Robert Harris - A Meeting of the School Trustees

''The Heritage Minutes'' is a series of sixty-second

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

s, each illustrating an important moment in

Canadian history The history of Canada covers the period from the arrival of the Paleo-Indians to North America thousands of years ago to the present day. The lands encompassing present-day Canada have been inhabited for millennia by Indigenous peoples, with di ...

. Published by

Historica Canada Historica Canada is a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to promoting the country's history and citizenship. All of its programs are offered bilingually and reach more than 28 million Canadians annually. A registered national charitabl ...

the ''Minutes'' integrate Canadian history, folklore and myths into dramatic storylines. Like the

Canada Vignettes Canada Vignettes are a series of short films by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), some of which aired on CBC Television and other Canadian broadcasters as interstitial programs. The vignettes became popular because of their cultural depicti ...

of the 1970s, the ''Minutes'' themselves have become a part of Canadian culture and been the subject of academic studies as well as parody. The ''Minutes'' were first introduced on March 31, 1991, as part of a one-off history quiz show hosted by Wayne Rostad. Originally distributed to schools, they appeared frequently on Canadian television and in cinemas before feature films, and were later available online and on DVD. "Radio minutes" have also been made. From 1991 to 1995, 50 episodes aired. In 2012, new ''Minutes'' were produced in the lead-up to Canada's sesquicentennial (150th anniversary of

Canadian Confederation Canadian Confederation () was the process by which three British North American provinces—the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick—were united into one federation, called the Name of Canada#Adoption of Dominion, Dominion of Ca ...

) in 2017. The ''Minutes'' have featured appearances by some of Canada's best-known personalities, including

Jared Keeso Jared Keeso ( ; born July 1, 1984) is a Canadian actor, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for creating and starring in the comedy series ''Letterkenny (TV series), Letterkenny'' (2016–2023), which won a Canadian Screen Awards, Canad ...

, Michael Shanks, Calum Worthy,

Colm Feore Colm Joseph Feore (; born August 22, 1958) is a Canadian actor. A 15-year veteran of the Stratford Festival, he is known for his Gemini-winning turn as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the CBC miniseries '' Trudeau'' (2002), his portrayal of ...

Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Aykroyd was a writer and an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" cast on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Nigh ...

, and Kate Nelligan. Voice-over end narration for the Heritage Minutes has been provided by such recognizable voices as Peter Mansbridge, k.d. lang, Adrienne Clarkson, and Lloyd Robertson.

Background

The thirteen original short films were broken up and run between shows on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

and the CTV Network. The continued broadcast of the ''Minutes'' and the production of new ones was pioneered by Charles Bronfman's CRB Foundation (subsequently The Historica Dominion Institute),

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (, trading as Canada Post (), is a Canadian Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the operating name of the Post Office Department of the Can ...

(with

Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun, Quebec, in Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in the province ...

being a later sponsor), Power Broadcasting (the broadcasting arm of the

Power Corporation of Canada Power Corporation of Canada is a management and holding company that focuses on financial services in North America, Europe and Asia. Its core holdings are insurance, retirement, wealth management and investment management, including a portfolio ...

), and the

National Film Board The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

. They were devised, developed, and largely narrated (as well as scripted) by noted Canadian broadcaster Patrick Watson, while the producer of the series was Robert Guy Scully. In 2009, "The Historica Foundation of Canada" merged with "The Dominion Institute" to become "The Historica-Dominion Institute", a national charitable organization. In September 2013, the organization changed its name to "Historica Canada". While the foundations have not paid networks to air ''Minutes'', in the early years they have paid to have them run in cinema theatres across the country. The

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...

(CRTC) has ruled that ''Heritage Minutes'' are an "on-going dramatic series"; each

vignette Vignette may refer to: * Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy * Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters * Vignette (literature), short, i ...

thus counts as ninety-seconds of a station's

Canadian content Canadian content (abbreviated CanCon, cancon or can-con; ) refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requirements, derived from the Broadcasting Act of Canada, that radio and television broadcasters (inclu ...

requirements. The first sets of ''Heritage Minutes'' were released in five segments between 1991 and 2000. A set of eight new ''Heritage Minutes'', covering military moments in Canadian history, were released in 2005. In 2012, two new ''Minutes'' were created on the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

in anticipation of the war's bicentenary, and in 2014 two more ''Minutes'' were released on John A. Macdonald and

George-Étienne Cartier Sir George-Étienne Cartier, 1st Baronet, (pronounced ; September 6, 1814May 20, 1873) was a Canadians, Canadian statesman and Fathers of Confederation, Father of Confederation. The English spelling of the name—George, instead of Georges, th ...

that had been filmed in and around Toronto in September 2013. To honour the centenary of the start of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

two ''Minutes'' were released: one on the Winnipeg Falcons in 2014 and one on Canadian Nursing Sisters in early 2015. In September 2015, to commemorate the 35th anniversary of

Terry Fox Terrance Stanley Fox (July 28, 1958June 28, 1981) was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist. In 1980, having had one leg amputated due to cancer, he embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for can ...

's run to conquer cancer, Historica released a "Minute" on Fox's inspirational run. February 2016 saw the release of a "Minute" on Viola Desmond, a trailblazing black female entrepreneur from Halifax who spoke out against racial discrimination in Nova Scotia. On June 21, the 20th anniversary of National Aboriginal Day,

released two new ''Minutes''. The first tells the story of Chanie "Charlie" Wenjack, whose death sparked the first inquest into the treatment of Indigenous children in Canadian residential schools. The second, Naskumituwin, highlights the making of

Treaty 9 ''Treaty No. 9'' (also known as ''The James Bay Treaty'') is a numbered treaty first signed in 1905–1906 between Anishinaabe ( Algonquin and Ojibwe) and Omushkegowuk Cree communities and the Canadian Crown, which includes both the gov ...

from the perspective of historical witness George Spence, an 18-year-old Cree hunter from Albany, James Bay. On October 19, Historica Canada released another Heritage Minute that shows a story about an

Inuk Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labr ...

artist named Kenojuak Ashevak. It is also the first Heritage minute that is narrated on not just its official languages (English and French) but also a third language, where this Heritage Minute is narrated in

Inuktitut Inuktitut ( ; , Inuktitut syllabics, syllabics ), also known as Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the North American tree line, including parts of the provinces of ...

. A 2012 Ipsos Reid poll of 3,900 Canadians selected the five most popular Minutes. Tied for first place were the episodes on

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first Black American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the Baseball color line, ...

and the

Halifax Explosion On the morning of 6 December 1917, the French cargo ship collided with the Norwegian vessel in the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. ''Mont-Blanc'', laden with Explosive material, high explosives, caught fire and exploded, devastat ...

, followed by Jennie Kidd Trout,

Winnie-the-Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh (also known as Edward Bear, Pooh Bear or simply Pooh) is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by ...

and Laura Secord.

List

Of the over 100 "Heritage Minutes" available online, one on Canadian peacekeeping in Cyprus was pulled from broadcast shortly after its 1991 premiere, and was only posted on

YouTube channel in 2016, while being omitted from the listing on "Historica Canada" official website. According to

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; ) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with financial support by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage and Society of Com ...

published by Historica Canada: In 2020, three Heritage Minutes were deleted from Historica's website and Youtube channel -

Louis Riel Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis in Canada, Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of ...

(1991), Grey Owl (1999), and Sir John A. Macdonald (2014). Historica told

CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the nationa ...

in 2024 that the removal of the Louis Riel Heritage Minute was due to a lack of consultation with the

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

community at the time of production, and concerns about presenting the Heritage Minute in classrooms, due to it graphically showing the hanging of the Metis Leader. However, the Manitoba Metis Federation stated that Historica had not consulted with them about removing the Heritage Minute and expressed support for the violent reality of the depiction.

Parodies

* The Canadian sketch comedy shows '' This Hour Has 22 Minutes'', '' The Rick Mercer Report'', '' Royal Canadian Air Farce'', and '' Rock et Belles Oreilles'', have parodied the ''Heritage Minute'' format in sketches, or used the format for satire. * The Comedy Network has aired short parodies titled "Sacrilege Moments". * Canadian rapper Classified parodied the Heritage Minute in his music video for the song "O Canada..." * Canadian cartoonist

Kate Beaton Kathryn Moira Beaton (born 8 September 1983) is a Canadian comics artist best known as the creator of the comic strip ''Hark! A Vagrant'', which ran from 2007 to 2018. Her other major works include the children's books ''The Princess and the Pon ...

adapted the ''Heritage Minute'' format in a comic about Margaret Trudeau, wife of former Canadian Prime Minister

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his no ...

. * In 2007, the Internet comedy group LoadingReadyRun celebrated

Canada Day Canada Day, formerly known as Dominion Day, is the national day of Canada. A Public holidays in Canada, federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 1867, with the passing of the B ...

by telling the story of the ''Heritage Minutes'' in the format of a ''Heritage Minute''. * In the second episode of season 1 of '' Canada's Drag Race'', the main challenge is based on parodying Heritage Minutes as " Her-itage Moments"; the parodied ads were the one on Nellie McClung and the

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vo ...

movement in Manitoba, and the one about Dr. Wilder Penfield's advances in neuroscience research.Bianca Guzzo
"Canada's Drag Race Season 1 Episode 2 Recap: Her-Itage Moments"
''IN Magazine'', July 9, 2020.

References

External links

Historica Canada''Heritage Minutes''
- official YouTube channel {{People of Canada Public service announcements Studies of Canadian history 1991 Canadian television series debuts Canadian television commercials Interstitial television shows 1990s Canadian anthology television series Canadian historical television series 2000s Canadian anthology television series 2010s Canadian anthology television series 2020s Canadian anthology television series Historica Canada

Background

List

Parodies

See also

References

Further reading

External links