“Just a Minute of Your Time”

"Just a Minute ofYour Time" The problem of nurturing in the Canadian public an interest in the country's history, culture and significance has plagued educators during this entire century. We used to be colonial to the core, basking in the glory that was England (Britain) and fascinated by the grand-scale doings and bravado south of the border. On the larger world stage, who were we to have much to say or to celebrate? So the problem we faced was twofold: to cease being colonial and small-minded (no small task for a British "dominion" with a small population base and a powerful neighbour); and to identify and find ways to celebrate definitive aspects of the Canadian experience. Playing catch-up in a fast-changing world has not been easy. There has long been a smallish number of Canadians who have taken an interest - often for religious, economic, or political reasons - in the uniqueness of the country and who have done their best to promote attention to our history and to our political and cultural achievements. Yet the development of a large, attentive and selfobservant public has been a struggle. Even in the 1950s and 60s one could have been educated in the best schools in the country and still have learned little about what makes Canada unique and worthwhile as a political, social, and cultural entity. The efforts of scholars and the media, and the emergence of a culture devoted to Canadian studies has, since that time, done much to fill that void. But has it been enough? Not by a long, long shot! There is to be sure a loyal and intelligent core of individuals - most of whom watch and listen to the CBC or attend to other voices in the Canadian media - who care deeply and lend their hearts and their wallets to the study and celebration of our diverse and complex heritage. That core, however, still seems precariously small. Moreover, as we approach the twenty-first century, the problems we face are formidable. Our world is in the grip of computers and the gospel of globalization. And we are faced with the educational needs of young people who are on the one hand overwhelmed with attention-grabbing alternatives, but who are on the other hand governed in their responses by a much shorter attention span than pertained even a generation ago. How will our sense of ourselves as Canadians fare amidst such forces? One attempt to meet the needs of young Canadians today is the Heritage Minutes project, initiated by Charles Bronfman and the CRB Foundation and co-sponsored by such corporate giants as Canada Post Corporation and Power Broadcasting. The aim is to present, through as many outlets as possible, a series of dramatic minutes about Canadian experience to awaken in the country's increasingly diverse youth in particular a sense of the history and achievements that have characterized our development. I have watched these "minutes'" with interest - 25 are in circulation on television and in Cineplex theatres and 10 more are soon to be released - and have been impressed by the Journal ofCanadian Studies Vol. 28, No. 2 (Ere 1993 Summer) 3 undertaking as a whole. Each minute is in effect a commercial that seeks to outdo a vivid advertisement's capacity to arrest and hold attention. It must be dramatic and it must leave an image in the mind of the beholder, one that may be the seed of further interest. Some minutes work better than others, among them the sketches of the underground railroad, Jenny Trout, and Wilder Penfield. I have been thinking about the power such a moment can hold, especially for impressionable young Canadians, ever since reading a petulant column by Robert Fulford in The Globe and Mail (June 30, 1993) - its title, "Heritage Minutes seem like hours." Seemingly preferring a chewing-gum commercial (selling sex, youth and sun) to a Heritage Minute, Fulford laments the earnestness and solemnity of any "minute" which delays his movie-going pleasure. "They seem to be based on the theory that the way to bring history to life is to beat it to death," he writes. We have long since learned not to...