Lest we forget? Most of us have (CanWest News Service
From the CanWest News Service (through montrealgazette.com):
Published: Monday, April 09, 2007
CHRIS LACKNER
As Canada marks the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, a new survey suggests 59 per cent of Canadians don't even know the name of the iconic First World War clash.
Canadians have a limited grasp of their military history, indicates a recent Dominion Institute poll conducted by Innovative Research Group.
Just under half of Canadians (49 per cent) failed a basic knowledge test on the Great War.
When told "Canada's most famous single victory in the First World War consisted of the capture of a key ridge on the Western front" and asked to name the battle, only 41 per cent could come up with Vimy Ridge.
"We seem to be on track to become a nation of amnesiacs with very little in the way of shared heroes and defining events, the kind of raw material that countries like the U.S., France and Great Britain have to define their sense of nationhood," said Rudyard Griffiths, the executive director of the non-partisan institute, which promotes understanding of Canadian history.
Twenty-four per cent falsely identified Second World War U.S. General Douglas MacArthur as a Canadian hero, while nine per cent identified Ulysses S. Grant, a 19th-century U.S. general and president, as one of their own.
Griffiths said Canadians have the tendency to do the opposite of Americans, a people known for turning their war heroes into cultural icons.
"If Americans venerate their war heroes, as Canadians we tend to be modest about our great military figures and military past," he said.
Of greatest concern, Griffiths said, is that the number of people who identified both Currie and Bishop declined five per cent since a similar survey was conducted in 1998.
"At this rate, in 50 years Billy Bishop is going to be swept into the dustbin of history," Griffiths said.
For more, see:
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=2953dd5c-c910-4620-9813-ff341bb69051&k=67100
Published: Monday, April 09, 2007
CHRIS LACKNER
As Canada marks the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, a new survey suggests 59 per cent of Canadians don't even know the name of the iconic First World War clash.
Canadians have a limited grasp of their military history, indicates a recent Dominion Institute poll conducted by Innovative Research Group.
Just under half of Canadians (49 per cent) failed a basic knowledge test on the Great War.
When told "Canada's most famous single victory in the First World War consisted of the capture of a key ridge on the Western front" and asked to name the battle, only 41 per cent could come up with Vimy Ridge.
"We seem to be on track to become a nation of amnesiacs with very little in the way of shared heroes and defining events, the kind of raw material that countries like the U.S., France and Great Britain have to define their sense of nationhood," said Rudyard Griffiths, the executive director of the non-partisan institute, which promotes understanding of Canadian history.
Twenty-four per cent falsely identified Second World War U.S. General Douglas MacArthur as a Canadian hero, while nine per cent identified Ulysses S. Grant, a 19th-century U.S. general and president, as one of their own.
Griffiths said Canadians have the tendency to do the opposite of Americans, a people known for turning their war heroes into cultural icons.
"If Americans venerate their war heroes, as Canadians we tend to be modest about our great military figures and military past," he said.
Of greatest concern, Griffiths said, is that the number of people who identified both Currie and Bishop declined five per cent since a similar survey was conducted in 1998.
"At this rate, in 50 years Billy Bishop is going to be swept into the dustbin of history," Griffiths said.
For more, see:
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=2953dd5c-c910-4620-9813-ff341bb69051&k=67100
posted by eric model | 3:18 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home