Project Outline | Northview Historians

Coordination, Capacity-Building and Communication-Telling the stories of Torontonians of significance who responded to the Spanish Influenza Epidemic and whose actions contributed to a more liveable city in Toronto in the aftermath.

The purpose of this inquiry project is for us as students to learn about the decisions, actions and responses of Toronto politicians, scientists, health care providers (doctors and nurses), public health educators and community volunteers who responded to the Spanish Influenza in Toronto in 1918. After completing our research we are creatively telling the stories of these individuals by creating Sketchnotes to illustrate our research findings (placed upon objects that would have belonged to these individuals) and also by writing Bio-Poems which tell the incredible stories that we uncovered. It is our belief that these stories are worthy to be told and that in using these creative formats we can engage our classmates and community about the historical significance of these people and how what they did has contributed to a more liveable city for us to live in today.

Who are we?

We are 30 students in Grade 10 Canadian History at Northview Heights Secondary School in Toronto. Our teacher is Ms. Whitfield. We come from all over the world but we are curious about the city we all live in. Some of us are students in the Honours Math Science and Technology Program and others are part of the CyberArts program. The combination of our skills and interests have motivated us to take on this exciting digital storytelling project.

These are the steps that we took to carry out our project:

Step 1: Each group chose one of the individuals who acted, helped and responded to the impact of the spread of the Spanish Influenza Epidemic in Toronto, Ontario, 1918-1920.

Dr. Charles Hastings,Medical Officer of Health for the City of Toronto, 1910-1929
Dr. Margaret Patterson, Health Educator to the Sisters of Service in Ontario (S.O.S)
Mr. Frank Stapleford, Founding Director of the Neighbourhood Workers Association
Dr. Robert D. Defries, Leader of the Antitoxin Lab at the Connaught Laboratories, University of Toronto
Edward G.R. Ardagh, Professor of Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto
Ms. Amelia Earhart, Volunteer Nurse at the Spadina Base Hospital *Amelia Earhart is an American; however, because her time volunteering as a nurse in Toronto was important we are identifying her as an "honourary" Torontonian for this project (even though she was just a visitor).

We worked with two guiding inquiry questions (aligned with the Critical Inquiry Question and Critical Task for the Defining Moments Canada- Recovering Canada Contest.

Question 1: How did the opinions, decisions, and/or actions of these important politicians, scientists, medical staff, community organizers and volunteers address the need for coordination, capacity-building and communication in handling and responding to the Spanish Influenza Epidemic in Toronto?
Question 2: How did the historically significant work of these individuals begin to pave the way for a (more) liveable city post the Spanish Flu Epidemic in 1920?

Step 2: We conducted research on the individual using websites, PhD theses, encyclopedias and other credible websites (some were suggested as starting points and others we found on our own). We made notes of the sources that we used and documented our citations and sources in Chicago Manual of Style format.

Step 3: Based on the research that we conducted, we organized our findings on an object that would have been used by the individual or that was connected to their work or actions.

On this object we organized our research as a SKETCHNOTE. A SKETCHNOTE is a creative way of organizing information in order to tell a story to someone, in this case about our individual’s contributions and response to the Spanish Flu Epidemic. Our sketchnotes contain: hand-drawn images, photographs, quotations, statistics and other charts and relevant data. In essence the sketchnote is the illustration to represent the story of our individual (who you will learn more about from our written and audio recorded BIOPOEMS)). All of our research has been properly cited and has been documented in a Works Cited List.

Step 4: Based on our research and the contents of our Sketchnote, we wrote a Bio Poem(a poem that summarizes the life story of a historical person) that tells the story of the opinions, decisions and actions in handling/responding to the Spanish Influenza epidemic. In our stories, and using the research we found, we have highlighted and described how their actions contributed to Toronto becoming a more liveable city in the aftermath of the flu in 1920.

Step 5: We have audio recorded ourselves reading the BIOPOEMS. From Welcome Page on this website you can choose whose story you want to learn about first by clicking on the tab bearing the individual's name. Once you have landed on the new page, you will find a series of photographs of our Sketchnotes, the text of our Biopoems and an audio-recording of our voices reading the Biopoems we wrote.

We are confident that these creative, interdisciplinary and multi-modal ways of storytelling will bring to life the stories of important individuals in Toronto's history. The decisions, contributions and actions of these people of significance impacted the lives and livelihoods of Torontonians. Their individual and collaborative inhibited further spreading the Spanish Influenza as a result of their efforts to coordinate, capacity build and communicate with one another to address this catastrophe.

Each of the individuals whose stories we have told here, have given us a better understanding of the historical significance and legacy of their decisions and actions. We understand that the groundwork policy-making, preparation and emergency response protocols serve as useful examples for how to effectively coordinate, capacity build and communicate in order to respond effectively and uphold the values of liveable city today and in the future.

Background image: Museum of Health Care. “The Reality of the Flu: Kingston's United Effort Against the Spanish Influenza.” Museum of Health Care Blog, 30 June 2017, museumofhealthcare.wordpress.com/2017/06/14/the-reality-of-the-flu-kingstons-united-effort-against-the-spanish-influenza/.

EK