but just like bad peeps, stay cool and don't let ticks keep you from living the good life.