Canadians don't know their history, study shows
Fewer than half of young Canadians can name the country's first prime minister and only one in four know the date of Confederation, according to a study to be released today.
Despite efforts to educate young people about Canadian history, the Dominion Institute report found that little has changed since 1997, the last time the survey was conducted - prompting the organization to call on provinces to organize a national citizenship exam that would be a requirement for high-school graduation.
"We've not done as much as we might have hoped in terms of turning around Canadians' generally poor knowledge of their country's history," said Rudyard Griffiths, co-founder of the institute.
"Politicians have to go beyond the obligatory speeches each Canada Day and Remembrance Day and actually put some of the machinery of government behind this problem and treat it just like any other challenge that we face as a country."
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Despite efforts to educate young people about Canadian history, the Dominion Institute report found that little has changed since 1997, the last time the survey was conducted - prompting the organization to call on provinces to organize a national citizenship exam that would be a requirement for high-school graduation.
"We've not done as much as we might have hoped in terms of turning around Canadians' generally poor knowledge of their country's history," said Rudyard Griffiths, co-founder of the institute.
"Politicians have to go beyond the obligatory speeches each Canada Day and Remembrance Day and actually put some of the machinery of government behind this problem and treat it just like any other challenge that we face as a country."