Defining Canada

You were asked to read the prologue of the textbook, "Defining Canada." You can get a scanned copy of this reading on the network in the Canadian History pick up folder.

The reading offered a summary of much of the discussion we had in class over the previous two days. In particular, the Quebec referendum and Canada's cultural identity is addressed. As well, methods of historical inquiry and the process by which we determine the historical importance of items was covered.

During the course of working on your family history and preparing your slide show concerning Canada's identity, you will have to make decisions regarding the relative importance of various events and personalities. These decisions will be governed in part by your personal biases with respect to how you see the world around you. This is the case for all historical writing. Therefore, you must be aware of this fact and critically evaluate material accordingly. Consider the source, the audience that is being written for and the writer's purpose.

We discussed bias in the context of the section written about Pierre Trudeau. The line, "Repeatedly, Canadians voted Trudeau and his party into office, thereby showing they approved of his policies." Upon further consideration, we discovered that Trudeau's career included a minority government, an electoral loss to Joe Clark (who himself was perceived to be a weak leader), and consistent rejection by Canadian voters outside of Quebec and Ontario.

See the story linked below to learn about Trudeau's youth.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=0c1b3dca-544a-45d8-8ce3-f577f9cb43a6



To be sure, Pierre Trudeau was a complicated man who had a consequential impact as prime minister. He was colorful, controversial, and blunt when he felt the occasion required. He was well read and unquestionably intelligent. He made decisions and took actions that would shape Canada for years to come. However, to say that his elections reflected the approval for all of his policies throughout the country assumes that the country is limited to central Canada. For most of Trudeau's time in office, there were no Liberal Members of Parliament west of Manitoba. Therefore, it would be fair to say that, at least in this section of the textbook, we see a bias towards central Canada and in favor of Pierre Trudeau.

Once again, for the purposes of this course you must be aware of the biases that exist in all historical intrepretation. Keep that in mind as we proceed.

Canadian History Links

Links to help you get started:


http://canadahistory.com/index.htm

http://www.cyber-north.com/canada/history.html

http://www.canadashistory.ca/

http://www.linksnorth.com/canada-history/

http://www.histori.ca/default.do?page=.index

http://www1.canadiana.org/citm/themes/constitution1_e.html

http://canadaonline.about.com/od/history/History_of_Canada.htm

http://www.international.gc.ca/history-histoire/world-monde/1984-1993.aspx?lang=eng

In Search of a Canadian Identity

Through the use of a PowerPoint slideshow, you are to prepare a presentation that will use events and personalities from Canada's history to define a distinctly Canadian identity.

The presentation should last no less than three minutes and no more than five minutes.

Below you will find some general parameters for the assignment. More details will come in the days to follow.

General Parameters:

• examples must include political, social, economic, military history
• examples must also be chronologically presented with a timeline of sorts -- this timeline should tell an evolving story
• examples must be organized into a set of themes -- don't have too many or too few (probably somewhere between three and five)
• present day results or impact of each item chosen must be clearly explained
• DO NOT READ SLIDES FOR THE ENTIRE PRESENTATION. Be prepared to show you have a command of the material you have chosen.
• prepare a list of references using APA style

Presentations will begin Monday, September 27, 2010

Lab Time

We will be starting a new assignment on Monday. Bring your family history project work with you if I did not have an opportunity to view it on Friday.

For the next week, we will be in the lab. Here are your locations:

Period 2 - Rm 114

Period 4 - Rm 227 (September 21 and 23); Rm 213 (September 24)

Don't Say you weren't warned...

Family History Assignment

The following outlines the requirements for the personal history assignment we discussed on Friday. The purpose of this study is to get you to immerse yourself in the process of writing history and experience firsthand the challenges faced by the historian. In doing so, you will be a better reader of history - as you will be able to examine historical writing with a more critical eye. Hopefully, you will also learn something more personal about the history of Canada through your family experience. Lastly, you will be introduced to some of the practical methods of historical research; another important aspect to being a discerning reader of history.

There are some general parameters to remember when doing this assignment:

• use standard margins (don't change the page margins in Word)
• use 12 point Times New Roman
• text pages are typed, single spaced
• use standard paper 8 1/2 x 11
• the project is to be submitted in a duo tang folder (no three ring binders)
• pictures and other items may be included by will NOT count as part of the page requirement as outlined below

The Assignment...

1. Overview
2. Family Tree
3. Personal History
4. Family Spotlight
5. Your Family History and Canada

Overview

This section should be about half a page long and should offer a synopsis of your family history. In this portion of the assignment you will discuss how many generations you were able to track, what you will be focusing on in your personal history, and who you will be spotlighting in your family and why.

Section Value - 10 marks (7 marks for the written work, 3 for a relevant picture or family artifact such as a coat of arms)

Family History

This section should cover at least a page. You may choose to use a fold out page if 8 1/2 x 11 paper provides you insufficient space. This is your family tree. Have the most recent generation at the bottom of the page and work up from there. You will want to include everyone. Find an organizationally efficient and consistent manner for doing this. I have provided you with a few examples below to get you started. There are others available online.

http://genealogy.about.com/od/free_charts/ig/genealogy_charts/

http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/09/create-family-tree-charts-inside.html

Section Value - 25 marks (5 marks for neatness; 10 marks for effective and clear presentation of information; 10 marks for depth and breadth of research)

Personal History

This section will include your personal history. This is the first place where you are going to have to make some tough decisions about what you will include and what you will not have the space to write about. You should begin either at birth or over the nine months of your mother's pregnancy, whichever you prefer. You should end at present day - our entry into your current grade. This section may not exceed two pages and may not be less than one and a half pages.

Section Value - 35 marks (5 marks for spelling; 5 marks for organization; 20 marks for content; 5 marks for grammar)

Family Spotlight

This section features a selected member of your family whose story you are going to tell. You may want to focus on a particular momentous event that they were involved in or you may deem their full life story worthy of coverage. Although you have already stated why you have chosen to spotlight the individual selected in the overview, you are required to do it here again. However, this time your explanation should be in greater detail. Devote a short introductory paragraph at the outset to this task.

This section may not exceed two pages and may not be less than one and a half pages.

Section Value - 35 marks (5 marks for spelling; 5 marks for organization; 20 marks for content; 5 marks for grammar)

Your Family History and Canada

This section represents the closing of your project. It is not a summary, as the overview already provides a place for that. It is part reflection and part application. You are to reflect on what you have learned about your family history and apply it to help you make some sense of Canada's history. Think about how your family history fits into the Canadian experience and what you think Canada is about and what it stands for. What are the values that are inherent in our national thinking and how does your family experience fit into that? This section may be no longer than a page and no shorter than three quarters of a page.

Section Value - 20 marks (5 marks for spelling and grammar; 15 marks for content)

Total Value - 125 marks

Due Date - Monday, October 4, 2010 at the beginning of class

You will have two work periods in class in which you will have additional support from me. The dates are as follows - Friday, September 17 and Friday, September 24. You will be graded on the following on those dates:

1. General Progress 10 marks
2. Work Ethic 10 marks

I am available to discuss this project outside of class if you make an appointment. Otherwise, the remainder of class time will be used for progressing with the course.

What is History, Dammit!?!?

Today we followed up the discussion from the previous day by considering the relative importance of the diary of a Canadian soldier who had landed and survived Juneau Beach and the importance of the diary of his mother.

Through this, we uncovered that there was some merit to studying the history of the ordinary person, often referred to as social history. See the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_history

Conversely, the history of "significant" people or events may be described as political history. For more information, see the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_history



There is an age old battle between political history advocates and social history advocates in terms of which interpretation is the more correct or accurate one. In essence, this is the constant battle that goes on in the mind of the historian as he goes about his work - What is and what is not worthy of study?





To begin with, you are going to embark on a social history study -- one that looks at the history of you and your family. The details of this will be presented to you on Monday. For now, start thinking about it and talking about it at home so that you will be ready to work on the assignment when we begin.


As well, we talked about the difference between primary and secondary sources. A primary source may be defined as an eyewitness account or direct, first person version of events. A secondary source is an account (like a textbook) that makes use of many different versions of events. They may be both primary and secondary in nature. Your research into your family history is an example of a primary activity.

Welcome Back

This blog will be used as a means of keeping track of what we are doing, when we are doing it, and sometimes where we are doing it.

As a result, it will include all relevant course material and timelines. In the event that you are away, the blog will be quite useful to help you keep up to date.

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR CHECKING THE MATERIAL HERE.

Our first activity was for you to write two short essays on the following:

1. What do you think is the most important event in Canadian history?
2. Who do you think is the most significant individual in Candian history?

You were also asked two follow-up questions:

1. What is history?
2. How do you define "significant" or "important"?

We briefly discussed some of the answers that students had written and why they had chosen the people and event that they did. We discussed the difference between history being considered as all the events of the past versus the events and people who had a major influence on the majority of people. We will discuss this further on Friday.

Please note: Take some time to consider the following:

Would the diary of a Canadian soldier who was involved in the D-Day landing be significant?

Would his mother's diary be considered significant?