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Home , John By, Ottawa River

LESSON THREE

FOR GRADES: ’S CAPITAL From grades 6 to 9 or from grade 6 of elemetary school to grade 3 of high TREASURES school in .

Seven classroom-ready lesson plans and five introductory videos highlight and explore the significance and importance of Canada’s Capital Treasures. These treasures represent knowledge, sacrifice, commitment and ingenuity. This series of lesson plans is available for download at canadascapital.gc.ca/education.

RIDEAU LOCKS

MATERIALS

Rideau Canal Locks video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iKfbnaKaCk

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

The learner will:

• Discover more about Canada-US relations, particularly in the 19th century; • Use mapping skills to outline an annotated journey; • Use writing skills to create a brief historical narrative based on the building of the canal; • Find out more about planning a commemorative monument; • Understand that a variety of places, including waterways and landscapes, can reflect aspects of heritage, history and culture; • Explore the storyboarding of informational videos.

KEYWORDS

Rideau Canal; Colonel ; Rideau Canal locks; Museum.

1 Lesson Three Rideau Canal Locks

above the . Without a solution, the canal would have ended in a waterfall. Instead, By built a series of eight hand-winched step locks that raise and lower watercraft like a slow-moving escalator. Attempts to modernize the mechanism were met by the vocal opposition of the heritage community; today, the locks are still opened and closed by hand. You can see an example of this in the video, Rideau Canal Locks.

In creating a transportation corridor linking central and eastern Canada, John By accomplished a close-to-impossible task. Surely, his British taskmasters celebrated his military and engineering triumph? Unfortunately for By, unauthorized AND RIDEAU CANAL LOCKS expenditures led the British One of the first buildings John By built was the Commissary; today, it is the government to blame him for canal Bytown Museum and the oldest masonry structure in . cost overruns. Today, By is regarded as the ingenious hero who created Canada’s Capital, but his final years were spent attempting to clear his INTRODUCTION led into the vast hinterland of the name of accusations of financial Canadian Shield. After the War of mismanagement. Can a stretch of water be a national American Independence, Britain symbol? If it’s the Rideau Canal, it feared that supply lines along Thanks to By’s tenacity and an influx can! Defined by a series of 47 locks the St. Lawrence River could be of canal workers, the little lumber and two-dozen dams, the Rideau easily disrupted by any conflict town on the shores of the Ottawa Canal connects Kingston to the with America. In 1826, the British River became Bytown. By 1855, the , a distance of more than government sent Colonel John By to growing community was renamed 200 kilometres. Built between 1826 build an alternative transportation Ottawa and, a few short years later, and 1832, it remains an engineering route linking central Canada with the Queen Victoria selected Ottawa as marvel, and the longest continuously Atlantic, via Montréal. the capital of the province of Canada. operating waterway in North The queen had five cities to choose America—not to mention its winter Over the course of the next six from: Toronto, Montréal, Kingston, transformation into the world’s years, Colonel By and his team of Québec, and Ottawa. But Ottawa’s largest skating rink! mapped out a advantages were clear: the city was daring course through wilderness, on the boundary between Upper and But this UNESCO*-designated World swamp, and tough Canadian Shield Lower Canada; it was a safe distance Heritage Site is more than just a rock. French Canadian and newly from the U.S. border; and it was easily series of facts and figures: the canal immigrated Irish workers supplied accessible, mostly because of the defined a nation, created a capital most of the backbreaking labour. Rideau Canal. and symbolizes Canada’s dedication Accidents and illness claimed the to preserving its historical past. lives of many. ACTIVITY ONE: WRITE A The grew at the The canal joined the Ottawa River SHORT PAPER of the Ottawa, Rideau, with one last engineering miracle: and . Long used the step locks just below what is The British government was worried as transportation corridors by now . At the locks, the about disruptions to their supply Aboriginal peoples, the waterways Rideau Canal is more than 24 metres lines if a war with America broke out.

2 Lesson Three Rideau Canal Locks

Using library and Internet resources, find out why the British were worried about this. Did they have a strong case? Argue your opinion in a short paper outlining the British position and exploring any alternatives to a massive construction project like the Rideau Canal.

ACTIVITY TWO: TAKE A VIRTUAL TRIP!

Is the Rideau Canal used today? Draw a map of the canal from Kingston to Ottawa and include the types of activities that visitors can experience along the way. Imagine the region 50 years from now. What would the canal be like in the future?

ACTIVITY THREE: A COLONEL BY MONUMENT

In his lifetime, Colonel John By went from hero to villain. Remembering his ingenuity and dedication can be done in many ways, from monuments to special events. As a class, discuss the pros and cons of permanent monuments versus more transient events or commemorations. With a small group, propose an event, monument, or other commemoration to celebrate By’s RIDEAU CANAL LOCKS achievements. The locks appear to climb the hillside like a staircase. Alternative activity: Many others helped Colonel By, including the labourers who built the canal and the the country. Think about why Queen ACTIVITY FIVE: INDIVIDUAL Royal Engineers who came up with Victoria chose Ottawa as the capital. RESEARCH AND CLASS solutions to the various technical What other cities were considered? DISCUSSION challenges. Propose a method to Imagine that a new capital was commemorate their achievements. needed for Canada. Divide into five a) Building the Rideau Canal involved or six groups. Choose a potential many engineering firsts. Research city such as Vancouver, Calgary, the scientific aspects of building the ACTIVITY FOUR: MAKING canal and present them to the rest of A CAPITAL Winnipeg, Toronto, Montréal, or Halifax, or suggest another location your class. (including a purpose-built capital) Capital cities around the world are b) Preserving our history is an and, as a team, argue the benefits selected for numerous reasons. As important way not only to remember and potential of your city. How do a class, brainstorm some of them. the past, but also to learn from it. you think a decision should be made? Some cities are created specifically Research UNESCO world heritage to become capitals, others are the sites. What types of sites receive the oldest or most successful cities in

3 Lesson Three Rideau Canal Locks

designation? Are any heritage sites bridges worked and whether or not each scene takes. Reflect on the near your community? In a short they have all been replaced with decisions made by the creators. If paper, discuss a Canadian UNESCO newer designs. With a partner, make they needed to reduce the video heritage site and outline why it an annotated diagram or model of down to 40 seconds, what would received the designation. a specific bridge that crosses the you suggest they cut and why? Block Rideau Canal and locate it on a map. this out on your storyboard and see whether it would work. If Rideau ACTIVITY SIX: RENAMING Canal Locks could be increased by COMMUNITIES (GRADE 1 OF ACTIVITY EIGHT: WRITING 60 more seconds, what would you HIGH SCHOOL IN QUEBEC ABOUT THE BUILDING OF THE suggest be included? Adapt your OR GRADE 7 IN ) CANAL (GRADE 3 OF HIGH storyboard to show this SCHOOL IN QUEBEC additional content. The settlement of Bytown was OR GRADE 9 IN ONTARIO) founded in 1826 and named after Colonel John By, but then, in 1855, Write a short story or script that is it became a city and was renamed set during the building of the Rideau *UNESCO: United Nations Ottawa. Find out the reasons for Canal (1826-1832). Include at least Educational, Scientific and this change. What is your opinion one dramatic scene. Research to Cultural Organization about that decision? Many places in find out more about the have been renamed over the the Canal to jumpstart your ideas. centuries. Many places originally had For example, about 2000 people Aboriginal names, but were renamed worked to build the Canal during by English or French settlers. More each year of its construction. Most recently, place names have been came from Ireland, fleeing poverty changed for political reasons. Find and famine. More than 500 workers out whether the name of the place died during the building of the Canal where you live, or any places near due to blasting accidents, drowning, you, have been renamed, and if so, or disease. (A monument to honour why. How would you feel if the place these workers now stands close to where you live now was renamed Parliament Hill.) Be sure the historical next year? If the place had to be details in your narrative are accurate. renamed, what kind of a process would you want put in place to MEDIA LITERACY ACTIVITY decide on the new name? View the video “Rideau Canal Locks.” ACTIVITY SEVEN: BRIDGING One way that videographers create THE RIVER (GRADE 2 OF HIGH films is to prepare a storyboard SCHOOL IN QUEBEC before filming. Of course, they OR GRADE 8 IN ONTARIO) may change their minds after they have completed the recording and are created in order to include or delete elements, but the facilitate the movement of boats storyboard provides them with a and other water transport. However, basic framework in which to work. engineers also had to consider how View the video again, pausing it to provide opportunities for land when you wish. What are the main transportation, such as railways, scenes in the video? Jot down a brief cars, horses and carts, as well as description of each main scene with pedestrians, to cross the waterways. some details, for example, first there When the Rideau Canal was built, is a close-up summer scene of the the engineers built several types locks, etc. Then, create a storyboard of causeways or bridges, including in simple panels to show the basic elevated railway bridges and swing sequence of shots that make up the bridges. Look for photos of these scenes of Rideau Canal Locks and online and research how these approximately how many seconds

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