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Historica Canada Education Portal

The Fenian Raids Education Guide

  • Military History
  • Intermediate – Middle School

This Learning Tool appears in 3 Collections

Historica Canada has created this Education Guide to mark the sesquicentennial of the Fenian Raids, and to help students explore this early chapter in Canada’s history. The Fenian Raids have not figured prominently in Canadian history, but they are often cited as an important factor in Confederation. Using the concepts created by Dr. Peter Seixas and the Historical Thinking Project, this Guide complements Canadian middle-school and high-school curricula. It invites students to deepen their understanding of the wider context in which Confederation took place through research and analysis, engaging discussion questions, and group activities. The Fenian Raids represent an intersection of Canadian, Irish, American and British history. While the raids themselves were a series of small military conflicts along the Canadian border, the events behind them are part of a broader story about nationalism, identity and immigration. It is not just military history, but social, cultural and political history as well.






Supporting documents for this Learning Tool

File type File size Action
The_Fenian_Raids_Education_Guide_FINAL.pdf PDF 4.63 MB Download
5Ws_Chart.pdf PDF 4.58 MB Download
Factors_of_Confederation_Chart.pdf PDF 6.98 MB Download
Fenians_Raids_Cartoon.pdf PDF 854 KB Download