How the Rideau Canal Festival Is Connecting Kids to Heritage
Rideau Canal Connection Project

1. The Rideau Canal Festival has partnered with the Georges Vanier Catholic Fine Arts School in Saskatoon and Vincent Massey School in Ottawa in a Captive Audience Learning project.
2. Monique Martin, a visual arts teacher from Georges Vanier Catholic Fine Arts School in Saskatoon, directed the project and worked with students from both schools.
3. The project involved children from Kindergarten to Grade 8 in Georges Vanier Catholic Fine Arts School and Grade 1 - 8 in Vincent Massey School.
4. The goal of the Rideau Canal Connections project is to teach everyone about the historical events and people related to the Rideau Canal through the use of public advertising mediums.
5. Fourteen themes were given to students to choose from, including:
   “The Locks – what are they and how do they work?”; “The Steamship Method of Transportation on the Canal in the 1900’s”; “Let’s Celebrate the Rideau Canal”; and, “Aim for Zero Footprint.”
   
6. The artwork was created in a variety of mediums, including oil pastel, chalk pastel, tempera paint, pencil crayon, water colour and crayon.
7. Archival photos and modern photos were used as a basis for the creations.
   
8. The artwork details the history of the Rideau Canal, a UNESCO world heritage site, and the students used graphic design computer technology to createe15 bus shelter advertisements, 500 interior bus ads, and 30 king boards (the side of buses). The artwork also inspired the Heritage Metre Markers that indicate the names of people and businesses that are involved in the Rideau Canal Festival’s Adopt-A-Metre program.
9. Advertising space was donated by Pattison advertising and graphic design technology was made possible using computers donated by Computers for Schools and the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan.
10. This initiative involved: 319 students from Vincent Massey School in Ottawa, 304 students from Georges Vanier Catholic Fine Arts School in Saskatoon, 11 high school student translators, 103 sponsors, teachers, and community partners from across Canada.
11. A Saskatoon-Ottawa Heritage Friendship Kilometre has been created, with both schools challenging each other to adopt 500 metres. Half of the proceeds from the adopted metres will fund art projects in their local school.

See the Rideau Canal Connection Project artwork

Rideau Canal Educational Program

A legacy educational program has been developed to involve 25 Ottawa schools and create an additional 500 Heritage Metre Markers.

There are four main elements to the Rideau Canal Educational Program:

1. Rideau Canal Heritage facts
   A teaching aid that provides heritage and other relevant information about the Rideau Canal.
2. Aim for Zero guide for kids
   A teaching aid that provides information about the Festival’s environmental approach to achieving a Zero Footprint classification, including website resources and an Aim for Zero Quiz.
3. Rideau Canal Heritage Metre Markers
   Each student will receive an environmentally- friendly foam core rectangle, 20 x 24” in size, with a symbol of the Canal’s heritage or an environment symbol. Each child can transform their Marker into a work of art that reflects a green celebration of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Local artists will be available for a class visit to support teachers and help children with their artistic creations.
4. Connection to the Canal
   The children’s Heritage Metre Markers will be gathered by the Festival until July 29th. At that time, they will be installed along the Rideau Canal to acknowledge those who have participated in the Adopt-A-Metre program.

To be involved in the program, contact
Kevin Pryce, Volunteers Coordinator
volunteers@rideaucanalfestival.ca
613-288-0970