Developing Understanding through the Arts
Recognizing an Historic Injustice: Canada's First National Internment Operations, 1914-1920

Designed for students in grades 5 to 9, this resource features nine lessons that use visual and dramatic arts to nurture student understanding of Canada’s First National Internment Operations, 1914–1920.

This resource is available for free courtesy of a grant from the Endowment Council of the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund.

Recognizing an Historic Injustice:
Canada's First National Internment Operations, 1914-1920

This free resource contains nine lessons intended for students in grades 9 to 12 exploring the events, causes and consequences of the internment of thousands of individuals in Canada during the First World War era.

Ukrainian immigration History Docs

As part of our History Docs collection, we have assembled seven sets of primary and secondary documents organized around Reasons for Ukrainian immigration and Conditions for early Ukrainian immigrants.

World War I internment History Docs

As part of our History Docs collection, we have assembled five sets of primary and secondary documents dealing with various aspects of this dark chapter in Canadian history.

Historical significance

This video with accompanying lesson plans help students learn to question why some important events are ignored as they compare the significance of the WWI internment of Ukrainian Canadians with the WWII internment of Japanese Canadians. (7:14 minutes)

Lesson plan Grades 6-8

Lesson plan Grades 9-12

Ethical judgment

This video with accompanying lesson plans help students learn to question the motives of the Canadian government’s decision to intern Ukrainian Canadians during the First World War. (6:33 minutes)

Lesson plan Grades 6-8

Lesson plan Grades 9-12

Affirmation of Witnesses

This richly illustrated document explores the causes and consequences of WWI internment, often through the eyes and words of the camp survivors and their families.

Canada’s First National Internment Operations, 1914-1920

This pamphlet, available in several languages, offers an illustrated overview of this historic event.

Prisoners of Prejudice

This 27-page student resource with teacher's guide (CD with PowerPoint slides) provides background information about Ukrainian immigration to Canada and chronicles the internment of Ukrainians during World War I.

Creating Memorials of Past Injustices

These lesson plans teach about creating a memorial to commemorate the internment of Ukrainians and other Europeans during the First World War.

Lesson #1: Judging powerful memorials

Lesson #2: Deciding what to memorialize

Lesson #3: Designing the memorial

Exploring Identity, Inclusion and Citizenship:
The 1907 Vancouver Riots

This print resource chronicles the lead up to, details and aftermath of riots in Vancouver at the turn of the twentieth century. It explores the questions of identity and inclusion from the perspectives of five key groups: Aboriginal, Chinese, European, Japanese and South Asian people.

Chinese Canadian History Docs

As part of our History Docs collection, we have assembled eleven sets of primary and secondary documents dealing with various aspects of the experiences of Chinese Canadians from the 1880s onward.

Evidence and interpretation

This video with accompanying lesson plans help students learn to interpret and question the information available from primary sources to learn about Chinese Canadians. (6:55 minutes)

Lesson plan Grades 6-8

Lesson plan Grades 9-12

Continuity and change

This video with accompanying lesson plans help students learn to interpret and question the information available from primary sources to learn about Chinese Canadians. (6:55 minutes)

Lesson plan Grades 6-8

Lesson plan Grades 9-12

Historical perspective

This video with accompanying lesson plans help students learn to imagine how life for Chinese Canadian youth growing up during the interwar period may not have been the same as the lives of youth today. (5:53 minutes)

Lesson plan Grades 6-8

Lesson plan Grades 9-12

Gold Mountain Quest

This interactive game designed for grades 5 to 7 enables players to experience life as a Chinese Canadian youth in 1910 in the fictional town of Gold Mountain.

Pages from the Past

This interactive game focuses on historical perspective through the values and life choices of four fictional Chinese characters from the 1850s to the 1940s. Students earn rewards by offering sound advice that is respectful of the historical realities and personal aspirations of each character.

Chinese Canadian stories

This rich multi-media collection tells the stories of Chinese Canadians through words, photographs and video clips.

Chinese Canadian chronology

This timeline reviews the history of Chinese migration, segregation, integration and contributions to Canada from 1788 to 2012.

Chinese Canadian videos

The videos in this collection portray diverse life experiences of Chinese Canadians, both past and present.

Video interviews

Adult and youth members of the South Asian community, as well as scholars, recount the influence of the Komagata Maru on their lives.

Oral histories

Unique oral histories from Simon Fraser University’s Kohaly Collection and Indo Canadian Oral History Collection.

Image archive

Historical photographs and political cartoons offer historical glimpses of the South Asian community.

Passenger list

Biographies trace the histories of individual passengers on the Komagata Maru.

Interactive timeline

This interactive timeline traces the development of the South Asian community.

Lesson plans

The following lessons plans draw upon an array of historical materials to explore issues affecting South Asians in Canada:

• Exploring the historical context of the Komagata Maru incident
• Decoding media representations of South Asians
• Judging turning points in South Asian history
• Judging the appropriateness of government response to injustice
• Historical perspective-taking with respect to the Komagata Maru