Considered third in the world, after Australia and Great Britain, Canada has been a leader and major innovator over the past 25 years in the development of a positive, cultural studies approach to media education.
The following chronology outlines the progress of the Canadian media education movement from its Natioinal Film Board roots, to its inclusion in curricula across the country, to more recent events of note.
History of Media Education in Canada
1966 – The first Summer Institute for the Study of Film and Television is hosted in Montreal by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) for teachers across the country – an initiative shared with McGill University in subsequent years.
1968 – Seventy educators meet at York University to found the Association for Screen Education (CASE), the forerunner of Ontario’s Association for Media Literacy (AML).
1969 – CASE holds a Canada-wide conference featuring the NFB’s John Grierson who is widely recognized as “father of the documentary.”
1978 to 2002 – Special subject associations for media education spring up across Canada: Association for Media Literacy (Ontario AML, ’78); Media Literacy Saskatchewan (MLS –’88); Manitoba Association for Media Literacy (MAML –’90); British Columbia Association for Media Literacy (BCAME –’91); Association for Media Literacy Quebec (AMEQ –’92); Association for Media Literacy - Nova Scotia (AML-NS –’92); Alberta Association for Media Awareness (AAMA –’93); Association for a Media Literate New Brunswick (A4MLNB –’01), Association for Media Literacy Newfoundland and Labrador (AML-NL –’02).
1985 – The Jesuit Communication Project (JCP) is formed and plays a seminal role in the growth of media education in Canada.
1985 to 2005 – CHUM Television includes media education as a key area of corporate philanthropy, providing TV programming and Web-based resources, and funding the AML, the JCP, CAMEO, Media Awareness Network and, in 2004, the establishment of the London Public Library’s Media Literacy Centre.
1986 – AML members produce the Media Literacy Resource Guide for the Ontario Ministry of Education. The first of its kind, the Guide is translated into French, Italian, Japanese and Spanish.
1989 – An invitational Media Education Think Tank takes place at Trent University with participants from across Canada, the United States and Scotland.
1989 to 2004 – Provincial/Territorial departments and ministries of education mandate media education as one of the “strands” of English Language Arts: Ontario, Gr. 7-13 (’89); Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon, NWT (’95); Atlantic provinces (’95); Ontario Gr. 1-6 (’95); in Quebec (’00 – ’04) media education is mandated as one of the Basic Areas of Learning underpinning all curricula.
1990 – Concerned Children’s Advertisers (CCA) is founded with funding from Canadian corporations. The CCA produces a number of media literacy PSAs for children that are aired across Canada and hosts the media/lifestyles education programs TV and Me and Long Live Kids.
1990 and 1992 – The AML hosts two international conferences, the largest to-date in the world: The New Literacy, and Constructing Culture: The Second North American Conference on Media Literacy.
1992 – Canadian Association of Media Education Organizations (CAMEO) is formed, representing all provincial organizations in Canada.
1995 – Media Awareness Network/Réseau Éducation Médias is established under the aegis of the National Film Board of Canada and incorporates in 1996 as Canada’s bilingual non-profit online media education organization. The first in the world to launch a professional development Web awareness program, MNet is supported by the broadcast, cable and Internet service provider industries and the Government of Canada.
1997 – The Centre des resources pour education aux médias is founded at the Université de Québec à Montréal to support media education in Quebec.
2000 – Summit 2000: Children, Youth and the Media, with 1500 delegates from 55 countries, is organized by the AML, the JCP, Alliance for Children and Television and the American Center for Children and Media. The first-ever conference brings together media educators and representatives from the media industries. The conference has the strong support of Canada’s television industry.
2002 – CAMEO holds a one-week think tank for its provincial members, as well as associate members (CCA, MNet) to chart the future of media education in Canada.
2003 – Canadians participate in a four-country international media literacy conference for media education leaders around the world via videophone to chart the course for media education in the English-speaking world.
