UVic history profs call for 'radically fresh approach' for proposed Canadian institute of history

Plans to create a Canadian Institute of History, funded by telecommunications conglomerate BCE, the Bronfman Foundation, other private sources and, possibly, the federal government, are expected to be announced at the end of this month. Reports describe the institute as an effort to improve Canadians' knowledge of their country's history by reforming, revitalizing, and increasing the teaching of Canadian history at all educational levels.

"We need to re-work history as a core discipline in the curriculum," says UVic professor of Canadian history Dr. Eric Sager. "An institute can help by providing new teaching materials and ideas. There is a real risk, however, that such an institute will be influenced by an older generation of well-known central Canadian historians. The institute should begin with the younger generation of historians--those who have been through the school and university system most recently, and those closest in culture and spirit to students currently in our schools."

Dr. John Lutz, also a faculty member in the UVic history department, says, "The initiative is very welcome, but it will have to be carefully thought through if it is to be of any use. The idea of a national history curriculum is dead in the water before it gets started. Education is a provincial responsibility. The best the institute could do is provide resources, lobby provinces and establish frameworks to encourage, for example, Quebecers to study English Canadian history and English Canadians, Quebec history.

"Ideally, the institute would develop lively teaching resources that tap into the genuinely fascinating aspects of our past and make the past something that many students will be so interested in that they will continue to seek it out as adults. The topics would have to be relevant to young people today."

Sager is director of the Canadian Families Project, a multi-university research project examining the history of the family in Canada, an effort that will help inform decisionmakers shaping policies that affect Canadian families today.

Lutz is co-creator of the award-winning Canadian history Web site "Who Killed William Robinson?" (http://web.uvic.ca/history-robinson/), an interactive historical murder mystery dealing with race, justice and settling the land on Salt Spring Island, B.C. in the 1860s.

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