A new poll suggests a majority of Canadians think kids are getting short changed in school when it comes to wartime history.
The Ipsos poll was conducted for Historica Canada and polled adults online between Oct. 20 and 24. It found 62 per cent of Canadians believe that Canadian students are not being taught enough about Canada’s efforts in wartime. Fifty-six per cent of Canadians in households with children felt the same way.
The poll also showed nine in 10 Canadians agree hearing veterans speak is the best way for youth to understand conflict. The demand for those opportunities is growing. The Memory Project, which connects former soldiers to schools, has seen 500 more requests for veteran visits than last year.
“All of our World War II veterans from that huge global conflict are now well into their 90s and we just won’t have them for many more years necessarily,” Historica Canada’s president Anthony Wilson-Smith said. “I think there’s both a desire to learn from them first hand and to say how much we appreciate the sacrifices they’ve made.”
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