The Life and Art of Mildred Valley Thornton, Sheryl Salloum. Mother Tongue Publishing Limited, Salt Spring Island, 2011. 158 pp $35.95

Reviewed by Janet Nicol

A unique story not to be overlooked, The Life and Art of Mildred Valley Thornton, is the fourth biography in a series of “Unheralded Artists of British Columbia.” Author Sheryl Salloum lovingly portrays Mildred Valley Thornton (1890 to 1967) from her early years in rural Ontario to her unconventional married life in Vancouver. Accompanying the text are several of Thornton’s masterful oil and watercolour paintings as well as family photographs.

Thornton’s legacy includes more than 300 portraits, most of First Nations people. She befriended and learned from her subjects and came to advocate on their behalf. Asked why she chose to paint First Nations people over other groups, Thornton simply said she considered them more interesting.

Several male aboriginal leaders sat for Thornton, but she also painted aboriginal women and vivid scenes of life on the reserves. Thornton painted quickly, as the author explains, skilfully capturing the spirit of her subjects. She felt an urgency to document what she feared was a disappearing way of life. This notion also compelled Thornton to share her paintings and knowledge of First Nations culture and traditions through writing and speaking engagements.

Thornton also painted Canadian landscapes. A few are compared favourably to Group of Seven artist Tom Thomson. Indeed, Thornton was “as Canadian as wheat,” as a contemporary commented.

She lived in a time of of domestic conformity for women, yet histories (such as this book) continue to emerge to indicate exceptions. Thornton was supported by her husband, John who shared in the raising of their twin sons Maitland and Jack, born in 1926, freeing her to spend time to paint and travel. Thornton was also involved with the Vancouver literary community after her family moved here from Saskatchewan in 1934 and was an art critic for the Vancouver Sun from 1944 to 1959.

Another unconventional woman of the times was Maisie Hurley, with whom Thornton befriended. Hurley began publishing The Native Voice newspaper in 1946 and Thornton was an occasional contributor.

Emily Carr was also a contemporary of Thornton’s with a similar interest in aboriginal culture. A quality which separates these artists, the author points out, is Thornton’s sociability and interest of other people. Perhaps because of this, unlike Carr, Thornton portrayed people in her art to the end of her life. The author observes that a male-dominated art world meant: “…the two most talented and independent female BC painters of the day never collaborated or celebrated their achievements; instead,they were forced to compete with one another.”

A wealth of source materials, detailed in extensive endnotes, allowed the author to successfully trace much of Thornton’s life, from her art school days in the mid-west of the United States to her final days as a widow in Vancouver’s Kerrisdale neighbourhood. Interviews with family members including a son, Jack Thornton, now living in Victoria, and two grandchildren Janet and John Thornton, enrich this story as well.

The author explores the reasons acclaim eluded Thornton, garnering viewpoints from members of the art community, past and present. Among her findings, Salloum notes Canadians tend to undervalue portraiture in favour of landscapes. The author also addresses the racial politics of Thornton’s (and others) art work in a sensitive and informed manner and considers its impact on Thornton’s legacy.

While in declining health in her final days, Thornton struggled to find an appropriate public space in Canada for her paintings. She didn’t want her collection broken up or sold to private collectors. The outcome of her efforts is yet another compelling story the author reveals in the concluding pages. Ultimately, the value given to Thornton’s work reflects who we are as Canadians as much as it reflects the reputation of this accomplished artist.

Reprinted from BC History , Winter, 2011

Watch for my interview with Mona Fertig, Mother Tongue Publishing, in Galleries West magazine, January 2012.

Project-oriented, relevant, and reaching beyond classroom walls, Social Justice 12 (SJ12) has gained momentum since first offered as an elective in 2008. My own experience at Killarney Secondary, a school on Vancouver’s eastside, and interviews with three other SJ12 teachers in British Columbia schools, reveal this course is a valuable addition to our curriculum.

“Homelessness is a really important issue,” writes Rosa Serdar, a student in my SJ12 class. “I had a chance to get to know a man who is victimized by homelessness (in a class project) and truthfully, throughout the interview, I felt really sad for him and wished there was something I could do to help.”

As Serdar’s comments illustrate, many students who gravitate to this course want to explore ways to help others. Raising awareness through group and class discussions, guest speakers, films, and readings, educate students about specific issues. For example, Gary Snyder, a resident and activist on Vancouver’s downtown eastside, gave students a better understanding of living within Canada’s “poorest postal code.” Some students became motivated to volunteer their time in the neighbourhood, and as an action project, volunteered at the Carnegie Centre and Gallery Gachet (an artists’ co-operative gallery supporting mental illness issues).

Topics generating the most interest among students have been homelessness, homophobia, and bullying. All are issues relating directly to teenagers’ experiences of power, sensitivity, and vulnerability. We grappled with a much wider range of topics over the course of the year, however, expanding students’ knowledge, tolerance, and empathy.

“A moment that stood out for me was when we had Trent come in,” wrote Jonathan Nguyen, in reference to a visit by Killarney’s First Nations’ counsellor. “He was someone I learned a lot from. There are many First Nations issues being overlooked by our government and it is quite concerning.”

School copies of fiction and non-fiction books on social justice topics were distributed and for Alyson Lohada, was an effective lesson. “While I read The Book of Negroes,” she writes,” I did a lot of thinking. The insane amounts of racism that occurred then, has lessened and is seemingly hidden. I feel that there is still a lot of racism today. I hope one day soon, all of this racial profiling will come to an end.”

Several students read Under the Bridge, by BC born author Rebecca Godfrey. The non-fiction account is based on the bullying and murder of Victoria teenager Reena Virk. Many messages come across in this story, made even more relevant by the young people involved, familiar setting and contemporary themes.

Ming Lin writes: “Under the Bridge led me to contemplate the power of the mob, peer pressure, and the capacity for evil within us all. This cemented my belief that one should stay true to herself/himself.”

“The power of the pen” was apparent when Rebecca Godfrey visited our classroom. As she came through the doorway, students spontaneously clapped. Following Godfrey’s talk, some students approached her to sign their own store-bought copy of the book.

Sami Sekhon, was among those inspired and writes, “I was blown away by Rebecca Godfrey’s analytical approach to the case and I became very interested in youth crime and the restorative justice process.”

Chris Stolz has been teaching SJ12 at Tamanawis Secondary School in Surrey for three years. He has also sponsored the Gay Straight Alliance club for 11 years. Stolz says the club, and the SJ12 course, have effectively reduced homophobic language and attitudes among students.

“The single best moment,” he says, “was in my first year teaching to a group that included some very homophobic boys. Amar Sangha of “Sher Vancouver” (the South Asian LBGTQ group) came to talk. I was worried these boys, many of whose parents had explicitly condemned LBGTQ people as “sick,” would make fun of openly gay Amar. But at the end of his presentation, they stood and applauded, and, without me asking, walked up to him to shake his hand, admiring his incredible tenacity.”

Stolz teaches SJ12 with a laptop. “There are hundreds of excellent videos on all SJ12 topics on Youtube,” he says. “We use these all the time.”

“Our class has a Facebook group,” he adds. He says students use the site for discussions, sharing links, and homework questions. But Twitter is not on the lesson radar.

“Twitter is for celebrities and marketers,” he observes.

Stolz believes the course helps guide youth through the complexities of life. “BC students are part of a complex people mosaic,” he says, “that includes all sexual orientations, many ethnicities and languages, a huge diversity of religious views, and many people who have experienced serious adversity. A thoughtful modern citizen knows who people are and what their challenges are, so that he or she can compassionately and intelligently deal with the world.”

Erin Wilkins, a teacher-counsellor at Hope Secondary School, is also in her third year teaching SJ12 in the town of Hope. She started with only 12 students in her class and this year has 29. “I believe SJ12 promotes acceptance, empathy, understanding, and a desire to make a change, both globally and locally,” she says. “This class addresses real life issues that apply to the majority of our student population and it gives students the knowledge, tools, and confidence to stand up and fight for what is right.”

There have been several classroom highlights for Wilkins and her students.

“As a teacher, the highlight for me was when one of my students told me that he had the confidence to tell his parents that he was gay because of my class.”

“Our local food bank was robbed this summer,” Wilkins also says, “and my students contacted me to ask if they could do something about it.”

Besides fundraising for the food bank, Wilkins’ students have learned about human trafficking and ways they can fight for the rights of children.

“The school and the community have noticed a huge change in the attitudes of students,” she says. “They seem motivated and determined to make the world a better place. They stand up for what is right and are not afraid to comment when something is wrong.”

Technology is part of the classroom for Wilkins too. Among the many tools used, is a teacher blog for students and a smartboard.

“A great experience!” Rachel Deschenes, writes about the course. “I learned about real issues—most of which I didn’t know existed.”

“What can I say? It was the most applicable class I have ever taken,” writes Nathan Bobroske.

Lois Sanford has been teaching SJ12 at Total Education, an alternative school in Vancouver, for two years. She says the course permits the telling of untold histories. “The course covers factual content that is often entirely unknown to students,” she observes.

“Telling these stories of others is the occasion for developing more complex cognitive tools,” Sanford believes. “First, students begin wondering about which social groups are represented more, and why; next, they begin discussing patterns of injustice. Through this process, they begin to envision more complex solutions to pluralistic social problems. Finally, students begin to appropriate the modelled analytical tools and see their classmates’ opinions as sources of teaching and learning.”

Sanford says students “walk the walk.” She says, “this is because the course covers a range of subjects that elicit a broad range of sympathies, students who feel vulnerable to one issue of social injustice might be resistant, or occasionally downright hostile, about another. Since the common theme is justice for all, not just ‘your’ group, an environment is created where students might feel deeply accepted for their own particular vulnerabilities, and then may feel challenged to face their own biases in order to accept others. Both the discomfort and resulting respect allows them a more personal and complex understanding of these issues.”

There are many highlights to teaching the course Sanford says. “It was very heartening to hear passionate social justice discussions between students continue throughout their break time.” She also says “A couple of students who became involved in their action projects were changed by their own work, and expressed their enthusiasm to pursue these fields in their post secondary studies or their careers.”

Leah Moynahan, a student from Sandford’s class, called the class wonderful. “It really opened up my mind and helped me become aware of issues that were totally related to me—and I didn’t even know it,” she writes.

Currently only a quarter of Vancouver’s 18 secondary schools offer SJ12. Interest continues to grow, as was apparent at a BC Teachers’ Federation Conference on Social Justice in the spring of 2011. Teachers from around the province gathered to network, attend workshops, and browse a wealth of resources. In the lively exchange among colleagues, the consensus seemed to be clear: youth studying important issues and taking action will create a more positive school, community, and global culture.

For more information, visit the BCTF website and click on Social Justice. Also, the BC Ministry curriculum guide for Social Justice 12 is available on line.

Reprinted from BC Teacher magazine, November/December, 2011

This article will also appear in Our Schools, Our Selves, an educational journal, in early 2012.

Slipstitch, Jackie Frioud and Judy Robertson exhibit, September 2 to October 4, Circle Craft Gallery, Vancouver

by Janet Nicol

Jackie Frioud’s stitch-design ceramics complement narrative hooked rugs by Judy Robertson in a show called Slipstitch, at Circle Craft in Vancouver. “I was attracted to pottery as a functional form,” says Frioud, “even though my fine arts degree is in printmaking and sculpture.” She began by creating jewelry boxes, plate sets and other functional forms of white pottery. With a slip-coloured clay, she’s added a blue ‘stitching’ motif on each form. “I’ve sewn in the past and I always liked the stitching pattern used in printmaking,” she says, adding that her designs are influenced by a minimalist, Japanese aesthetic. “I began making multiple slabs to form one piece,” Frioud says. “I realized my pottery, based on function, was now becoming sculpture.” She shares a childhood in the Okanagan with Robertson, and says the muted colours of Robertson’s hooked rugs complement her white porcelains. “Words are embroidered into the fabric before she hooks,” she says. “The text has hidden meanings, giving a subversive element to the rugs.”

Reprinted from Galleries West magazine, Fall, 2011

By Janet Nicol

“I was an army brat,” artist and writer Gil McElroy says. “My father was one of the ‘cold warriors’ in the 1950s.” The Pinetree Line was one of three cross-country arrays of manned radar stations guarding against Soviet attack, and McElroy’s father worked on bases from coast to coast. Some buildings and artefacts of the period remain — including the Baldy Hughes Air Station in Prince George, and now McElroy and collaborating artist Peter Dykhuis have created installations about the Station, the second in a series of four Cold War exhibitions. “A wall of text provides a timeline of the history of the U.S.-built and manned site,” McElroy says. “It was a boring history until the Cuban Missile Crisis came along and things got exciting at the station for a very short time.” The exhibition also includes collages, maps and drawings. McElroy says many bases were either dismantled or simply abandoned and left to decay, and only a handful, including the Prince George site, were re-purposed. “Nobody remembers this time or wants to remember,” McElroy says. “But these military sites existed and shaped the fabric of our communities.”

Re-printed from Galleries West, Fall, 2011.

Reviewed by Janet Nicol

Diane Tye, a folklorist rooted in Atlantic Canada, frequently writes about hidden meanings found in everyday life. In Baking as Biography, she turns her critical gaze inward to examine the custom of passing down recipes through family. The recipes of her mother, Lauren Tye, provide the focal point of this memoir, revealing valuable and universal stories.

Lauren died in mid-life from cancer, a tragic family loss also giving insight. And so, although Tye’s son grows up without his grandmother, he is reminded of her when Tye bakes.

As part of a health-conscious generation, Tye confesses she doesn’t prepare Lauren’s butter and sugar laden desserts for social functions, as was Lauren’s constant obligation, as a minister’s wife, beginning in the 1950s. But Tye does share these sweet delights with her own family.

“When we do follow Mom’s recipes, it is largely to remember her and the family we were when she was alive,” Tye writes. “It is a present reminder of her nurturing and of the sense of family identity she passed on to us.”

Lauren’s recipes are sequenced throughout the book. All are standard for the times and reflective of the family’s Scots heritage, which includes oat cakes, as well as baking trends, such as recipes with graham crackers. Besides cookies, squares and breads, there’s a recipe for mustard pickles. “It is the smell of vinegar cooking on the stove that helps recall earlier autumns,” the author writes. “This is what ties me to my great grandmother, whom I know only by a few family stories, her photo, a glass plate she once owned and the taste of her pickles.”

Tye’s father and brother also find meaning in Lauren’s cooking, as Tye sensitively portrays, based on her interviews and observations with them. Her sister, born with a hearing impairment, has had a sense of life-long alienation from her family of origin, Tye comes to understand, so her connection to her mother’s recipes is different again.

The reader glimpses the lives of women past through this study of the post-war generation, as well as their attitudes toward domestic chores, family and public gatherings. Tye also includes telling details about food and baking. White sugar takes over from molasses, “the poor man’s food,” on kitchen shelves in the Maritimes, for example, and a bounty of specialty ingredients in a woman’s baking once marked her social status in society.

Despite an academic-style detachment and frequent referencing of sources, this is a seamless and nuanced narrative, lovingly told. Also included are black and white photographs of Tye’s family—and food—captured within domestic and public settings. After reading Baking as Biography, the family recipe box is guaranteed to take on new meaning. The value of women’s work, performed out of duty, tradition and maternal love, shines through.

Re-printed from Room magazine, Issue 34.2

by Janet Nicol

Lawren Harris, Algoma Lake, silkscreen, c. 1945, 30″ X 40″.

Unseen Silkscreens is a unique historical collection of prints initiated by the Sampson-Matthews graphic arts company in the midst of war. An important contribution to the Canadian art scene from 1941 to 1963, the prints have been gathering dust in attics and institution storage rooms for many decades since. But with this upcoming exhibit, a West Coast curator hopes to bring them back into the light.

“These prints were a complete cross-section of our most prestigious artists,” says Ian Sigvaldason, owner and curator of Pegasus art gallery on Salt Spring Island. “At the time, the art was considered modern, even avant-garde.” He says collectors are just starting to realize the works’ significance. As the value of the original paintings rise, so does the value of the prints, he says. Sigvaldason’s show will consist of about 50 silkscreen prints, several by Group of Seven artists as well as West Coast painters including Emily Carr and B.C. Binning.

A total of 89 silkscreen prints were produced over a 22-year period under the direction of Ernest Sampson, a pioneer of silkscreen printing in Canada, and his partner Charles Matthews. Artists hired by Sampson-Matthews, like Franklin Carmichael and A.J. Casson, made a ‘translation’ of the original onto silkscreen. It was an exacting process, and eventually became obsolete as inexpensive photographic reproduction emerged, Sigvaldason says. By 1963 the unique print-making project had run its course.

“Making a translation of the painting, cutting the silks and running them through the oil pigments was labour-intensive,” Sigvaldason says. “The staff averaged a print run of three paintings a year.”

The struggles of the Depression era inspired the make work initiative, and it was supported by the federal government and the National Gallery of Canada. “Artists had a hard time making money, and people didn’t have the money to buy art,” Sigvaldason explains. Compelled to focus on their day jobs, he says many artists worked as etchers, engravers and printmakers. Emily Carr ran a boarding house and E.J. Hughes became a postal worker.

“This project was a way for them to gain exposure and earn royalties on the prints,” Sigvaldason adds. Prints were sold through the gallery to banks, railway stations, libraries, schools and other public spaces across Canada. “Baby boomers will remember these prints from their school days.”

Prints also covered the walls in military posts overseas during the war years. Images depicting landscape and people from every region of the nation boosted Canadian soldiers’ morale. “It was the first real exposure to mass popular national identity,” Sigvaldason says. “It gave the message to soldiers, ‘this is what you’re fighting for.’ There was a propaganda feature to the project.”

The prints made art more accessible to the public, and more affordable. “Eighty per cent of Canadians lived in rural communities during those years. People had never seen this art or had only seen it in black and white. This was an exciting national project.”

Some prints, such as Isabelle McLaughlin’s Blossom Time didn’t sell well at the time, so print runs were limited, Sigvaldason says. Others, such as A.Y. Jackson’s landscapes were in high demand, leading to several print runs and financially well-compensated artists. But even if the rewards were modest, artists were eager to have their work reproduced, and hundreds applied.

Many of the original paintings, dating from 1906 to the early 1960s, now hang in the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, and Sigvaldason is now creating a database to share information about the reproductions. “We’ve overlooked these prints for so long,” he says. “This was public-sponsored public art. The collection is a major part of Canadian history.”

Reprinted from Galleries West magazine, Summer 2011

By Janet Nicol

Photograph: GLADYS RADEK (LEFT) AND HOLLY PAGE

“The Aboriginal women’s community may not have the resources of other communities but they have something to say,” says Holly Page, equity and human rights officer for the British Columbia Government and Service Employees Union (BCGEU). “It has been very difficult for these women to get their messages out.” Page says many Aboriginal people don’t see unions as their allies either. “There are myths and misconceptions about unions and debates within some communities about whether unions are beneficial. Unions need to do some relationship building.”

Page should know. She is both Aboriginal and on staff with a union representing 65,000 members across B.C. with access to resources her Aboriginal sisters need. “Our union will print leaflets, buy food from Costco for events, and get the message out to our members,” Page says. And what are the messages? A top concern is the continued violence perpetrated against Aboriginal women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside; along the “Highway of Tears” in northern B.C., and in communities across Canada.

Aboriginal women have organized several “Walk 4 Justice” events and the February 14 Women’s Memorial March. “It’s been grassroots, and our union can help,” says Page.

To continue reading the interview with Holly Page and other dynamic First Nations women across Canada go to this link at Our Times Magazine, Spring 2011 –

http://ourtimes.ca/Featured_Story/article_138.php

Watch for a re-print of this article in the upcoming summer 2011 issue of Women and the Environments international magazine. Also, I have a story of the Walk4Justice, including an interview with Bernie Williams, in the “Agenda” section of New Internationalist magazine, June 2011 issue.

By Janet Nicol

After working alongside colleagues on a project sponsored by the BC Teachers’ Federation in Peru last summer, I travelled to the world heritage site of Machu Picchu. Along the way, I found the Wisdom of the Children, known as Irq’i Yachay in the Quechuan language.

This is the name given to a unique children’s art gallery in downtown Cusco, starting point for tourists heading to the famous mountain ruins. The gallery showcases art created by indigenous children living in isolated mountain communities. These primary-age students are taught by Laura Russell and a staff of about a dozen Peruvian teachers. A film documenting the methodology used and showing the children painting, is also part of the exhibit.

“The children manifest cultural messages,” Russell, a professional art teacher and founder of the workshops, says in a telephone interview from her part-time residence in California. “They have their own way of seeing.” She says students’ paintings reflect the wide open spaces of the Andes, the symbolic condor, and their ancient mountain deity.

“We discovered the cognitive abilities in children were unrecognized by educators,” Russell says. “For instance, these children have a strong sense of design, learned by observation.”

The temporary exhibit I visited proves Russell’s point. Textile art designs filled the walls, painted in vibrant colors. Watching elders weave designs passed down through generations, children are able to express their observations with a paintbrush.

Russell says her workshop team does not “teach” art. For example, lessons in perspective are not offered. Instead students learn how to use a paintbrush and to thicken or thin out the paint—and then, without further instruction, they start creating.

The team of educators travel throughout the rugged Andes, recruiting volunteers to assist them in selected communities. While the culture of the Quechua people living around Cusco is still remarkably intact, Russell says the children are underserved by the nation’s education system.

“We found there was a vacuum in the education system,” Russell says. “The school curriculum does not pertain to the children’s daily lives.”

Russell was making a tourist pilgrimage along the Inca trail more than 20 years ago when she became interested in exploring the artistic potential of the local children. Her ideas turned into a project in 1991, and after building a team of trained teachers, the group set out to teach in 31 communities. The Cusco art gallery was started eight years later, with funding coming from Inter American Foundation. (Gallery website: www.aylluyupaychay.org)

By using art, Russell says all forms of knowledge can be transmitted to children.

“We tell students to create a circle on paper and to divide it into eight parts. Then color what you want,” she says, describing a basic math lesson on fractions.

Children can choose a letter of the alphabet and draw a gigantic version of the letter, along with a frame. “Draw pictures of things that start with this letter around the frame,” Russell says, depicting a language lesson.

“The point is to give the students an opportunity for self-expression. This leads to self-esteem and self-respect.” Everyone benefits, Russell believes. “This includes community volunteers, who are typically men,” she adds, “as women have less time to offer.”

“It’s a participatory form of education. The students don’t just copy.”

These innovative teachers are now working on integrating their methods into a regional curriculum. “It’s all about working from the ground up,” Russell says.

Reprinted from Teacher magazine, March, 2011

BY: Janet Nicol

Though she wasn’t Native, Maisie Hurley (1887-1962) spent most of her career as an advocate for B.C.’s Aboriginal people, invited to join the Native Brotherhood of B.C., and founder of the Native Voice newspaper. Throughout the years, Hurley received many gifts from Native leaders in recognition of her advocacy work, and the gifts form the basis of an exhibition of artifacts and artworks from Squamish and Coast Salish cultures at the North Vancouver Museum. The collection includes a blanket made of mountain goat wool and another, more mysterious fibre. Tested at the University of Victoria, researchers discovered the fibres were from a unique breed of “wool dog” raised by the Coast Salish until the 1860s, dating the blanket from before the main period of contact. The Museum is exhibiting the blanket with a new blanket by Squamish weaver Keith Nahanee, and cedar bark regalia made by Nahanee’s cousin Tracy Williams. Co-curators Sharon Fortney and Damara Jacobs will also incorporate oral history interviews and videos with Squamish Nation elders into the exhibition, which will later tour B.C. and form the basis of a book to be published by the Squamish.

This image taken near Jericho Charlie’s home at Senákw, the Kitsilano Indian Reserve, on August 15, 1891, was the inspiration for three pastel portraits by Maisie Armytage-Moore.
Photo Courtesy of City of Vancouver Archives.

Reprinted from Galleries West, January 2011

by Janet Nicol

The lessons of the Second World War still matter according to the filmmakers of Love, Hate and Propaganda. History teachers will agree as we continue to describe the events of 1939 to 1945 to students these many decades later. And while the Grade 11 Social Studies curriculum covers what happened in those pivotal years, expect this series to tell students why these events happened. A highly recommended resource for educators, the film is narrated by the dynamic Toronto-based talk show host, George Stroumboulopoulos and produced by Mark Starowitz, creator of Canada: A People’s History.

The six-part series does not chronicle the battles of the war. Instead, using archival film footage among other fascinating sources, Love, Hate and Propoganda is a fast-paced narration focusing on leaders and their use of mass propaganda. We are also reminded that manipulating the media is a technique used by “the good guys” too.

An important component to the series is the inclusion of stories about the war in the Pacific. How did Emperor Hirohito convince an entire society that death was better than surrendering? What was the fate of one Japanese writer sent by his government to witness the attack of China and who came back to write the ugly truth? And what was the legacy created by the Japanese government for a soldier taken prisoner by Americans at Pearl Harbour?

The early strategies of Hitler as he gained power open the series, in The Strongmen. Mussolini, a mentor to Hitler, is glimpsed as well as the authoritarian Russian ruler, Stalin. Nazi footage of rallies is set to contemporary rock music, giving students a sense of the emotionally charged atmosphere of the “new” Germany and the cult of personality created by Hitler. Germans could purchase postcards of Hitler, we learn, and listen to his speeches on cheaply mass-produced radios. They went to the cinema to watch the celebration of Nazi power in Triumph of the Will.

The second video, Selling the War explains how the Nazis rationalized the invasion of Poland. The lies are so big, even neutral government leaders believed Poles may have provoked the attack. Internal purges in Germany are also depicted, including that of disabled people living in institutions, given lethal injections by doctors. But when the government steps up the killings, by sending this targeted group to gas chambers, there is protest. Remarkably, the government stops for a time, but eventually reverts back to employing lethal injections.

Crossing ethical lines proved to be a precursor to the Nazi genocide of six million Jewish people in occupied Europe. As well, the pervasive racist Nazi propaganda created a climate of hate or indifference among the non-Jewish population. These morality lessons thread through the series and culminate in the fifth segment, Hiding the Horrors. Actual film footage of Red Cross officials visiting a “work” camp of Jewish inmates illuminates a masterful Nazi deception. Officials believed what they saw on the tour—children and adults happily at work and play. In actual fact, the inmates were coerced to “put on a show,” most destined to die in gas chambers.

Women play a role in film and poster-war propaganda. Stalin’s dream girl is a female sniper who helps push back the Germans at Stalingrad. Ronnie the machine worker is Canada’s “role model” woman on the home front. In Germany, a female actress and filmmaker orchestrates Hitler’s image with her skilled camera work and flair for the dramatic.

Truth is the first casualty of war, and the Canadian news coverage of the battle at Dieppe in 1942 is a case in point. A precursor to D-Day, the battle was a military disaster but it would be some time after the fact when Canadians at home learned the newspaper headlines had lied.

The series wraps up with Changing the Story, revealing how the allied governments trumpeted victory over the enemy in ways that suited their purposes.

Students in Grades 11 and 12 are guaranteed to find the content relevant and engaging. They can also tune in to YouTube on their personal computer to watch some of the six one-hour segments as a homework assignment. Teachers can encourage students to think about the “big questions” as they follow the series—“Why do we have wars? and “How do atrocities happen without protest?” A propaganda project is also a worthwhile follow-up activity.

Ultimately, the series proves understanding history is vital and instructive and the second world war still impacts on our society. The film’s narrator also concludes we continue to live in a world of love, hate, and propaganda, an idea offering opportunities for important classroom conversations well into the 21st century.

Reprinted from BC Teacher magazine, January/February 2011.