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(Canadian) Content

They're a Page Right Out of History
With Canada's celebration of national pride once again upon us, this seemed like a good opportunity to talk about that unique Canadian phenomenon known as the Heritage Minute.

The Canadians reading this will already be quite aware of what I'm referring to, but for everyone else, Heritage Minutes are short films which air on television (and are occasionally shown in cinemas), each illustrating something important to Canadian culture and/or history. Often cynically used by networks to help fulfill their Canadian Content requirements, the Minutes have nevertheless managed to become ingrained in Canada's popular culture.

I used to do my best to explain the concept and execution of these to many a bewildered non-resident, and I once even considered ordering the complete set of them intended for schools, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover instead that the legendary Heritage Minutes had all been posted online via a dedicated website! No need to order obscure classroom instruction videos or tape random stretches of Canadian programming for others to understand my ramblings--you can watch any one of the Minutes yourself as a Flash movie. :)

In the future, these little snippets can easily serve as a distraction which both procrastinates and educates simultaneously...

All of these Minutes are notable, of course, but before you set off to learn all about Canadian history, I'll help you on your way by highlighting the ones that are best-known and/or have the most appeal for me, using the titles given on the site.

Without further ado, then, a whopping set of twenty-five personal picks:

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Avro Arrow
This Minute, featuring acclaimed Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd as Crawford Gordon and acclaimed vampire Nigel Bennett as James Floyd, was actually distilled down from an entire miniseries devoted to the subject matter. Said miniseries (and by extension, all the footage in this Minute) is notable for being a high-profile project filmed in Winnipeg.

Basketball
One of the most-played Heritage Minutes, and one of the most-parodied, about the invention of basketball by Canadian James Naismith.

Flags
A bit of the debate which led to the current Canadian flag, and the reason why we don't still have a British ensign (along the lines of, for example, Australia's flag). Features Peter MacNeill, Major Matthew "Hawk" Masterson ("Fighter in the sky!") of Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, as John Matheson.

Grey Owl
Another Minute distilled down from a movie, with Pierce Brosnan as the title character, who spent a good portion of his life in Manitoba.

Halifax Explosion
An early and often-played Minute--and rightly so, in my opinion, since I feel this is the Minute which works best as a short film.

Jackie Robinson
The Baseball Hall of Famer broke the colour barrier in Montréal before he did so in Brooklyn.

Jacques Cartier
More of a legend than true documented history, this is yet another early and often-played Minute about how Canada's name supposedly grew out of a linguistic misunderstanding. For what it's worth, the Portuguese have an alternate (if ethnocentric) theory, in which the name originated from the Portuguese phrase cá nada (literally, "here, nothing").

Jacques Plante
Not that interesting to me, this Minute about the invention of the goalie mask is notable for being the favourite of a lot of hockey fans.

Jennie Trout
Another early and often-played Minute, about the first woman licenced to practice medicine in Canada. Notable for a depiction of full frontal male nudity around which the Minute is centred.

John McCrae
World War I holds a more prominent place in the Canadian psyche than World War II does, and "In Flanders Fields" (a staple of Remembrance Day ceremonies) is one example of why. Colm Feore, who plays the soldier poet, would go on to play another Canadian icon, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, in the CBC miniseries about the Prime Minister.

Les Voltigeurs de Québec
A Minute about the first performance in 1880 of "O Canada," which started out as a symbol of francophone patriotism.

Louis Riel
Probably the most famous Manitoban and revolutionary in Canada, Riel's name is synonymous with early Manitoban history. Roy Dupuis, Michael Samuelle of La Femme Nikita, plays Riel here. This Minute has a particularly grim ending.

Marshall McLuhan
Probably the most famous graduate of the University of Manitoba, this Minute looks at the media theorist who coined the term "global village," amongst other things.

Maurice "Rocket" Richard
Roy Dupuis is back as the Hockey Hall of Famer.

Nellie McClung
Canada's most famous suffragette, and another pioneer in early Manitoban history, McClung was largely responsible for making Manitoba the first province to give women the right to vote. This is also another one of the early Minutes, though I'm not sure if it was played so often around here because of its local significance.

Orphans
Yet another early, often-played, and often-parodied Minute, about Irish orphans in Québec. This Minute suffers from somewhat poor subtitling of the French dialogue.

Responsible Government
Canada led the way in adopting the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy in the 19th century, while still ultimately remaining part of the Commonwealth of Nations as a constitutional monarchy. Bronwen Mantel, the actress who plays Queen Victoria here, has a rather unconvincing accent.

Rural Teacher
By far the most parodied Heritage Minute, largely because of some international stereotypes in a hot tub (complete with more unconvincing accents) and cheesy line delivery featured within.

Sir Sanford Fleming
There are some good production values in this Minute, but I like it more because most people don't realise that a Canadian invented the concept of standard time zones. William Samples, who plays Fleming, recently had a recurring role on Battlestar Galactica.

Sitting Bull
After Little Big Horn, the Sioux made their way to Saskatchewan, where they had much more respect for the North West Mounted Police than they'd had for American military forces. Sitting Bull is played here by noted Canadian actor Graham Greene, while NWMP Commissioner James Macleod is played by David Hemblen, Lord Dread of Captain Power fame.

Superman
By far my favourite Minute, and the favourite of a lot of other people, because it's very well-made and because, again, most people don't realise that the superhero fighting for Truth, Justice, and the American Way was co-created by a Canadian, Joe Shuster.

Underground Railroad
The first, and still one of the most cinematic, Heritage Minutes. The title should make the subject matter self-explanatory.

Valour Road
Another early and more cinematic Minute. Valour Road is actually in the area of Winnipeg where I grew up.

Wilder Penfield
Early and played ad nauseam, this Minute is the reason "I can smell burnt toast" is an unintentionally funny phrase to Canadians.

Winnie
Another entry in "Surprises from Winnipeg History," this Minute shows how the city was the inspiration for Winnie the Pooh's name. A. A. Milne is played by Julian Richings, who shows up in all sorts of genre productions (Cube and Kingdom Hospital, for example) made in Canada.

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Well, it seems I went into quite a bit more detail than expected...

At least I've given you a good base from which to start your journey into the wonders of Canadiana.

Happy Canada Day!