“Lest We Forget” History Education: Canadians Call on LAC to Reverse Controversial Decision
In a bid to "save living history", The Globe and Mail published an article last month admonishing the changes made to the popular program “Lest We Forget” run by Library and Archives Canada (LAC). The program invites history students from across Canada to research the lives of local First World War veterans through workshops and hands-on primary research utilizing military records held at LAC. In an open letter, Library and Archives Canada states that, “the Lest We Forget project is not being cut. On the contrary, it is being expanded through partnerships and published on line to facilitate access.” This expansion will include the digitization of 200 military service records with the hope that they will aid teachers in independently conducting Lest We Forget activities across Canada and around the world.
The reassurance by Library and Archives Canada has done little to stem nationwide concern voiced by educators, students and Canadians across the country. The instructor and students of Canada and the World, a first year history course at Queen’s University, have begun a petition calling for the reversal of LAC’s decision to discontinue onsite workshops in Ottawa. While the petition recognizes the value in digitizing LAC military records, it affirms that “this is no substitute for the archival experience of guided, hands-on primary research, which has proven so popular in fostering the vital link between young people and Canadian history.” The Canadian Teachers Federation has also responded with a letter expressing regret over the closing of The LAC Learning Centre at the end of March. Canadians have taken to newspaper editorial pages, blogs, and even facebook to communicate their concerns about the changes to Lest We Forget and the wider placement of history in Canadian schools. Blake Seward, a former high school history teacher who originally created Lest We Forget as a class project, told the Ottawa Sun, “The reason they (government) gave for closing the Education Centre is that providing education is not deemed a priority.”
Canadians are talking to one another about Lest We Forget and the importance of history education in Canada. Part of this debate centers on the nature of history education, and the replacement of hands-on primary source research with a digitized sampling of military records. Students who have participated in the program explain, “nothing could have prepared us for the feeling of opening the worn, yellowed folder and knowing we were the first people in close to a century to see these documents…gathering the required information would not have been possible without the invaluable assistance of the wonderful current and former staff of the Archives' Learning Centre.”
The movement to save Lest We Forget has, in some ways, become a dialogue about how history education is conceived, promoted and practiced in Canada. To some commentators the reassurance of the LAC that Lest We Forget is being expanded, rather than reduced, through digitization still raises concern about the placement of primary sources in classrooms, the importance of history education in Canada, and the memory of Canada’s experiences during the First World War.
Comments
March 22, 2010
Lest we forget
this is great stuff, Mary--it really brings the issue to life. Thanks for sharing!
Submitted by Jennifer Bonnell on 22 March 2010 - 7:42pm.
