Exploring the Past

Bring this map of Canada and these specially made tokens into your classroom to mark each Canadian historic site, person and event your students learn about.

Created by Jessica Knapp 

 — Posted March 29, 2017

Besides being Canada’s 150th birthday, 2017 also marks the 100th anniversary of the creation of our first National Historic Site. But the government of Canada has also chosen national historic people and national historic events we need to know about. There are hundreds of these special places all over the country that show something important about our past. Provide your students with the attached map of Canada and tokens to mark each Canadian historic site, person and event studied. For a quick introduction you can read the article “Protecting the Past” on pages 18 - 19 in the April 2017 Happy Birthday Canada issue of Kayak: Canada’s History Magazine for Kids. Download the print friendly version of this activity (Bonus: It includes five national historic people, sites and events to get you started). 

Themes associated with this article

Related to Classroom Resources

Remembrance Day Word Search

Use this Remembrance Day word search to familiarize your students with key terms from the First World War.

Classroom Resource

We Are All Treaty People

Explore the meaning and the significance of the phrase “We are all Treaty People.”

Classroom Resource

From Bubonic Plague to Covid-19

We should remember past pandemics not just for their own sakes, but to ward off the complacency that can leave our communities vulnerable to, and ravaged by, future epidemics.

Classroom Resource

CBC's 8th Fire

8th Fire is an edgy, provocative look at Indigenous/non-Indigenous relations in Canada.

Article