Historica Canada Education Portal

As we celebrate a century of women’s suffrage, it’s important to recognize that while this victory was a landmark achievement, social change and the push for equality weren’t born from, nor completed by, achieving the right to vote. Women in Canada have played a crucial role in the story of the past and how it shapes the present. Women’s history seeks to write women back into the parts of the narrative from which they have been omitted, with the goal of telling a more complete story.

Putting...

Use these worksheets to support the activities in Historica Canada's Women in Canadian History Education Guide.

Scroll down to find links to download each worksheets, either as a complete set or individually.
Activity worksheets include:

Activity 1 - Museum Panel Graphic Organizer
Activity 2 - Women and Work
Activity 6 - Women and labour in the Great Depression
Activity 7 - Second World War Posters
Activity 9 - Women and the Quiet Revolution
Activity 10 - The Royal Commission on the Status of Women...

The Cenotaph Project is an engaging activity that gives students an opportunity to get to know the individual men and women who served, and potentially died, in wartime. Begun by Ontario teacher Blake Seward, teachers and students nationwide have undertaken this project. The document below serves as a step-by-step guide.

To mark the centennial of the first achievements of women’s suffrage in Canada, Historica Canada has created this Education Guide.

It asks students to examine issues of identity, equity, activism and justice in historical and contemporary contexts.

This Guide does not focus on the suffrage movement’s links to ideologies such as socialism, imperialism, racism and classism, though teachers may want to address these intersections. In particular, many suffragists did not...

This lesson is based on viewing the Emily Murphy biography from The Canadians series. Murphy was a mother, magistrate, author, reformer, and legislator. She is best remembered as one of the "Famous Five" who successfully took the "Persons Case," which advocated the recognition of women as persons in the eyes of the law, before the Supreme Court of Canada, and the British Privy Council.

Studying the life of Emily Murphy will provide students an opportunity to learn about the...

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...

This lesson is based on viewing the Kit Blake Coleman biography from The Canadiansseries. Coleman’s twenty-five year career helped carve a new niche for women in journalism.

The life and career of Kit Coleman will provide students with a starting point to learn about a variety of themes and topics. In several research and writing activities, students will learn about the historic events that Coleman reported on, the history of women and work, and the field of journalism.

The beginning stages of the First World War saw increasing suspicion by the Canadian populace of immigrants from Germany and Eastern Europe, particularly Ukrainians, Austrians, Poles, Czechs and Slovaks. Over 80,000 immigrants from these nations were forced to carry special identity cards and report for regular interviews with local authorities. Further, 8,579 "enemy aliens" (5,000 of which who were of Ukrainian origin) were interned in twenty-four detention camps during the course...

The students will be presented this assignment as one option in their First World War research project. This assignment is designed to appeal to the students in the class who are visually minded. They will research primary documents that are, for the most part, in picture form. They will use text only to reinforce the information they get from the pictures and to review material already covered. At this point, students should have a basic understanding of Canada’s role in the First...

This lesson is based on viewing the Jennie Trout Heritage Minute. It explores Trout's courage and determination to enter the male dominated field of medicine in the 1870s. She became the first woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada.

Students will use the example of Jennie Trout to learn about and question gender-role stereotypes in her time and in the present. Students will examine the experiences of Jennie Trout and Emily Stowe within the larger context of the history...

This lesson is based on viewing the Heritage Minute, "Hart & Papineau." Under the tenure of Louis-Joseph Papineau, the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada passed a bill in 1832 that ultimately guaranteed full rights to people practicing the Jewish faith. It was the first of the British colonies to do so.

After discussing and making sense of the events that take place in the "Hart and Papineau" Minute, students will watch additional related Heritage Minutes to develop their...

This lesson is based on viewing the Heritage Minute, "Emily Murphy," which recounts how Murphy challenged the laws and secured the rights of women as persons throughout the Commonwealth.

Students will consider the contributions that individuals can make to society, and generate a list of people who should be recognized for their contributions. After learning that, historically, women were not recognized for their contributions, students will write biographies for women they...

This lesson is based on viewing the Heritage Minute, "Nellie McClung," Nellie McClung was an important advocate of women's rights and suffrage. As a result of her campaigning, Manitoba became the first Canadian province to give women the vote in 1916.

Studying the life of Nellie McClung will provide students with an understanding of the concepts about "appropriate" gender roles that existed in her time and in ours. Students will also examine how McClung challenged these notions....