Historica Canada Education Portal

To mark the centennial of the Last Hundred Days of the First World War (August 8 to November 11, 1918), Historica Canada has created this education guide, designed to help educators and students think critically about primary sources as they learn about this period in Canadian history. The activities in this guide accompany the Think Like a Historian: The Last Hundred Days video series.

This series invites students to deepen their understanding of the Last Hundred Days and its larger...

Sir John A. Macdonald and the Fathers of Confederation are among the most famous — and controversial — Canadians in history. Using an approach developed by the Historical Thinking Project, this learning tool challenges students to think critically about Confederation and draw meaningful conclusions by examining evidence. This tool was developed for junior/intermediate social studies, history and civics classes from grades 5–8 and grade 5 to secondary II within Québec.

The Key Moments in Indigenous History Timeline poster that accompanies the Indigenous Perspectives Education Guide, provides a chronological overview of Indigenous history in what is now Canada from time immemorial to present.

This timeline is designed to accompany Historica Canada’s Indigenous Perspectives Education Guide, which includes lesson plans and classroom activities based on the Historical Thinking Concepts. Download the Guide at...

Popular narratives of Canadian history have most frequently been told from the perspective of European settlers. As a result, Indigenous experiences have often been neglected or excluded from the telling of our country’s history. For a more comprehensive understanding of Canada’s history, it is important to examine it from Indigenous perspectives. Doing so requires students to explore the depth, breadth, diversity, and regional variation of experiences of Indigenous peoples in the land that...

The Think Like a Historian series of videos and resources is a curriculum-based learning tool to build skills to analyze and interpret primary sources.Watch the videos, and download the education guide and worksheets to learn the five key steps to analyzing primary sources.

In this series, we look at letters and sketches from the Halifax Explosion of 1917.

In 2017, Canada turns 150! In marking Canada’s sesquicentennial, Historica Canada is highlighting 50 events that have helped shape our country since Confederation. At the same time, it is important to note that that the human history of what is now known as Canada began well before 1867. Indigenous peoples lived on this land long before European contact, and have histories that significantly predate modern Canada. We can look back upon many proud moments in our history, but must also examine...

The Canadian Encyclopedia is a free, bilingual resource of over 20,000 fact-checked articles and learning tools about Canada's history and culture. The Canadian Encyclopedia has hundreds of resources for teachers including timelines, quizzes and education guides covering provincial and territorial curriculum topics for social sciences & history, Indigenous studies, geography & sciences, civics and more. Visit thecanadianencyclopedia.ca.

To mark the centennial of the Battle of Vimy Ridge and help educators and students think critically about primary sources, Historica Canada has created the Think Like a Historian series of videos and worksheets.

These worksheets accompany the video Think Like a Historian: Vimy in Newspapers, which explores two newspaper accounts from Le Canada and The Globe in the days following the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

To complete these worksheets, students may...

To mark the centennial of the Battle of Vimy Ridge and help educators and students think critically about primary sources, Historica Canada has created the Think Like a Historian series of videos and worksheets.

These worksheets accompany the video Think Like a Historian: Vimy in Letters (Francis Bathe), which explores a letter written by Francis Bathe to his sister May following his experiences at the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

To complete these...

To mark the centennial of the Battle of Vimy Ridge and help educators and students think critically about primary sources, Historica Canada has created the Think Like a Historian series of videos and worksheets.

These worksheets accompany the video Think Like a Historian: Vimy in Pictures. This video explores the image commonly known as The Taking of Vimy Ridge.

To complete these worksheets, students may want to watch the videos more than once....

To mark the centennial of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, and help educators and students think critically about primary sources, Historica Canada has created the Think Like a Historian series of videos and worksheets. The following activities provide an introduction to the Battle of Vimy Ridge and working with primary sources.

To complete these worksheets, students may want to watch the videos more than once. Turning on the subtitles can help second...

Residential schools were government-sponsored religious schools established to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian society. Successive Canadian governments used legislation to strip Indigenous peoples of basic human and legal rights, dignity and integrity, and to gain control over the peoples, their lands and natural rights and resources. The Indian Act, first introduced in 1876, gave the Canadian government license to control almost every aspect of...

Beginning in the early 1600s, the British Crown (later the Government of Canada) entered into a series of treaties with Indigenous nations in Canada. The treaties were intended as formal agreements to encourage peaceful relations and to specify promises, obligations and benefits for both parties. Indigenous peoples wanted to protect their traditional lands, resources, and ways of life, while ensuring peace and friendship, and eventually receiving support as they shifted to...

The purpose of this Guide is to enhance your students' knowledge and appreciation of the Black Canadian experience, drawing from Lawrence Hill's award-winning historical fiction, The Book of Negroes, the remarkable journey of Aminata Diallo and the historic British document known as the "Book of Negroes." Structured around themes of journey, slavery, human rights, passage to Canada and contemporary culture, this Guide asks students to examine issues of identity, equality, community, and...

This learning tool complements Historica Canada’s Sir George-Étienne Cartier Heritage Minute by exploring the role of Cartier in the negotiations surrounding Canada’s Confederation. The role that Sir George-Étienne Cartier played in uniting the provinces of Canada is so extensive that it was impossible to choose only one achievement to commemorate. Therefore, the Heritage Minute features a series of Cartier’s notable accomplishments.

Watch the Minute!...