Commemorate D-Day

2019 will mark the 75th anniversary of one of the most infamous conflicts in our history. The bravery that so many young Canadians exhibited during that fateful summer still touches our lives, and Explorica will be commemorating their sacrifice throughout the 2019 school year with a collection of tours specifically focused on D-Day and Canadian history. Read More …

Remembering the Brave: 5 Tips for Creating a Soldier Project

Canadian history teachers from the Ottawa Catholic School Board, Vanessa Kirtz and Erin Stokes took a particularly creative approach to this challenge. Since 2013 and 2007 respectively, they’ve worked on an ambitious project in which students research the lives of Canadian soldiers who died while serving in the First and Second World War. Calling it a “Soldier Project,” the Read More …

D-Day 2014 Explorica group featured in SYTA magazine

This summer, we sent a group of students dubbed “Canada’s Youth Ambassadors” to the 70th D-Day anniversary celebrations in Normandy. The group was accompanied by Tony Balch, a Second World War veteran who shared his story with the students attending the event on Juno Beach. We’re proud to announce that our students have been featured Read More …

“V” is for Victory: 75 years since entering WWII

The first time Canada entered WWII was on September 10, 1939. By the end of 1940, more than 200,000 Canadians volunteered to join Great Britain and France in the fight against Germany. It wasn’t Prime Minister Mackenzie King’s intention to have this many Canadians enlist. However, within a year, the country geared up for full Read More …

D-Day 2014 with Canada’s youth ambassadors

Blog post written by Explorica Marketing and Retention Manager, Sonia Reid. On June 6, 2014, thousands of Canadians made the journey to Juno Beach to commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day, honouring our veterans and the many brave Canadian soldiers that lost their lives during the battle. Juno Beach was one of five beaches used Read More …

Canadian History: At the Sharp End, by Tim Cook

In the first part of this two-volume series by Canadian historian Tim Cook, we follow Canada’s Citizen Soldiers through the first three years of World War I. Cook helps the reader understand almost 100 years later what made regular Canadian farmers and shopkeepers willingly leave their homes and families to take up arms for Britain. Read More …