History ISP Topics

For my history ISP we have to get into groups and each group has to choose a theme in modern Canadian history and do research on the theme. On top of that, each group member will have to choose a different topic from the theme and write a research essay on the topic.  The available themes/topics are listed as follows:

Canada: Conflict and Peace Keeping

- Canada and the Cold War (NATO)

- Canada and Bomarc Missiles & The Avro Arrow

- Canada's Role in the Korean War

- Canada's Role in the Suez Crisis

- Canada and the Gulf War

- Canada and War in Afghanistan

Canada in a Global Context

- Canada's foreign policy

- Canada and the United Nations

- Canada and Globalization- Canada's role in the G8 & G20

- Foreign Aid to nations in Crises Canada's responses to international crises

- Canada: Technology and Space

Status of Women 

- Women's Movement and Gender Equity

- Women and the Law

- Women in Politics and Business

Aboriginal Issues

- Creation of Nunavut

- Self- Government

- Land Claims

- Health & Welfare & Residential Schools

- Meech Lake Accor and Charlottetown Accord from an Aboriginal Perspective

Canadian- American Relations

- Free Trade & NAFTA

- Auto pact

- Environmental Protection

- The "Manhattan" Episode

- The Iranian Hostage Crisis

Canadian Sovereignty and Culture

- The Northwest Passage & Arctic Sovereignty

- Brian Tobin and the Atlantic Fishing Crisis

- The North Pole Dispute

English/French Relations

- The Quiet Revolution

- Bill 101

- Separatist Movement 

- October Crisis

- Referendums 1980 & 1985

The Changing Face of Canada

- Multiculturalism

- Canada Military Organization

- Canadian Music

- (list too long)

Social Contract: Constitutional Political Change

- Canadian Prime Minister from 1945- 1999

- Meech Lake Accord

- 1982 Constitution and Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the "Notwithstanding" Clause

So obviously theme-choosing is one of the most important parts of this project as all your work is based on the theme that you choose. To ensure that we'd choose the right topics, our group made a list of preferences:

1. Canada: Conflict and Peace Keeping

2. Canadian- American Relations

3. Canada in a Global Context

4. English/French Relations

To be honest, I wanted to choose English/French Relations the most because the topic seemed the most interesting. However, the other group members did not think the same way as I did, and English/French Relations was only our fourth priority...

Then, it came to the actually theme-choosing time. To make it fair, the teacher randomly assigned the order in which the groups would choose their topics, and our group was the third group to choose out of all seven groups, which wasn't too bad. However, this also meant that we would definitely get to do one of our top three choices, and that it was impossible for me to do the project on my favourite subject.

Anyway, at the end we got our second choice-- Canadian- American Relations. Supposedly everyone should be content with this result because this was our second choice. However, one of my group members, J., was quite disappointed because he really wanted to do the project on Canada: Conflict and Peace Keeping. 

J. was quite obsessed with history and he was determined to get the topic that he wanted. So he began to negotiate with the group that got the topic. With quite some time (two classes) and some candies, he finally persuaded the other group to trade topics with our group. 

This meant that instead of doing my research essay on NAFTA (we have already decided the topics that we were going to do within the group), I was going to do my essay on the Korean war. Intuitively NAFTA would seem like an easier topic, but I'll see. 

I hope this project will turn out well.