Heritage Minutes, also known officially as Historica Minutes: History by the Minute, are sixty-second short films, each illustrating an important moment in Canadian history. They appear frequently on Canadian television and in cinemas before movies. The minutes were first introduced on March 31, 1991 as part of a one-off heavily-promoted history quiz show hosted by Rex Murphy. The thirteen original short films were broken up and run between shows on CBC Television and CTV. The continued broadcast of the Minutes and the production of new ones was pioneered by Charles Bronfman's CRB Foundation (subsequently the The Historica Dominion Institute), Canada Post (with Bell Canada being a later sponsor) Power Broadcasting (now Power Corporation of Canada), and the National Film Board. They were devised, developed and largely narrated (as well as scripted) by noted Canadian broadcaster Patrick Watson, while the producer of the series was Robert Guy Scully. In 2009 Historica merged with The Dominion Institute to become The Historica-Dominion Institute.[citation needed]
While the foundations have not paid networks to air the minutes, they have made them freely available, and in the early years paid to have them run in cinemas across the country. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has ruled that Heritage Minutes are an "on-going dramatic series" thus each minute counts as ninety-seconds of a station's Canadian content requirements.[1]
The Heritage Minutes themselves have become part of Canadian culture.
Not all of the episodes have actually aired. 74 of them are available for viewing online; the minutes about the 1972 Summit Series and Canadian peacekeepers are not available online.
New France, under the leadership of governor Louis de Buade de Frontenac, repels the British invasion of 1696 (narration was later added to this Minute in order to clarify the story)
Maurice Richard scores five goals and three assists for eight points in a single game. His explosive 18-year career made him the most exciting player of his generation and a hero to Quebeckers
A Meeting of the School Trustees (Robert Harris, 1885)Teacher Kate Henderson sways school trustees to embrace new methods, and the event is represented in a famous painting by Robert Harris
Sgt. Major John Robert Osborn sacrifices his life to protect his men from the Japs in the Battle of Hong Kong in World War II and is posthumously granted the Victoria Cross
Mona Parsons, a partisan World War II Allied agent in the Netherlands escapes execution and later imprisonment by the Nazis and meets her future husband who confirms her nationality to Canadian forces liberating the nation
Brigadier-General Jacques Dextraze resolves a hostage situation in the Congo with his UN Peacekeeping forces contingent.
General Arthur Currie prepares his Canadian forces for the successful taking of Vimy Ridge in World War I.
Returning World War II veterans successfully agitate for increasing housing assistance
A eulogy is given for Tommy Prince, Canada’s most-decorated Aboriginal war veteran
During the Cyprus conflict, a Canadian peacekeeper steps in to prevent a Turkish Cypriot from killing a Greek Cypriot. (This minute is not available online or with the VHS/DVD sent out. The Turkish government objected to the Turkish Cypriot being portrayed wearing a fez, which Turks did not do after the reforms of Ataturk.)
Canadian rapper Classified parodied the Heritage Minute in his music video for the song "O Canada..." Canadian cartoonist Kate Beaton adapted the Heritage Minute format in a comic about Margaret Trudeau, wife of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.[2]
