This grade seven student’s project explored the impact of his ancestor, Ezra Churchill of Hantsport, Nova Scotia. Merchant, shipbuilder, and politician, Ezra Churchill had a varied career in the 19th century and this student uses the engaging metaphor of the sea to help us understand its consequences. In the centre is the Port of Causes.

This project is noteworthy both for the engaging display and its historical thinking about evidence and significance. The title, lettering, illustration, and colour all invite the viewer to look and reflect. This student used a wide variety of evidence such as city directory of occupants of Japantown and photographs of buildings to tell the story of this forgotten part of the city’s history. We are encouraged to consider why some parts of history such as Japantown are forgotten.

When this student’s parents bought a heritage home, the family found several historical artifacts. “I was inspired to do this project when my mum showed me some things she found in our house – an old glass bottle, an iron. I wanted to know who had owned them.”

Local history is common topic for Heritage Fairs and the themes of change and continuity are central to history. This student looked at how her own preschool had changed and built her research around photographs and interviews with former students and teachers.

This is a topic that may have been chosen for personal interest and may look to be unimportant but has the potential to explore some interesting aspects of change. For example, have the changes in hockey sticks been for the better or worse? (With the new composite sticks, players can shoot the puck harder but the stick costs a lot more and the cost of equipment is a problem for many Canadians.)

Larry Kwong played for the Vernon Hydrophones before going to the New York Rangers where he was on the ice for one minute in a game in 1948, the first Asian-Canadian to play in the NHL. The student who did this project and went to the Provincial Fair in Barkerville was passionate about Kwong. His passion was reflected in his extensive research of which you can see a portion in the photo. In addition, he telephoned Kwong, now elderly and living in Edmonton, for an interview.

Students often care deeply about issues of justice or fairness. This grade 9 student chose such an issue as her Heritage Fair topic, one that is little known to most Canadians.

The inquiry question for this grade 6 students project was unusual. The first part – “how did the Natives assist the British?” – asks for a straightforward account that might involve only a summary of readily available sources. However, the second part – would the British have lost without the Native help – requires considerable knowledge, realistic interpretation, and imagination to answer well.

This is a great inquiry question with lots of potential. The student explains the role of James Douglas and Matthew Begbie as one might expect, but he also describes a family connection. One of his ancestors was a judge at the time. The question also invites an exploration of why things like peace and war […]

Why did some people doubt that Jane Smith committed suicide? In 1924 this bizarre case made the headlines in Vancouver for months. The suspicious death of the “Scottish Nightingale”, a maid in a posh Shaughnessy home, involved high-level police corruption, kidnapping, drugs, and racism. The coroner at first declared it a suicide but later decided it was a murder.

This grade four student has chosen an important, authentic inquiry question to guide her project. In addition to the attractive presentation, her project is noteworthy for her effort to understand both the perspectives of the French and the Huron (or Wendat). To highlight the strangeness of the first encounter she compares it to meeting aliens.

Stories of the past are based on interpreting traces such as artefacts that are left behind. This student uses these two passports, artefacts that help tell the story of how Shelina’s parents made their way from Uganda to Scotland and eventually to Canada.

This student has used a three-dimensional timeline to give important background to her story about increasing equality of women and men. The title and use of colour make for a powerful design.

This uses questions as subtitles that the primary sources answer. Below he uses both photographs and a graph of cases of tuberculosis over time to explain why the family sold the farm.

This student uses his inquiry question as his title.

This boy’s project connected his family history – his grandparents sold furs to the Hudson’s Bay Company – to the larger story of the company and non-native settlement of Canada.

The title, central photograph, use of colour, and layout combine to make this a powerful display in support of a thoughtful interpretation of Canada’s assimilation policy towards First Nations.

The form and colour of this display on Emily Carr reflects her paintings and engages the viewer.

The products of research, analysis, and writing are what count the most in your exhibit. Use primary sources that you found in your research to answer your inquiry question as this student has used photographs.

This student uses primary sources, such as the newspaper account from the Yale Sentinel at the time of the construction of the CPR and photographs of work crews. She also uses a secondary source, a web site, The Chinese Experience in British Columbia: 1850 to 1950, to give further background information.