Young Citizens Program

The Young Citizens program focuses on citizenship and is a complementary component of the Heritage Fairs (regional, provincial or territorial) during which, students will present the results of their research on Canadian heroes, legends and key events.

Young Citizens participants are aged 10 to 16, selected as the top Heritage Fair contestants from their school (approximately 200 students across Canada). Each participant receives a digital video camera and creates a video report about their Heritage Fair project. The participants' videos will be posted online on at YoungCitizens.ca, where students, parents, and family can view their work.

Visitors to the website will be allowed to vote for their favourite video in a voting process to take place in June. The results will advance two students per participating province/territory to the finalist round. An additional six participants will be chosen by Canada's History based on the merits of their work.

Amongst the finalists, a panel of experts will select six winners to join Canada's History in Ottawa to be a part of the events surrounding the Governor General History Awards.

Through this program, Canada's History will bring together communities across Canada, while allowing 200 young people to improve their historical knowledge and thus gain a better appreciation of their country's history and heritage.

Proposed activities

• The selected candidates will research the historic subject of their choice, and answer a series of essay-type questions on their feelings about their heritage and their country.
• The result of their work will be presented in the form of short video reports that will be posted online.
• These young creators and their peers will then be called upon to vote online to select their favourite videos. They will have the opportunity to view and comment on each other's videos, and interact with their counterparts from across the country.
• In several regions, workshops on creating videos will be organized for participants. Screenings and film festivals will also be organized to showcase the work of these Young Citizens. Finally, the top videos will be shown at the National History Forum, held in Ottawa.

To receive updates about this exciting new program, please sign up for either or both of our Teaching Canada's History newsletter. If you have specific questions, you can contact our Education and Community Coordinator Jean-Philippe Proulx.