REGINA – Six grade five students from St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Elementary School in Regina are the only nominees from Saskatchewan in the Young Citizens video contest held by the national charity, Canada’s History.
“My project is about my Oma’s immigration story: when she was 8 years old she lived in Austria and she immigrated to Regina,” explained Ella Forrest.
The six videos from St. Marguerite’s students are all unique – and all personal.
Dylan Donald was inspired to do his video about the history of chuckwagon racing in Canada by his uncle, who participates in the sport: “It’s a sport in western Canada that involves 3 to 4 wagons that will race on an oval dirt track.”
His classmate Himashi Gunasinghe did her project on Hotel Saskatchewan: “I chose this topic because my mom works there and she’s been working there for five years. She tells me a lot of cool things when she comes home from work, like she got to be on this floor. She got to meet this celebrity.”
The students hope their slices of Saskatchewan history will resonate with everyone across the country.
“I think they will get how hard it is for new immigrants and maybe if they have a new student in their class, or if they have a neighbour that’s from a different place, they might understand a little bit about what they had to go through,” said Forrest.
“It would also be really fantastic if one of the six from here could be one chosen to participate and go to Ottawa and meet the Governor General,” said the students’ teacher, Suzanne Louttit.
However, with 150 entries and only six finalists to be chosen, the students know they have some tough competition. They’re hoping the community will help and vote for them.
The other students are Ally, who researched the Famous Five, Jola, whose video tells the story of St. Anthony’s Parish and Regina’ Polish community and Owen, who looks at five historic buildings in Saskatchewan.
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