On Being Canadian, Minute by Minute

A frigid October in Kinngait (Cape Dorset), Nunavut, commemorating the great artist Kenojuac Ashevak.

An abandoned warehouse in Vancouver transformed into a 1940s Hawker Hurricane production plant for the tribute to pioneering engineer Elsie MacGill.

A national park in Nova Scotia that was a real-life home for Acadians – until it became their forced exit point.

A church basement in Calgary that served as stand-in for the legendary Winnipeg Falcons hockey team dressing room before its players went off to war.

A ballpark in Vancouver and a small town in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley, where members of the Asahi baseball team went from triumph to internment.

And so many more locations, all with one common thread: pivotal events in a country’s life were re-lived in each.

These are just some of the places that have served as sets for Canada’s iconic Heritage Minutes over the past 13 years. The Minutes are produced by the charitable organization Historica Canada, which I serve as president. The Minutes tell stories of people and/or events that have shaped the country in which we live. Starting with the first releases in 1991, there are well over 100 Minutes: I have been responsible for more than 20. [MORE]