About Young Citizens

The Young Citizens program, for students aged 10 to 18, emphasizes the development of historical thinking and citizenship. It can complement the Heritage Fairs program, an annual gathering where students publicly present the results of their research on heroes, legends, and key events in Canadian history.

Participants produce a short video on the topic they explored as part of their Heritage Fair project — or any other relevant social studies research project — taking the form of a journalistic report or a short documentary. The students’ videos are then posted online. A pan-Canadian popular vote and an evaluation by judges selects four winners.

Since the inception of the program in 2012, more than 1,100 videos have been uploaded. They have been viewed over 400,000 times and over 300,000 Canadians have voted for their favourite videos. We invite you to meet our Young Citizens, watch their videos, and comment on their amazing work.

Young Citizens is administered by Canada’s National History Society, with the support of the Government of Canada, Bruce MacLellan & Karen Girling, and Canada Life.