Canadian students connect to Veterans Week through materials created on P.E.I.

It's the biggest week of the year for the team at Veterans Affairs Canada in Charlottetown who create educational materials for Remembrance Day.

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Canadian educators are using the learning resources they create in record numbers in 2016. The department received more than 12,200 orders from teachers, the highest number ever.

"This year it looks as if we have 4.2 million pieces of material already distributed to schools across the country that is out there and being used it's a real sense of satisfaction," said Patsy Bolger Gallant, director of learning, special projects and commemoration.

This year's materials include an activity bookletfor young children, posters, Postcards for Peace and two newspapers, Tales of Animals in War and Canada Remembers Times.

"It feels really good for us because there's a lot of time and effort that goes into developing the articles and really the reason why we're existing here, part of the Veterans Affairs mandate is recognition and that we never forget," added Bolger Gallant.

Planning begins in January

The three education officers, led by Bolger Gallant, started planning the materials early in the New Year, looking at the response from last year, as well as feedback from more than 1,800 teachers across Canada.

"They love that it's free, that it's available in a class pack of 30, that it's bilingual, a lot of educators like that option," said education officer Jill Paton.

The team takes care to cover all three branches of the Canadian military army, air force and navy as well as the merchant navy and to include all regions, gender balance, diversity. All of the materials are bilingual.

There are also online guides for teachers.

"They're so happy that there are new stories each year and it's something they can easily implement in the classroom, whether they want to leave it with students to do independently or want to create more of a thematic unit with them," said Paton.

Printable materials available

This is the tenth year for the newspaper, Tales of Animals in War, which uses animals to introduce younger Canadians to remembrance.

There is also the Canada Remembers Times for older students, that has articles and photos, covering a wide range of topics.

Jill Paton has used the newspaper with students taking part in the Encounters with Canada program in Ottawa.

"Some students they don't really know a lot about remembrance or military history, theyfind it's a great introduction," said Paton.

"It's just a way to get kids talking to each other as well about what's going on and what has happened in our Canadian history," she observed.

Some of the materials are available for printing, includingcolouring sheets and the newspapers.

But the education team decided to stick with paper versions of the Veterans Week materials because of positive feedback from teachers and students.

"Just to have that nice tangible paper in front of you is a nice complement to the online resources," said Bolger Gallant.

'It's being used'

Next year, Veterans Affairs will be marking a number of significant anniversaries, including 100 years since the Battle at Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele, and the 75th anniversary of the battle at Dieppe.

The education team hopes they may even surpass 4.3 million pieces of material distributed before the end of 2016.

"That just gives us the sense that what we are doing is meaningful, that it's being used, that people are receiving it well and we hope to continue this well into the future," said Bolger Gallant.

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