Canada 2017 Project Ideas

Family and Community Twining Society works to connect organizations and individuals, through in-person dialogues and online collaboration. Our projects are largely student driven, and our goal is to research and provide access to people, knowledge and resources in support of our community networks. Currently, we are working on our Canada 2017 network. It centers on Canada's 150th anniversary which is approaching in 2017 and we are facilitating networks for the celebration. Some of the networks are “Oh Canada” (150 versions of our national Anthem), heritage, and 150 years of Christmas.We hope to support participants by helping to find resources, contacts, and develop their plans. Below we have provided some project ideas for the 150th anniversary of Canada in the year 2017.

People are encouraged to contribute any new suggestions and offer input on current ideas.

Keep in mind :

Reflecting on the Past: Each network will reflect on their history by examining changes that have taken place in their organizations or communities.

Evaluate the Present: Each network will reflect on where their organizations and communities are now and discuss what issues they currently face.

Prepare for the Future: After reflecting and evaluating, networks will discuss trends and ideas that will affect the future of their communities and organizations.

Heritage

Aboriginal heritage

1. Indigenous peoples display.
2. A timeline of the role of indigenous people in Canada over the years.

History

1. Canada through the years timeline. E.g. possibly in the format of a yearbook.
2. Canadian stars display. E.g. memborbilla
3. Canadian stamp/ coin display.
4. RCMP/ police display.
5. Hospitals/ firefighting display.
6. Church history display.
7. Canadian newspaper exhibit.
8. Canadian documentary event.
9. Canadian antique show.
10. Canadian architecture display.

Art and theatre

1. Plays on historic events.

Photography

1. Photo collage display. E.g. photos of historic moments in the image of 150.
2. Family photo event. E.g. asking the community to send in copies of family photos over the generations in Canada.

Fashion

1. Historic fashion. E.g. costumes from different periods in Canadian history.

Francophone

1. Francophone digital exhibit.
2. Francophone centered Canadian history display.
3. Francophone food over the years.

Food

1. Dishes of Canadian history. E.g. dishes from different cultures and periods in Canada.
2. Canadian sweets over the years.

Other

Art and theatre

1. 2017 mural by community.

2. Digital art event or contest E.g. digital art of Canada 150 or 2017 logos/ drawings.
3. Canadian movies/ TV event.

Community events:

1. Contests.
2. Face painting.
3. Community BBQ.
4. Fundraising events for charities.
5. Scavenger hunts. City or community wide.
6. Future planning for youth. E.g. possibly sending letters to their future selves.
7. Parade.
8. Tour of downtown for newcomers.
9. Animal/ pet event.
10. Talent show for the city event.
11. Community fair. E.g. Eco- booths, local business booths, etc.
12. Farmers market event.
13. Penny fair.
14. Bike event.
15. Sport event. E.g. community soccer.
16. Garden contest.
17. Plant a tree event.
18. Pancake breakfast.

Crafts

1. Arts and craft projects. E.g. decorating Canada 2017 shirts.
2. Quilt display.
3. Card making crafts.

Literature

1. Authors from Canadian literature speak.
2. Digitization of Canadian books.
3. Poetry from Canadian authors.
4. Library displays for Canada.
5. Canadian comic event.

Music

1. Canadian music event.

Family History Projects

Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017 is a great starting point for more than just local history projects. Family history projects can also be an interesting way to reflect about where you have come from and where you might go in the future. Much of the same advice is relevant for family history projects, but here are some ideas that might help you get started.

• Your most important resource is your family! Depending on how far back in your family history you would like to go, you may well have some older relatives who can help you out with information or provide anecdotes.
• To find some preliminary resources, get your relatives to look around and see what kinds of old photographs, newspaper clippings, letters, diaries or anything else they have that might be useful for your project.
• Take a look at what you have and decide what you would like to know about your family, and whether your resources answer those questions. Also think about who your audience is and what the best way to present your findings might be.
• If you are interested in the genealogy part of a family history project, there are a number of resources available. Lots of websites can help you piece together your ancestry. The Provincial Archives of Alberta also has lots of resources for investigating genealogy and a good listing of relevant websites to visit if your family is from Alberta. Library and Archives Canada has listings for other provinces in Canada, as well as other countries if you are interesting in pursuing your family’s origins before they immigrated to Canada.
• Other good places to check our your family history are your local newspapers. Newspapers often contain birth, death and marriage announcements, especially if your family came from a small town. These short notices can help you to figure out how different parts of your family link together and also provide dates for major life events. Sometimes you won’t be able to find much more than this about a particular family member if they didn’t leave many other records behind.
• There are a huge number of genealogy or family history resources available on the internet, as well as people who specialize in genealogical research. Contacting one of these professionals or checking out the website of a local genealogical society can be very helpful when you’re looking for specific information. Resources can turn up in some very unexpected places, and experts can help guide you there more directly.
• Next, decide how you would like to present your findings. You can be as creative as you want with this. You could create a family tree, a scrapbook album, a website, an art project or a book. It depends on what kind of information you have been able to find and who your audience is.

How to Find Local Heritage Resources

Beginning a local history project can be a daunting prospect, especially if you don’t know where to get started or where to find the right resources. The best way to start is to visit some relevant websites to survey what kinds of sources are out there and to follow up with a conversation with a librarian, archivist or museum professional if you need additional help with your research.

Here are some suggestions to help you start:

• Start by doing a general internet search about the subject you are interested in. You are likely to come across some very general pages, such as Wikipedia. Although Wikipedia is not considered a great academic source, it will give you a basic overview of the subject and it often has some useful references at the bottom.
• Another good website to try is the Canada’s Historic Places Register, which has listings for designated historic sites across the country.
• The next step is to start gathering resources for you history project, and finding out where the right sources are can be one of the most difficult parts. Most publicly available primary sources (original historical material) are housed in some sort of public institution. Try these kinds of institutions first and do a brief search of their catalogue or digital collections to see what have. If you need more help, most places will have professionals whose job it is to help you find the information you are looking for.

• The Provincial Archives of Alberta holds many personal and governmental records at their site in Edmonton. There are also local archives in many cities and towns that may hold collections of local newspapers, letters, photographs and other resources. The Musée Heritage Museum of St. Albert has a great tutorial to get you started on your archival searches.
• If you are affiliated with a college or university, you will be able to find scholarly books or articles published about your subject, and oftentimes post-secondary libraries have access to extensive online databases where primary source material has been digitized and indexed. Even if you don’t attend a university or college, it’s often possible to obtain guest privileges if you contact the institution directly.
• Public libraries and local museums are also really good places to find resources to get started. Local museums often have exhibits about an area’s history, but they probably have a lot more material that didn’t make it out on display and experts who put the exhibit together in the first place. Public libraries may not have as much material themselves, but librarians are experts at helping you locate the information you need. They may also have digitized versions of community records, such as historic newspapers available for public access.
• Another great website to access primary sources is www.ourroots.ca. A number of Canadian local history books and primary sources are published online and are available to the public.
• Finally, another place you can try, both online or in person is a local historical society. There are a number of historical societies who are particularly interested in local heritage and work to preserve a community’s past. Try finding a society in your area, they might be able to point you towards some important resources or offer to help with your project!

These are just a few ideas to get you started with heritage projects. Finding what you need can sometimes be a long process, but the search is actually part of the fun!

8 Things to Know When Starting a Heritage Project

Pursuing a heritage project of your choosing can be a long and involved process. Finding resources, gathering the right information and putting it all together in the end takes patience and perseverance. Here are some tips and tricks to help make the process a little easier for you!

Types of Resources

• The Difference Between Primary and Secondary Sources: this is an important distinction between original sources and works written about original sources. A primary source is a document of any kind produced in the historical period you are studying. It could be a photograph, letter, book, or many other kinds of media. These are generally found in museums and archives. Secondary sources, on the other hand, are books or articles that have been written about a historical time period. They contain references to original materials, but are not original sources themselves. Both types of source are important when pursuing historical research, and secondary sources can be a really good way to find relevant primary sources!
• Another tip for finding good sources is to keep an open mind about what you might find. Historical information can be gathered from a number of different sources. Everyone is familiar with the standard kinds of sources like books, letters and diaries. Western society especially uses the written word extensively to pass along information. However, a number of other sources can be useful to look at. Photographs, videos and other visual materials such as paintings or political cartoons can tell you a lot about a particular time period. Material objects such as clothing, furniture or even architecture can also help to put a picture of a particular time period together. Each of these different kinds of sources can tell you different things, and the best research projects use multiple kinds to tell a rich and complex story. Don’t base all your research on a single kind of source, because you may be missing out on some interesting perspectives.
• Finally, one source that often gets overlooked is oral history. The passing along of knowledge through speech and memory is hugely important to many cultures, but also one of the hardest kinds of sources to gather. Talking to grandparents, or other seniors can help to add a personal perspective to your project. Here’s a great guide to getting started recording oral history, courtesy of Make Something Edmonton. Many oral history projects already exist, here’s an example of one done in Edmonton with recordings you can listen to for some ideas.

Gathering Information

Once you’ve figured out where your sources are likely to be, the next step is actually start collecting the information. You will probably also find that you need more resources to supplement your primary sources. Its common to start a research project because you read one really interesting book or came across a particular source that sparked your curiosity. The next step is navigating the links between sources to get to other relevant material.

• The best way to expand your resources is to start with one reputable source, probably a book written about your subject by an academic historian. There are two places to check in a book or an article of this kind: the introduction and the bibliography. Introductions will often mention other books that have previously been written on the subject, or resources on slightly different sources that could still be useful to you. Bibliographies serve the same purpose, but in much greater detail. Working your way through these sections can help you find additional primary and secondary sources.
• Another good way to find more resources is to search some databases. University libraries usually have access to extensive databases, but public libraries and archives often have online catalogues to search as well. When you are doing your preliminary reading, make a note of some key words and phrases that keep coming up in relation to your subject. When searching with key words try several different variations on your search terms. Different databases or catalogues are structured differently, so you may get different, but equally valuable, results depending on your search vocabulary. Asking a librarian is the best way to get additional help with this process. They are experts at knowing how databases work and how to get to what you need.
• Also, don’t be afraid to skim resources in an effective way. There will always be parts of books or articles that aren’t very relevant to what you want to know. A quick skim means that you are unlikely to miss anything really important. Don’t feel obligated to read every single word!

Putting it all Together

Research projects can often feel large and unwieldy, and in some ways, doing the research is the best part of the project. What happens after you’ve collected a large pile of research and how do you put it all together?

• Recognize that your goals may have changed since you started, and don’t feel obligated to stick to your original vision. You probably thought you knew what you were going to find and had some idea of how to present it when you first started the project. However, its very common to find things you didn’t expect or to pick up on a theme you are particularly interested in. Don’t be alarmed if the end product looks very different from what you planned, its part of why research is so interesting!
• In a similar vein, don’t underestimate the combination of perseverance and coincidence. The world of information is vast, and no one person can be sure to find everything related to a particular topic. That being said, perseverance and the ability to work at the problem from a number of different angles can go a long ways. However, coincidence also plays its part in research. Coming across the right reference at the right time or using an unexpected search term can be surprisingly fruitful. Sometimes coincidence is the best that can happen to your research project!