There are roughly 80 people joining board member and Great War historian Tim Cook and myself on this 4-day "conference tour" of the World War one battlefields. They represent all 10 provinces. Some are leaders of cadet corps or youth groups, most of them are secondary school teachers who plan to bring their student back next spring for the 95th anniversary of The Battle of Vimy Ridge.

The tours are organized by EF Educational Tours, a well-respected international travel company specializing in educational travel. Canada's History is involved because we're planning to work with EF to develop specialized tours for both public and educational groups as part of our own World War Centennial commemoration activities.

Although many teachers I've spoken with have fairly well established programs offering these types of travel opportunities for their students, I am surprised by how many others have been required to undertake all of this organization on their own, outside of school hours. According to them, their school boards are increasingly concerned about assuming the risks associated with organized student travel. Ironic since the whole point of this particular program is to remember the risks that other Canadians took on our behalf.

I can't help but think how lucky for their students that these teachers see the value of investing their own time to ensure these opportunities remain available.

Another observation I've noted is how many of these teachers end up inadvertently competing with other trips organized within the schools: sports competitions, art history tours of Europe, theatre trips to New York City. For them, establishing a steady demand for history-based tours has been a tough sell.

But fortunately they persist. Today, we head out to the fields of Beaumont-Hamel, Passchendaele, and Vimy Ridge to see for ourselves what impact this type of first-hand experience can have on us and our students. I have no doubt it will only strengthen our collective resolve to create more opportunities in the years ahead.