Blue Metropolis - Voices from Quebec

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VOICES FROM QUEBEC

VOICES FROM QUEBEC

• Oral history radio reporting workshop for high school students across Quebec
• In English
• From 2008 to 2009
• Length of the activity: the programme lasted approximately 5-6 months
• Free

Voices from Quebec was a 2008 - 2009 innovative educational programme for Anglophone students and their teachers across Quebec. Working with an author, a broadcast journalist, a sound editor and an oral history consultant, the students worked to produce five-minute oral history radio documentaries on their communities.

The programme invited students and teachers to:

• Read the work of some of Quebec's English-language writers
• Carry out ethnographic research on their own communities
• Learn the skills and techniques of researching oral history
• Share this history by conceptualizing, planning, writing, and producing a radio documentary for podcasting on their community's heritage

Voices from Quebec aimed to foster an understanding of the ways in which anglophones contribute to the cultural vitality and diversity of Quebec thereby enhancing the sense of identity, pride and belonging that anglophone Quebeckers have in their heritage and communities.

Students from 10 schools participated in the programme, from the Lower North Shore to James Bay and from the Eastern Townships to Nunavik.

The students' documentaries are lively, touching and insighful, with topics ranging from the contrasts between past and present Inuit culture; how volunteer firefighters in Hudson recover from tragedy; and an immigrant recalling her experiences during World War II. This programme, produced by Blue Metropolis Foundation in collaboration with QAHN was a great success and was lauded by Canadian Heritage Network as a successful project of the year.

CBC Radio's Breakaway broadcast several of the documentaries, as well as interviews with participating teachers.

The 10 podcasts from the Voices from Quebec programme are available online. Click here to listen to them.

Some Photos from the Programme in 2009