English and French tours to Northern France and Belgium
In collaboration with Veterans Affairs Canada, the Canadian Battlefields Foundation and the Laurier Centre for Military, Strategic and Disarmament Studies, Historica-Dominion Institute will be coordinating a 2010 Battlefields Study Tours for high school educators in July and August.

The 2010 Historica-Dominion Institute Canadian Battlefields Foundation Study Tours are designed to introduce educators to some of the most important Canadian battlefields and memorials in Belgium and France. From the great Vimy pilgrimage of 1936 to the recent anniversary commemorations of Vimy, D-Day and VE Day Canadians have been drawn to these sites of memory which form such an important chapter in our nation’s history.


Program Overview

The study tours are designed specifically for high school teachers who want to enrich their history classroom experience by engaging students in the study of the two world wars and learning about remembrance through the presentation of material or the human face of war.

The week begins in Ypres (Iper) Belgium and after visits to the 1915 and 1917 battlefields. The Ypres Salient and Passcendaele we examine and debate the messages conveyed by the cemeteries, memorials and the war museum in the restored cloth hall. A similar approach is used at Vimy and Beaumont-Hamel. The teachers all work on a strategic decision-making exercise before visiting Dieppe. We then spend a week in Normandy at Le Moulin Morin where there are classroom and dormitory facilities. Each day begins and ends with discussion periods on what we have learned and how it can be effectively transferred into the classroom.

As part of the Lest We Forget Project selected teachers are required to prepare a biography of a Canadian who is buried or commemorated in France or Belgium. Teachers will gain experience in using primary documents since Library and Archives Canada will provide them a photocopies of a selected soldier or nursing sister's military service file.

For many educators this is one of the most meaningful aspects of the tour.

“This assignment was the most meaningful part of my experience. It is here where our deepest emotions were expressed. I am confident that I can now teach the battlefield part of my history lessons with more expertise. I am desperately hopeful that I can convey some of the emotion we experienced to the students.” 2008 participant

An English and French Study Tour will be held in the summer of 2010.

For more information on the study tours, please contact staff@historica-dominion.ca