Historica Canada Education Portal

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.