By Jason Misner
COMMUNICATIONS OFFCER, HDSB STAFF

Aldershot High School brought an important piece of Canadian history to life, so to speak.

On January 11, 2012, the Grades 7-12 Burlington school celebrated the 197th birthday of Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. MacDonald (1867-1973, 1878-1891), called Sir John A. Day. The Father of Confederation even made an appearance, complete with a birthday hat.

Sandra Rogers, Secondary Teacher-Librarian and Dianna MacLeod, Library Technician created a display that included poster board information and a cardboard cut out of MacDonald. The costume was provided by Jeff Sephton, school drama teacher.

More than 130 students were photographed with the display.

“As a history teacher and teacher-librarian, I am always looking for ways to promote Canadian history among our student body, and to make it fun for them,” explains Rogers. “The Historica-Dominion Institute's Sir John A. Day Project provided lots of great resources and ideas for the day. Our history teachers, Stephen. Lindeman and Karen Nguyen were invaluable in promoting the day to their students, and in addition, our Program Leader for the Arts, Martyn Olenick tied in Sir John A. Day with his art classes during the week.”

For example, Olenick had students look at the Sir John A. Day website and study its design elements.

Through the Sir John A. Day project, The Historica-Dominion Institute strives to raise awareness about the life and legacy of Sir John. A Macdonald by providing resources for schools to use to honour the day. In 2001, the federal government officially declared January 11 to be Sir John A. Macdonald Day.

In addition the general awareness the display brought to Aldershot High School, Rogers says the display had a valuable curriculum tie in. It highlighted Confederation, which is part of the Grade 8 history curriculum; promoted further understanding of the Grade 10 Civics course, in which students study a variety of great Canadians and discuss the criteria for what makes a Canadian great; and Grade 10 history has a strand which focusses on Canadian identity and citizenship.

“A variety of students expressed their delight at finding a life-sized Prime Minister outside the library,” says Rogers.

Grade 9 student Deanna Thayer says Sir John. A MacDonald has a huge place in our history and events such as his birthday should be recognized.

“He’s our first Prime Minister so it’s important to honour him,” she says. 

Rogers says the goal of the display was to bring history to life in some way.

”We were hoping to show students how interesting Canadian history can be, and that Canadians can celebrate their heritage and identity in a variety of ways.  In the morning, students read quotes and comments about Sir John A. MacDonald over the P.A. system to raise awareness about how shrewd he was as a politician, and to illustrate that it took a lot of political savvy to make Confederation happen.”