War. It’s a tough topic to think about. A lot of us have relatives and ancestors who fought in a war. Small scale civil wars, or large scale world warfare, it leaves a mark on societies and world views alike, and can shape all of human history.
This year in social studies ten we are learning and discussing about World War One and the affect it had on Europe and the rest of the world, specifically Canada. Our goal for our PLP ten class this unit was to get a better understanding of Canada’s role in the war, how much of an impact was left by Canada and what the Canadian identity was. As a class, we went through many assignments, discussions and projects that enhanced our understanding of the subject and how it relates to Canada. This is the World War One unit.
I did a post a while back on the introduction to Canada. This is the follow up of that post, so if you haven’t seen my last one, here is a link to it.
The first topic we learned about was about the Canadian Governments relation to the war, also known as the Laurier Era. Wilfred Laurier was the Prime Minister of Canada during World War One. He created many laws and set many ground rules for people in the wars. He was the creator of conscription in Canada in the war, which is pulling people from their homes and sending them into the war.
We had learned about Laurier and his intentions to bring more people to war for a little under a week, then it was time for our big assignment, a keynote, which is a PowerPoint like app, but with some cool features. You can read more about it on the website.
My group consisted of Sydney, Ethan and Claire and together we created a keynote about the French and English tension in the war. British residents were the majority in Canada, and the French people did not enjoy that. The Canadian government at the time took out the French language completely from schools, which made French speakers very angry. Because of this, Laurier had proposed a compromise,. He stated that the French language would be taught in a few larger schools and that French children would get a better education. This sky rocketed Laurier’s chances of becoming Prime Minister, and his appeal to both target audiences helped him become Prime Minister.
Wilfrid Laurier
Once we had finished that keynote, it was time to go on to a website called “Shattered Grounds” where we will read a short story about a solider in the War. Along with this, we did a few worksheets about some of the notable facts from the story. To be completely honest, this was one of the bland parts of the unit, as I did not learn very much from this website or short story other than how tough life would be like on a battlefield.
After doing the shattered ground assignments, it was time to learn about about what Canadian identity in the First World War benefited countries all across the globe fighting against the triple alliance. Canadians were very well known for being brave and outgoing in the war.vThey were ruthless in the battles they faced, and were lethal in the wars. The most well known Canadian battle was the battle of Vimy Ridge, where Canadians were supposed to aid the British and French at the front line. The Germans who invaded were actually scared of the Canadians because of their reckless nature, and the allies, with Canada’s help, won the battle.
To end off this unit, we were assigned a podcast about a Canadian soldier in the war. In this project, we were told to find a solider that fought in the First World War. We looked on the Veterans of Canada website to find our soldier. Once we had found our solider, the goal was to create a script for our podcast. My solider was John Arthur Harper. Harper was born in Norwich Ontario in 1888. He was the oldest son of Henry Harper, a successful businessman in the city of Norwich. He had a brother, Norman, who also served in the military after John’s death and a sister who work with John before he left for the army. Harper would go to Dundas public elementary and high schools and would enter service in the bank of Montreal in 1906, later meeting up with his sister and work together until 1915, when John Harper would enter the military. He joined the 47th battalion infirmary where he would train and compete in Ontario before gaining the honour of a lieutenant.
Some Documents of Harper in the Early 1900’s
Harper’s war efforts would not last long, as he died once he stepped on the battlefield. He died in the battle of Vimy Ridge to a fatal headshot. I could have picked a more interesting soldier for this podcast, as he wasn’t the most interesting solider I could have chosen. The goal of this project was to show how our solider portrayed the Candian identity in the War, and Harper portrayed it very well. He was a brave and courageous person before being killed in action, and showed leadership as a lieutenant. Below you will see my podcast.
In PLP, we undergo many revisions and critique, but for this project, I did not get very much. Everybody in the class I showed my podcast too said it was very good and well compiled and edited. I only changed some of the music and my audio, as some of it was a little off pitch or too loud/quiet.
Overall, I really enjoyed doing this unit. This unit has taught me a lot about Canadian identity in the war and how it is different from other countries. It has made me proud of being a Canadian more than ever before, and I am very thankful for our soldiers who fought in this war just a century ago.