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B 8 - The Oakville Beaver, W e d n e s d a y D e c e m b e r 3, 2003 Historica co-founder wants to keep Canadian history in the classroom By Meianie Cummings S P E C IA L T O T H E O A K V IL L E BEAVER Try this Canadian history test. Who was the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada? Pauline Jewett. Bertha Wilson, Emily Murphy or Flora Macdonald. And the correct answer is...Bertha Wilson. Next question: When did the British Empire become the British Commonwealth? Was it in: 1931, 1954, 1919or 1867? Well? It was 1931. Just one more question: A ball and stick game known as baggataway is now called...lacrosse, baseball, croquet or cricket? Lacrosse is the one. If Red Wilson and his fellow Canadian history fans have their way, everyone -- especially young students taking this quiz -- will know the correct answers to those questions. The long established businessman, who is currently chair of the board of Nortel, and C A E Inc, was the guest speaker at the recent dinner meeting of the Canadian Club of Halton Peel. Back in 1998 Wilson met with noted political and business leaders -- former Alberta Premiere Peter Lougheed, polit ical advisor and strategist Tom Axworthy, media mogul Izzy Asper, and business man Charles Bronfman to name a few -- and within one learning and teaching " I don't think asking Canadian history. year had raised enough interest and money to the Delivering the best pos students to take one tune of $50 million to history course over four sible Canadian history launch Historica. education to elementary years of high school is and high school aged stu " Historica's role is to asking a lot of our engage young people in dents is the charity's mis the fascinating stories that sion. education system." make our country It seems the idea has · Red Wilson unique," said Wilson who popular support too. Historica co-founder co-founded the organiza In a national poll nine tion with Bronfman. out of 10 Canadians agreed history It's a goal that falls in line with the should be a required course in high Association of Canadian Clubs, like school. Halton Peel. For this reason Historica Yet, only four out of 10 provinces and Canadian Clubs all over the country (Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario and are building awareness among students Manitoba) have compulsory history and educators about the importance of courses. " We're by no means there in fulfilling our mission," said Wilson " I don't think asking students to take one history course over four years of high school is asking a lot of our educa tion system," said Wilson. Since the foundation was launched more than 170,000 Grade 4-9 students have participated in history fairs. Other programming and resources created by Historica include: Youthlinks - through the Internet high school students from across the country and around the world leam about history events still impacting on people's lives today. Teachers' Institutes provide Canadian history educators nationwide with workshops, field trips and seminars, new learning tools, theories and techniques to engage and inspire students. Online access to the Canadian Encyclopedia with 25,000 articles, a jun ior edition, 5,000 interactive maps, graphs, photos and animations. Historica Minutes is a collection, so far of 65 vignettes dramatizing pivotal events in Canada's history. They are seen on Historica's web site, on television (Footprints on C TV), in newspapers (Dateline in Canwest publications) and this fall can be heard on Radio Heritage ; d e liv e re d b ; Dec. 6 / 0 3 Minutes. The Historica Web site www.histori.ca which, as well as containing the Historica Minutes, and showcasing the student entries in the Historica Fair, pro vides access to the Canadian Encyclopedia, contains Canucklehead quizzes. Northern Memory Madness, a databank of lesson plans for teachers and a forum to talk to other educators. Historica also provides grants from a $200,000 fund to other history organiza tions and their local initiatives. "W e need to know the important sto ries of our fellow Canadians. If we don't it diminishes our past," said Wilson. In the interim, while Historica lobbies each province's education ministry to put more emphasis on Canadian history in classroom learning. Wilson urged par ents and grandparents to take young peo ple on trips to museums, historical sites and monuments, read stories of the past to them and talk about their own memo ries. 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