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This video also comes with French subtitles; you can adjust the language in the captioning section of your viewer.

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This episode is the sixth of a new animated web series called History Bits. The series explores a diverse range of topics, from overcoming racism in Africville, Nova Scotia, to the historic fight for women’s voting rights, to the struggle to survive the dustbowl era of the Dirty Thirties. Each action-packed episode highlights the courage, creativity, and perseverance of Canadians from the past.

Supplemental lesson

Cree Code Talkers

In this lesson, students will learn about Cree Code Talkers in the Second World War. They will be asked to research Code Talkers and Tom Longboat and prepare written responses comparing the two histories.

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Watch the series

Flying and Spying

Chinese-Canadian Kam Len “Doug” Sam served in the air force in the Second World War. Shot down in France, he gathered critical information as a spy for the Allies.

No Votes For Men!

Nellie McClung and a group of devoted suffragists stage their mock parliament to make a point about women’s equality.

Remembering Africville

The city of Halifax bulldozes a Black settlement that had stood for 150 years, destroying a community but not its spirit.

Railway Men

Ride the rails across Canada with Black sleeping car porters as they fight for labour rights and civil rights.

Dust and Depression

Prairie families in the 1930s watch their farms — and hopes — blow away while they wait for rain.

Join us in working toward Reconciliation

Canada's History magazine was established in 1920 as The Beaver, a Journal of Progress. In its early years, the magazine focused on Canada's fur trade and life in Northern Canada. While Indigenous people were pictured in the magazine, they were rarely identified, and their stories were told by settlers. Today, Canada's History is raising the voices of First Nations, Métis and Inuit by sharing the stories of their past in their own words.

If you believe that stories of Canada’s Indigenous history should be more widely known, help us do more. Your donation of $10, $25, or whatever amount you like, will allow Canada’s History to share Indigenous stories with readers of all ages, ensuring the widest possible audience can access these stories for free.

Any amount helps, or better yet, start a monthly donation today. Your support makes all the difference. Thank you!

Yes, I'd like to make a difference!

History Bits was inspired by comics that appear in Kayak: Canada’s History Magazine for Kids, written by Kayak editor Nancy Payne and illustrated by Alex Diochon, and published by Canada’s History Society.