THE CANADIAN SOCIAL STUDIES SUPER SITE

Please be aware that there is no guarantee about the accuracy or truth of materials in any website. The authorship, timeliness, and veracity of a website need to be carefully ascertained and, if necessary, information verified in other sources. Student projects, in particular, should not rely only on Internet material. Internet sites as resources should be used by students only after they have learned how to rate the sites with guidelines established in class, with the exception of those authorized by the teacher.

Evaluating Internet Research Sources. This website by Robert Harris is one of the finest guides for evaluating sources in general in addition to Internet materials. If you are planning to teach about resource evaluations this website is a must read item.

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Alert your students to immediately sign-off any website they encounter with material dealing with hate, harming others or themselves, smut, asking that the encounter remain a "secret," requesting any personal information, or to identify themselves or their location. They should report the incident to their parent/guardian or teacher.

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• The Canada Site. The Government of Canada’s primary Internet site and the Internet access point to find information about Canada, the Government, and its programs and services.
• Canadian Heritage Site. A federal site with information about virtually all aspects of Canadian culture including the symbols of Canada, national music, and links to holidays and anniversaries, protocol and events, the royal family, and much more. 
• Library and Archives Canada. The National Library is one of the nation's leading centers for research in Canadian Studies and is a showcase for Canadian literature and music.
• Statistics Canada. Statistical data about Canada. You can browse by subject and key resources
• The Canadian Encyclopedia This is the on-line version of The Canadian Enycyclopedia sponsored by the Historica Foundation dedicated to promoting Canadian History education.

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• Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. This is one of the finest sources for Canadian biographies. A direct search engine and a browse feature is available to find a person.

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The Valour and the Horror

This is both an example of, and information for, a case study of a controversial issue:

• onlinenewspapers.com - On line newspapers from Canada and around the world. Go to the media where events are happening and see what they have to say. Compare this with what you see and hear in your local media.
• World-Newspapers.com - A comprehensive site with newspapers, magazines and news. Well worth browsing.

• Indigenous-Services Canada Canada /  Crown Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada   Indigenous Services Canada works collaboratively with partners to improve access to high quality services for First Nations, Inuit and Métis. Our vision is to support and empower Indigenous peoples to independently deliver services and address the socio-economic conditions in their communities.       Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs  Canada continues to renew the nation-to-nation, Inuit-Crown, government-to-government relationship between Canada and First Nations, Inuit and Métis; modernize Government of Canada structures to enable Indigenous peoples to build capacity and support their vision of self-determination; and lead the Government of Canada's work in the North.
• CBC Indigenous. This Canadian Broadcasting Company site reflects aboriginal life in Canada and includes weekly news stories, arts and culture, personality profiles, programming, regional content, archival information as well as background and history to current topics, and more.

• Privacy Commissioner of Canada. Information and links to other provincial and international sites regarding protection of privacy and information laws. Link to the Ontario Information and Privacy Commission for an extraordinary number of other privacy links, and then to its resources section under education for free downloadable upper elementary and secondary resources - they can be modified for your own jurisdiction.
• Canadian Constitutional Documents - A Legal History. This is a comprehensive set of Constitutional documents relating to Canada.
• Try Judging. This site, designed for the secondary level, deals with the importance of the judicial system in Canada. It contains student and teacher resources including videos, and involves students in dealing with the role of judges, concepts such as rule of law, judicial independence and impartiality. Try Judging was developed and produced by the Public Education Committee of the Superior Courts Judges Association
• Edmonton John Howard Society. This site contains public legal education resources for teachers on the themes of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, drugs, family violence, bullying, and gangs. Each theme contains a section on information, lessons, links and FAQs. There is a downloadable PowerPoint presentation for the Youth Criminal Justice Act, and downloadable PDF files for classroom materials in most of the theme sections.

• Department of Justice Canada. A comprehensive site covering laws of Canada. Well worth browsing.

• Library and Archives Canada. As the custodian of our distant past and recent history, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is a key resource for all Canadians who wish to to gain a better understanding of who they are, individually and collectively. LAC acquires, processes, preserves and provides access to our documentary heritage and serves as the continuing memory of the Government of Canada and its institutions. 
• The Canadian Museum of History. An extensive and impressive collection  of Canadiana. Here you will find a variety of information about Canada including history, archeology, culture, First Nations and more. There are sections for educators, kids, and scholars. Go to the site map for a quick over-view of what is available.
• The Canadian War Museum. This national museum presents Canada’s military past and how it shaped the country from earliest times to the present, featuring the experiences of people on the battlefields and at home and has online educational resources including planning materials for Remembrance Day.
• CBC Archives. Examine sound and video clips of interest to modern Canadian history. Listen to Nelly L. McClung discussing the "Persons Case." See Leonard Cohen being interviewed by a young Adrienne Clarkson, and hear him read his poetry, and much more.
• Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History. A unique Canadian history site to learn about history as a cold case file. You have actual Canadian criminal cases from the past and the historical resources associated with them. Examine the resources and decide whether justice has been done. Learn about the nuances of looking at the past – or just enjoy yourself.
• Memory Project. This Dominion Institute site is a valuable living history resource to connect veterans and students online and in classrooms across the country. Speakers are provided and there is also an online database with oral histories and artifacts of Canadian veterans. This is an excellent resource for Remembrance Day and units dealing with Canadian combat and peace keeping.
• Black History Portal. An excellent annotated guide to the history of the black community in Canada.

• Peel’s Prairie Postcards. This is an image archive at the University of Alberta of over 15,000 postcards dating back to the turn of the 19th century dealing with the Canadian prairies. This site has a search engine, including a browse feature, to find pictures you may wish to use for teaching. Additional archival materials in the Peel’s Prairie Provinces collection will also be found on this page.

• Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness. A University of British Columbia site dedicated to facilitating research on the understanding and teaching of history.

• Fields of Sacrifice. This NFB film, honouring the fallen Canadian military of the First and Second World Wars, was released in 1964 to commemorate the 50^th  anniversary of the start of the First World War and has been re-released on the 100^th anniversary. A sensitive and moving tribute. 38 min. 13 sec.  

• Canadian Primary Sources in the Classroom - A site well worth browsing for Canadian history primary sources. It also has excellent material on historical method, teaching ideas, philosophies of history and other items.

• Winds of War - Part 1. (This site has on again off again copyright problems. The Webmaster is monitoring it.) This is a TV series based on Herman Wouk's novel of the same name showing the lead-up to the Second World War. NOTE: This is for teacher background information for a mature adult audience and not for elementary or secondary class use.  

• War and Remembrance - Part 1. (This site has on again off again copyright problems. The Webmaster is monitoring it.) This is the follow-up TV series to Winds of War, based on Herman Wouk's novel dealing with the Second World War. NOTE: This is for teacher background information for a mature adult audience and not for elementary or secondary class use. Warning: there are scenes of explicit, graphic violence especially concerning the development and operation of the German concentration camps. Holocaust survivors are respectfully urged not to view War and Remembrance. 
• Valour Canada - A not-for-profit organization that educates young Canadians about our shared military heritage by developing and providing learning opportunities designed to foster a deeper understanding of who we are as individuals, citizens, and as a nation. Many excellent learning materials as well as engrossing virtual tours.

• Canadian Human Rights Commission. The Canadian Human Rights Commission was established in 1978 and has three main objectives: to promote knowledge of human rights in Canada and to encourage people to follow principles of equality; to provide effective and timely means for resolving individual complaints; and to help reduce barriers to equality in employment and access to services. There are links to provincial and territorial human rights commissions.
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. There is large amount of resource materials in this site. Teachers will find this site of much value if a unit is being developed or a question arises about this horrible period in history.
• A Teacher's Guide To The Holocaust. This award winning site is produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida. It is designed for teachers and contains extensive resources including lesson plans, film clips, photo, music and art files. The navigation index is very user friendly.
• Holodomor. This is the Ukrainian Canadian Congress site for information and resources about the Holodomor, the massive annihilation of Ukrainians in the 1930s by Stalin's manmade starvation. The losses during this crime against humanity surpassed those of the Ukrainian nation during the Second World War.
• Anti-Slavery. This is a British organization that has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Its website documents slavery and slavery-like conditions.
• The Azrieli Series of Holocaust Survivor Memoirs. The Azrieli Foundation publishes and distributes free of charge the written first-person memoirs of Holocaust survivors who made their way to Canada to libraries, schools and Holocaust-education programs across Canada and will connect classes with authors using Skype.
• PREVNet. This is a teacher's first stop for dealing with bullying. It is a network of 69 leading Canadian research scientists and 55 national youth-serving organizations to stop bullying in Canada and to promote safe and healthy relationships for all Canadian children and youth and to change the way we understand and deal with bullying problems in this country. There are extensive resources, information, and research.
• Canadian Museum of Human Rights. This is the first museum solely dedicated to the evolution, celebration and future of human rights. The aim is to build not only a national hub for human rights learning and discovery, but a new era of global human rights leadership.

Because of the danger of pedophiles trolling the Internet pen pals sites have been deleted. However, both pen pals and e-mail pals can be obtained by contacting ministries of education, educational associations -- in particular social studies specialist groups, consuls and embassies.

• Stellarium - A free downloadable powerful planetarium astronomy program that shows the night sky anywhere in the world. The display moves with a timer to show the changing night sky or can be locked for a specific time. Great for teaching about space probes in current events and astronomy in general. Once the program is opened press the “h” key for command information including exiting. Click on the configuration box on the lower left task bar and click on location. On the map click on the location you want (latitude and longitude specifics will help). The lower right task bar controls the time. Thirty minutes of playing with this program and its task bars will make you an expert. This program is very impressive.

• FreeTechBooks - “All the books listed here are available for free, as they are hosted on websites that belong to the authors or the publishers. You are most welcome to view, download and print the books for your own private use at no charge.”

• Ed Tech Talk Show - At this site you can comment, discuss and “mull-over all things related to educational technology.”

• Firefox - This is a free download web browser created by Mozilla for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Many believe that it is superior to other web browsers, and it is available in different languages including French. The website has a discussion of its features. Firefox is well worth having on your desktop as your primary browser or for a backup. You will not be disappointed.

• Foxit Reader for Windows - This is a free PDF reader is an excellent alternative to, or backup for, Adobe Acrobat. It does not have as many bells and whistles as Acrobat, but is a good basic reader.

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