Everyone loves a mystery! The “Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History” uses the lure of solving puzzles in its engaging, high-quality materials for the teaching of historical methods and Canadian History. It can be used in a wide variety courses in grades 6-12 including social studies, law, language, literature, and Indigenous history. The project, based at the University of Victoria, has created a series of instructional websites based on the premise that students can be drawn into Canadian history and archival research through the enticement of solving historical cold crimes. Each site focuses on a different theme: slavery, aboriginal issues, disease, vigilante rule, terrorism, religious dissent, early settlement, care of the handicapped, and family violence are only a few. The mysteries are drawn from all the regions and the full range of eras in Canadian history and include the major multi-cultural groups. In addition to the main mystery sites there are 30 smaller associated MysteryQuests which are one or two class assignments for students aged 11-18. Each Mystery site and MysteryQuest comes with teacher’s guides, suggested assignments and marking rubrics. This award-winning project is entirely bilingual and is provided free as a public service. Visit us online at www.canadianmysteries.ca and follow us on Twitter (@MysteriesCanada) and Facebook (Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History).
