The Canadian History Report Card is a project of the Dominion Institute, a national organization that uses groundbreaking public opinion research, innovative media and in-school programmes to help hundreds of thousands of Canadians connect in meaningful ways with the country’s history, shared citizenship and democratic institutions.
For more than a decade, surveys commissioned by the Dominion Institute have pointed to a troubling ignorance about our country’s history, particularly among young Canadians. In 2007, for example, the Institute found that 82% of Canadians aged 18 to 24 failed a simple 30-question “exam” about Canadian history. Just one-quarter (26%) knew the year of Confederation.
It seems difficult to comprehend that recent graduates of high school know so little about Canadian history. The Dominion Institute wondered: What exactly do we require our students to learn about our country’s past?
To answer this question, the Dominion Institute conducted a study of the history curricula in Canada’s provinces and territories. The Institute assigned each province and territory a grade based on the quality of its Canadian history curriculum at the high school level (grades 9-12).
The findings show that we are failing students when it comes to educating them about the story of Canada. In too many provinces and territories, Canadian history is lumped together with a mix of other social studies, making it an afterthought.
The Dominion Institute invites you to explore the results of our study, and hopes this report will ignite an honest, constructive and fruitful discussion of what Canadians expect our young people to learn about their past.
The Dominion Institute would like to thank the members of its advisory committee for making this project possible.
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