Salon

Salon is the quarterly digital newsletter of the Social Studies Educators Network of Canada (SSENC). It features classroom strategies, critical reflections connecting research and practice, organization news, sponsored content, and commentary on current themes in history and social studies education. Salon fosters community building among Canadian educators through relevant information and curated resources.

Salon Winter 2025

President’s Message: Winter 2025

Fall is always busy as our member associations put on professional learning opportunities in British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Attending a provincial social studies conference can help you connect with the resources that you need, but most of all it can help you to connect with teachers across your province who can inspire you to try new things, and to help your students to engage with their own histories and their own communities.

Guardians of Democracy

While Alberta teachers rightly focus on their ongoing labour action, the province’s recent (albeit rescinded) attempt to remove books from school libraries points to a larger pattern that reaches beyond Alberta. The Social Studies Educators Network of Canada (SSENC) remains deeply concerned by these growing efforts to restrict what can be taught and read in Canadian classrooms.

Samara Centre

The Samara Centre for Democracy has been providing insights into our political system for decades. And in the last few years they have been developing podcasts you can use in the classroom

Amnesty International

Amnesty International Canada is part of a global movement defending human rights through research, advocacy, and grassroots action. We work with students and educators to promote justice, equality, and solidarity — and to show that young people can be powerful agents of change.

Follow up to the AGM

SSENC/RESSC held its AGM via ZOOM in September and selected the heart of our leadership, the table officers, a dynamic team representing diverse regions of Canada who work collaboratively to guide the network’s vision and initiatives.

Juno Beach Centre

Teaching history can be hard-how do we engage our students with lessons of our past when we have not lived this experience? Juno Beach offers this opportunity for educators across our country.

Canada’s History Heritage Fairs

Since 1993, Heritage Fair has encouraged young people across the country to engage in the history of our country.

Elections Canada

Spark meaningful conversations about elections and democracy
The Civic Education Program at Elections Canada provides free learning resources, student-friendly information and professional development opportunities to support educators in teaching about elections and democracy at any time, not only during an election.

LES DÉCRYPTEURS (The Codebreakers)

Les Décrypteurs are a team of journalists who aim to combat misinformation in order to help citizens, young and old, to distinguish what is true and what is false among the information circulating on social media.

An Introduction to Canada’s Air War – A Chronology

Canada and Newfoundland made a vital contribution to the Allied victory in the Second World War, leveraged by our strategic location, vast resources, industrial capacity, high education standards, and historic European connections.

Past Articles

National Internment Commemoration Day

National Internment Commemoration Day

Understanding our history and how it impacts our future has never been more important. One key event in Canadian history is the interment of enemy aliens during World War One. The Canadian First World War Internment Fund has worked with the Critical Thinking Consortium (TC2) to create free resources for teachers to help plan lessons which demonstrate how ultranationalism has been a part of Canada’s history

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President’s Message: Fall 2025

President’s Message: Fall 2025

Welcome back to school! This issue of Salon is dedicated to giving you some foundational tools and resources to help you take inquiry to the next level in your social studies classroom.

Maybe you are looking for ways to strengthen your students’ historical thinking skills. BC educator Nathan Moes’ can get you started with Assessing Historical Thinking – a new resource to support your students with bite-sized tasks that highlight skills like corroboration, contextualization, close reading and sourcing.

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Policy 101

Policy 101

“Why do I need to follow this rule?” “Who makes the rules?” “Why don’t I get a say in the rules?”

While these may sometimes seem like rebellious questions from your students, they reveal curious minds that may not know yet that they have a passion for public policy!

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Formative Assessments to Build Historical Inquiry Skills

Formative Assessments to Build Historical Inquiry Skills

As social studies educators, we know that guiding students to think like historians means more than having them memorize dates or recount facts. Real historical inquiry rests on a set of disciplinary practices—sourcing, contextualizing, close‐reading, and corroborating evidence—that require deliberate scaffolding and feedback.

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SSENC Fall Conferences

SSENC Fall Conferences

The Social Studies Educators Network of Canada (SSENC) is excited to be present this Fall at our member provincial associations’ fantastic professional development opportunities across the country! Look for our booth on the 24th of October at the B.C., Manitoba and Nova Scotia Social Studies Teachers’ Association events. Additionally, SSENC will be engaging with P.E.I. teachers on November 6th and 7th.

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Countdown to SSENC’s 2025 AGM

Countdown to SSENC’s 2025 AGM

We’re now less than a month away from SSENC’s Annual General Meeting—an essential event that shapes the future of our organization. This year, we’ll be electing our executive and table officers for the 2025–2027 term.

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These are our archived issues of Salon, our newsletter.