Ontario’s WWI History: 100 Years on at Vimy, Passchendaele and Hill 70

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“Ontario’s WWI History: 100 Years on at Vimy, Passchendaele and Hill 70”

Summary:

R.H. Thomson’s project The World Remembers – Le Monde Se Souvient shows the names of those killed in WWI in the 100th year after death. The 2017 displays that will appear this fall will show the 700,000 names of those killed in 1917 from Canada and twelve other nations. In building the project, Robert has been exploring the WWI histories of each participating nation and how they differ from Canada’s framing of WWI history.

Robert’s talk will address the contextual frame of Canada’s WWI history and how other nations have framed the events and aftermath of 1914-1918 differently. The ‘frame’ that is consciously – or unconsciously – placed around a nation’s history can sometimes be as influential as the facts contained within the frame.

On the 100th anniversary of the battles of Vimy and Passchendaele, what do we owe to the thousands of Canadians killed in them and are we aware of the frames into which the stories of those events have been placed?

Speaker: R.H. Thomson, Producer, The World Remembers

R.H. Thomson is one of Canada’s foremost actor/directors and has received numerous awards over his 35-year career. In 2001, he wrote and performed a highly personal play, The Lost Boys, based on letters written home by his five great-uncles who fought in WWI. Its television version delivered his second Gemini Award. He is currently playing Matthew Cuthbert in the CBC/Netflix series ANNE.