Discovering Toronto's St. John's Ward

By Kathryn Whitfield, 2015 Governor General's History Award recipient.

Historical Thinking Missions are designed as historical field-work units for Grade 10 Canadian History students as part of our study of Canada 1914-1929. This project engages students in historical thinking field work using primary source materials from local and city archives as well as historical and online resources and technology, in either an actual historical community/space or alternatively within the classroom. This project uses the St. John’s Ward, Toronto’s First Urban “slum”, (hereafter referred to as "the Ward”), as its case study. Students demonstrate their learning by creating exemplars for remembrance and commemoration of historical events, spaces, or individuals who worked and lived in the Ward that they share in innovative ways with their classmates and the wider community.