One of the best parts of being a parent is rediscovering what makes museums and history so much fun. My son Jack and I make a pretty regular tour of the museums in Winnipeg. Saturday mornings we pack our lunch and head out on the road to our local historic sites.

Our trips started with walkthrough tours of the Manitoba Museum here in Winnipeg. Viewing their new digital exhibit about what Churchill Manitoba looked like millions of years ago was an instant highlight along with the dioramas of Buffalo, Elk, and Polar Bears. Throw in some fossilized million year old turtle poop and you have the makings of a good visit.

From there we moved out to the Western Canada Aviation Museum and the Winnipeg Railway Museum. Both locations don’t always have the best interpretation and story boards, but they do have fantastic restorations of aircraft, trains, and trucks that helped build Manitoba. Climbing on board with Jack reminds me of the sense of wonder that these great pieces of equipment would have caused when they loomed across the prairies carrying passengers and freight.

Now at the risk of sounding a little too much like a museum nerd, Jack really does have a great time and will often request which museums we visit now. Exploring museums from a child’s perspective is a great way to remind yourself how fun a museum can be.

It’s something that I wouldn’t have considered at all a few years ago. When I first went to the Aviation Museum before Jack was born I noticed they were advertising tours for preschool classes. At the time I was generally concerned that museums were being turned into glorified educational institutions that were ignoring anyone over the age of fourteen (something I am still concerned about, but perhaps more forgiving of). But having done the tours now I think it would be a great experience that more parents should explore with their kids.

I never would have thought museums would impact a two year old but they do and I can’t wait to explore even more museums in the years to come.

Photo courtesy of Sandra Regier.

Today Canada’s History is announcing the first ever recipients of the Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Community Programming. It’s the terrific culmination of several years of work celebrating local history projects and expanding our national awards program. Read the full press release here.

I was really fortunate last week to actually visit our first English recipient in the community of Saint-Joseph, Ontario and to speak with members of their historical society. I can’t imagine a community that better encapsulates the idea and values of this award.

Their project was the production of a play about local icon Narcisse Cantin. I’ve been educated fairly well on his story over the last week, but you can read about his plans to turn Saint-Joseph into a modern day mega city at one end of a major canal stretching between Lake Erie and Lake Huron.

I was headed to Saint-Joseph to interview representatives about the project for our website [video coming soon, and you’ll see why in a moment]. Normally we interview a spokesperson about a given project, film some b-roll, and move along. But the Historical Society would have none of that and I can understand why after conducting interview with over 40 residents and children.

Seeing a project that required the contributions of so many people raises my hopes for what any community can accomplish. Everything from the will behind the project to make it happen, the writer, the director, the fundraiser, selling ads, building a theatre out of straw bales, researching the community history, creating an exhibit, making sure everyone was fed – it’s was a true community production that seemed to deeply touch everyone involved.

When I arrived everyone was prepared with their questions to answer for the video and they were well fed and taken care of during the three and half hours of interviews. We even interviewed for another two hours in the morning and managed to get a tour of the city in before I had to jet back to Winnipeg.

And to be honest, I don’t think we could have explained the impact of this project without each and every interview. I was really lucky to be a part of it and hopefully you can take a chance to read about their project and our first French recipient from the wonderful community of Saint-Basil-le-Grand.

And this is just the start to our awards season!

It didn’t take long. This week the war of words over commemorations around the War of 1812 are already starting to heat up. The opening salvos in the campaign were lobbed this week by Jeffrey Simpson in a column in the Globe and Mail and a rebuttal in the National Post by historian Chris Champion.

Each makes some very valid points that are masked under the political rhetoric thrown in both directions. To Simpsons main point, that the war was “among the dumbest ever fought,” he’s probably right. It wasn’t a particularly smart war to be started, but that doesn’t change the fact that it happened and that the outcome was extremely important in the eventual development of Canada.

Simpson’s biggest concern is that the event will be constructed into a nationalistic event that portrays the war as a gallant fight to save Canada, when “Canada” as we know it was only in its earliest stages. “There was no sense of being ‘Canadian’ at the time,” Simpson implores. The war was “between the United States Republic and an outpost of the British Empire.” You can’t have Canadians fighting for a Canada that doesn’t actually exist yet.

Simpson is making a political argument rather than a historical one, designed to attack the current Conservative Government more than retelling accurate history. Ironically, it’s exactly what he’s suggesting the Conservatives will do themselves over the next three years, substituting politics for history.

Likewise, Champion probably overplays his hand, exactly what Simpson is expecting in the coming commemorations. Champion’s response is that in fact there were significant Canadian traditions that existed at the time and carry on today, such as Charles de Salaberry and his Voltigeurs Canadiens. “The Battle of Crysler’s Farm two weeks later has long been known as ‘The battle that saved Canada,” he replies. Perhaps it has been known as that for a long time, but not likely at the time of the battle itself.

The War of 1812 was not a war between Canada and the United States, it was a war between Britain and the United States that was largely fought on Canadian soil. Champion is right when he says that Canada likely would have been absorbed into the United States had they been victorious, even if that wasn’t necessarily why the Americans went to war in the first place. The war had significant consequences for Canada and for the First Nations. But it was as much a war between British, Americans, and First Nations rather than Canadians that we think of today.

On a positive note, there is open and heated public debate about the War of 1812. It’s a major moment in Canadian history, one that deserves to be commemorated, retold, and debated. Let us know what you think about this debate by going to our forum and posting your own thoughts. How do you think the War of 1812 should be commemorated?

Here is the completed full Bren Gun video and feature on Fort Rodd Hill in Victoria. This past April they were kind enough to show me around their amazing national historic site and to give me a once in a lifetime opportunity to fire a Bren Gun. Thanks to Dave, Bob and the entire crew. It was an awesome experience!

This week we sent out our Teaching Canada's History newsletter for middle and senior high teachers, which got me thinking that this is going to be a great year to teach Canadian History. The coming year is going to bring out some anniversaries that provide great learning opportunities in the classroom.

I spent my summer reading up about the War of 1812. It's a fascinating campaign that truly had the opportunity to change the course of history in Canada. I would recommend starting with Pierre Berton's two volume work on the campaign: The Invasion of Canada and Flames Across the Border. It's easy to read and will provide you with great stories and starting points in the classroom.

It's also the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the Selkirk Settlers in Manitoba and the 95th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 2012.

I've also spent the summer thinking about the wonderful projects from our Governor General's Award Finalists. We've posted a full article about the 18 finalists and posted podcast interviews with each individual. It's inspiring to hear what other teachers are doing in the classroom and the approaches that they are taking.

Finally we've also posted brand new lesson plans and classroom resources to help teachers get started. Have a great school year!

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of Parks Canada we've been out visiting some of our favorite National Historic Sites. This is the trailer to my upcoming video firing the Bren Gun at Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site in Victoria, British Columbia. Look for the full video later this week!

It’s just around the corner at least in terms of history. The 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 starts next June and it will be a major historical moment in Canada, especially in the Great Lakes region.

To start getting ready for the event I’ve just finished reading Flames Across the Border, the 2nd installment in the Pierre Berton two part series covering the war. It’s a really phenominal read, very easy to get into, and has rekindled my interest in the time period.

I’m not sure what my impressions of the war were before I started reading. Anything I did learn in elementary school was minimal at best, and even in university my own areas of interest took me elsewhere. All I really knew was a handful of names and the large gaping hole in Brock’s jacket which sits in the War Museum in Ottawa.

But having read flames across the border I was struck by the struggle. My own area of interest has traditionally been in European warfare where the size of the battles justifies their importance. But in North America the war was as much about the struggle to muster the necessities of life, transport them through hundreds of kilometers of open wilderness, and then prepare for battle.

Lots of work is also underway to commemorate the events in Canada. One website that is definitely worth checking out is http://www.westerncorridor1812.com/. They have a terrific map featuring some historic places in Southwestern Ontario, as well as this terrific video:

As part of our tour of Montreal we also stopped at Pointe-à-Callière Museum in the old city. It's a beautiful museum that takes you through the archaeological history of Old Montreal.

It brings to life archeaology in a way that would be engaging to any visitory through a stunning underground preservation of the original foundations of Montreal. If you are in the city you have to visit this museum.

Traveling through Montreal we had the chance to explore some of the great museums in the area. Château Ramezay has a great collection and some terrific programs happening throughout the year. But one piece of Canadiana in particular caught my eye.

Located over the fire cooking area in one of the displays was a giant wheel, similar to a hamster wheel. The chef would place a dog inside the wheel, causing it to turn, and through a system of levers and pullies, would turn whatever was roasting on the fire.

If it were made today, it would be sold on TV. But it's the ingenuity to dream up such a device that I thought would just be a great starting place into the history of the time, especially for kids.

Jennifer Janzen has invited me to come in next week and talk to her students about Canada and the First World War. I'm a little nervous but very excited about the chance to step into a classroom. I'm mostly concerned though about making sure I don't stand and talk for two hours non-stop about the First World War, Trenches, Machine Guns and all kinds of other traditional material.

It's difficult to create engaging but historically relevant activities surrouding the first and second world war. I've watched enough of the history network to know that it's easy to sit there and drop into unending debates about Ross Rifles vs. Lee-Enfields or Panther tanks vs. Soviet T-34 Tanks. While maybe interesting for military history geeks, it's not really educational.

So what do you cover in a couple of hours and how do we get students to assess and think about the campaigns that were fought. I'm thinking about approaching it from after the war and discussion of where to build the monument to mark Canada's First World War effort. Vimy wasn't the only choice, and many would still argue that other campaigns - Ypres, Hill 70, the last 100 days - were all at least as important, if not more so.

I'm hoping the discussion could lead to some insightful research into the battles themselves, especially if supported with a variety of sources. I'll keep posting ideas over the next few days as I find more material.