Historica Canada Education Portal

This lesson is based on viewing the Pauline Johnson biography from The Canadians series. Pauline Johnson astounded audiences all over the world with her performances of poetry, comedy, and plays. The daughter of an Indigenous-Canadian father and an American mother, Johnson did not embody the stereotype of a Mohawk woman in the early nineteenth century.

In the following activities, students will learn about Pauline Johnson by researching the connections between her life and...

This lesson is based on viewing the Sam Steele biography from The Canadiansseries. Sam Steele, knighted by the King of England, was a courageous, determined man who helped "tame" Western Canada as one of the most important leaders of the North West Mounted Police.

Steele was directly involved in several pivotal events in Canadian history – everything from dealing with Louis Riel, Sitting Bull, and the miners in the Klondike Gold Rush to his involvement in the Boer War. The...

An exploration of different points of view of Canadians during the First World War.

Students will be able to explain the causes of the First World War and how Canada became involved. Students will be able to analyse the effectiveness of propaganda posters and create one that represents a specific point of view.
Visually and in writing, students will be able to express a point of view from a specific group of Canadian people during the First World War.

Time Allowance:...

Aboriginal people sacrificed much during the two World Wars, both at home and in Europe, all the while they weren’t considered “people” in the eyes of Canadian law. Students will explore the issues facing Aboriginal people during the Great War and the Second World War and collaborate to create a PowerPoint or PhotoStory presentation for the school Remembrance Day Assembly.

It is expected that the student will:

- apply critical thinking (including questioning, comparing,...

Students will explore different types of First Nations and Aboriginal architecture and submit a model to a simulated archictectural firm.

Students will:

- Understand the transition of housing from pre-contact to today and the role government has played
- Describe practices and beliefs that reflect First Peoples’ connections to the land and the natural environment
- Compare daily life in First Peoples communities
- Appreciate and value the cultures and traditions of First Nations...

During this unit of study, students will explore the individuals who made significant contributions to our history and the Canadian identity. This project could also be completed using provincial histories and identities.

The students will research Indigenous peoples and past explorers using multi-media (online resources and informational texts). They are expected to use this research to make a wall of a related structure, create a voice of the structure and present that to the class....

Students will, after researching background information on early exploration of Canada (Cabot, Cartier, Champlain, Frobisher and Hudson), role play/create tableaux based on situations in which contact was made between the explorers and Indigenous people.

Main objectives of the project: Through role playing of historical situations (and creation of representative tableaux), students will demonstrate an understanding of how contact between people in Canada’s early history resulted...

Overview

This lesson is based on viewing the Jay Silverheels biography from The Canadians series. First Nations actor Jay Silverheels struggled to establish himself as a serious and diverse actor despite being typecast as the "Indian brave" in roles like Tonto in the "Lone Ranger."

Through a variety of creative and theatrical activities, students will examine Jay Silverheels's career and accomplishments while exploring the broader issues of racism, stereotyping, typecasting, and images...

In April 2001 and again in February 2007 a storm of controversy erupted in the press of the province British Columbia. This lesson reflects on that controversy and encourages students to engage with the information in different ways.

"By studying historic artifacts of all people, the important and the unimportant alike citizens have a stronger foundation for understanding how and why the past tells us a great deal about the present and the future. All history is selective and...

Students will be required to conduct research on the relocation of the Mushuau Innu from coastal Labrador to the settled location of Davis Inlet. Students will examine the reasons why the federal government chose this course of action. In addition, students will study the effects the forced relocation had on the Innu community.

Students will:

- Identify the difficulties with relocation
- Analyze the resources regarding the relocation of the Innu
- Explore the history of the Innu...

In this lesson, students will debate and defend different assigned perspectives involving the participants in the outlawing of the potlatch in 1885. Participation in the debate should allow students to make observations that will help them develop an understanding of moral implications today that derive from actions taken in the past. Students should also gain a better understanding of the historical context under which the people in the past operated. Students will identify the...

Students will be given the opportunity to either complete the research project on their own, or in groups of up to five people. They will be assigned a single research topic, and will have to look at the changes which occurred in that topic area in the time from 1867 to 1918 (with the exception of the First World War specific topics). They will present their findings to the class at the end of the four week work period. Their presentation will have an oral, visual, and written...

Expose your students to the question of historical evidence and what makes an item or artifact a primary source or secondary source. This lesson will use small pieces of scholarship in the form of an academic paper to provide students with some foundation from which to analyze their positions on the use and determination of primary historical resources. The larger question to be considered is where Carr’s works fit in Canadian history.

Prescribed Learning Outcomes

You should...

Students will explore traditional West Coast Aboriginal peoples’ methods of utilizing the cedar tree.

1. Importance of the cedar tree
2. Origins of the cedar
3. Gathering and processing of cedar
4. Making a rose.

Procedures:

Introduction:

Trigger Activity: Display items made with cedar (hat, regalia, baskets, rope and roses). Ask the students if they know what the articles are made of. What do they know about the cedar tree? Why do they think Aboriginal people used cedar?...

This lesson is based on viewing the Alexander Mackenzie biography from The Canadians series. Mackenzie was the first white man to reach the Pacific Ocean by travelling over land and he was the first fur trader to be knighted for his accomplishments.

Students will study Mackenzie's accomplishments and consider his contributions to Canadian history, while exploring the relationship between his explorations and the First Nations people he relied on for his survival and guidance.