In 2017, Canada turns 150.
That’s a “milestone” birthday–known as a sesquicentennial–and the government will be doing a lot of special things to celebrate that year.
In anticipation of 2017, the government tested five different logos to decide which one would best represent the country’s 150th.
The logos were designed by the Department of Canadian Heritage, a department in the Canadian government that is responsible for programs relating to the arts, culture, official languages and multiculturalism.
Each logo features the colour red and has a maple leaf, like the Canadian flag. And each logo features the number 150 and the word Canada.
Each logo also has features that are unique to it. For instance, one looks like a shield, one has “fireworks” and one has a blue circle around it.
A report by the Department of Canadian Heritage says Canadians want a symbol “that reflects pride, celebration, unity, youth and multiculturalism to brand the country’s upcoming birthday.”
The research project cost about $40,000 and included people in Montreal, Quebec, Mississauga, Ontario and Chilliwack, British Columbia. The groups involved in the testing included both genders and people with different household incomes and ethnic origins.
All of the logos got “mixed reviews” from the panels. That means that people had good and bad things to say about them.
For instance, some people liked the simple, red-and-white logo but others said it was a bit boring. The blue logo looked a bit too much like a hockey puck, some people said, and some complained that the shield logo looked too much like a badge.
CBC News has put the five logos on its website and people can vote (unofficially) for the one they like best.
Vote for your favourite logo on CBC’s website.
The logo that was used in the celebrations of Canada’s 100th (centennial) birthday in 1967 was very popular at the time. It included 11 different-coloured triangles making up a maple leaf. The triangles represented the (at that time) 10 provinces and the territories.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
Draw your own logo for Canada’s 150th. Include symbols that you think are important to being Canadian. Be prepared to share your reasons and your design with your class.
Reading Prompt: Metacognition
Did you have any questions as you read today’s article? How do you know when you are not understanding during reading? What ’fix-up’ strategies do you use when a text is hard to understand?
Primary
Identify, initially with some support and direction, what strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after reading and how they can use these and other strategies to improve as readers (OME, Reading: 4.1).
Junior
Identify the strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after reading and explain, in conversation with the teacher and/or peers or in a reader’s notebook, how they can use these and other strategies to improve as readers (OME, Reading: 4.1).
Intermediate
Identify a range of strategies they found helpful before, during, and after reading and explain, in conversation with the teacher and/or peers or in a reader’s notebook, how they can use these and other strategies to improve as readers (OME, Reading: 4.1).
Grammar Feature: Places
The names of places are often interesting and unique. The specific names of places are called proper nouns. Today’s article includes many different proper nouns.
Underline all of the proper nouns in today’s article and write the letters “PN” above.
