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[music]
This video will examine adult learning history in Canada
from 1915 to 1939,
an era in which we began to see universities
provide extension programs to adults.
The Antigonish Movement, Workers' Educational Association,
and the Banff School of Fine Arts will be explored.
During this video, please reflect on the following Analysis Questions.
What factors led to the emergence of the Antigonish Movement?
How did the Workers' Educational Association originate
and what was their main goal?
What was the objective of the Banff School of Fine Arts,
and what impact did it have on nation-building in Canada?
The Antigonish Movement was a program of adult education,
self-help, and co-operative development
that arose in Eastern Nova Scotia in the 1920s.
It was based at the Extension Department of St. Francis Xavier University
in Antigonish, Nova Scotia
under the leadership of Reverend Jimmy Tompkins
and Dr. Moses Coady.
The Antigonish Movement arose in response
to the poverty afflicting farmers, fishers, miners,
and other disadvantaged groups in Eastern Canada.
The movement focused on adult education
as a means towards social improvement and economic organization.
Typically, one of the movement's organizers
would enter a community and call a public meeting
to assess the community's strengths and difficulties.
A study club would be created where farmers, fishermen, and miners
could come together to learn about their economic situation
and learn strategies for pulling themselves out of poverty.
Education revolved around an understanding of the local economy,
innovative farming techniques, and the potential of cooperation.
Usually, one or more co-operatives would be established
to help overcome the difficulties
that had been discussed during the study circles.
Their credit union was the most common,
but the movement also organized co-operatives for selling fish,
retailing consumer goods,
building homes, and marketing agricultural produce.
This formula of collective learning and economic self-reliance
rapidly produced a noticeable impact.
During the 1930s, the number of study clubs increased
from 179 to 1300,
and the number of participants in these clubs from 1500 to 11,000,
the number of credit unions from eight to 170,
and the number of co-operative organizations
from two to 85.
In spite of the customs and traditions of the time,
women were active participants in the process.
The philosophic principles of the Antigonish Movement
were well established as guidelines for the work of the movement
in the 1920s and '30s.
However, it wasn’t until 1944
that they were formally articulated by Professor Harry Johnson,
who developed six principles, which were later endorsed by Dr. Coady.
The principles included, the primacy of the individual,
social reform must come through education,
education must begin with the economic,
education must be through group action,
effective social reform involves fundamental changes
in social and economic institutions,
and the ultimate objective of the movement
is a full and abundant life for everyone in the community.
The Antigonish Movement is universally accepted
as a significant Canadian contribution
to the theory and practice of social change.
In 1959, after Coady's death,
St. Francis Xavier University created the Coady International Institute
to train adult educators from developing countries
based on the theories and practices of the Antigonish Movement.
In the following decades, more than 22,000 people
attended courses and seminars organized by the Institute
in order to study the Antigonish approach to adult education
and to find ways to apply it to their own communities.
Today, the Coady International Institute
continues to promote democratically-based
and locally-organized grassroots cooperative action
in many parts of the world.
The Workers' Educational Association,
an offshoot of the British Workers Educational Association,
was founded in Canada in 1917
as part of the University of Toronto's extension program.
It was meant to provide a link between labour and learning
by making higher education available to the working class.
At the time, there was a need for educational opportunities
for working-class adults.
The Mechanics' Institute had long since disappeared,
public libraries offered educational resources, but few classes,
and the university extension programs provided only expensive courses.
Therefore, the purpose of the WEA was to provide a general education
with the idea that this liberal education
would improve workers' overall lives.
It offered courses on subjects such as economics, current events,
labour history and collective bargaining.
Central to the WEA's educational offerings
were tutorial classes, public debates,
summer programs, radio programs and a film library.
In the early to mid-1920s,
Windsor, Hamilton, and Ottawa all started local chapters of the WEA.
The 1930s saw an increase and greater diversity
in the types of trade union membership.
By the 1940s, there were 24 associations across Ontario,
with Toronto established as the strong centre.
However, by 1942, the WEA was cut out of the University of Toronto's budget.
By the late 1940s, the WEA's funding problems increased
and many in the organization's executive were accused of being communists
despite the WEA's published constitution
that described the organization as politically non-partisan.
In the 1950s, the Canadian political scene
saw a rise in union affiliation
and a decline in interest and support of the WEA.
In 1933, the University of Alberta Department of Extension
received a grant from the U.S. based Carnegie Corporation
to build a Fine Arts program.
Under the leadership and guidance of Director Ned Corbett,
the Banff School of Drama began
with a single two-week drama program with 190 participants.
In 1936, creative writing, playwriting, and painting were added to the school,
which was now called the Banff School of Fine Arts,
and was led by Donald Cameron, Corbett’s successor.
As the year passed, the variety of courses grew to include ceramics,
French immersion, weaving, dance, opera and photography.
Conference programs were introduced in 1953
and leadership programs in 1954.
After World War Two,
the Banff School was exploited as an endeavour
to promote Canadian nation-building and national culture.
The aim was to create an academic and cultural icon
that would distinguish Canada as a progressive and sovereign entity.
Donald Cameron envisioned The Banff Centre
as having a reputation equivalent
to the leading educational institutions of the world,
such as Oxford and Cambridge.
They expected the school to raise the standards of cultural education
by training adults who would then go home as cultural producers
with enhanced skills to foster community arts leadership.
The Canadian government shared this vision,
and in 1946, commissioned the National Film Board
to produce a film to promote global awareness of The Banff Centre.
The film was entitled "Holiday at School,"
and it gained international attention
and brought the universal acknowledgment
that both Cameron and the Canadian government desired.
This recognition was significant
in building national citizenship in the post-war era,
and bolstering Canada's cultural reputation in the world arena.
In 1970, to acknowledge
the greater educational role the school had taken on,
the name was changed to the Banff Centre for Continuing Education.
The Alberta Government granted the Banff Centre full autonomy
as a non-degree granting institution in 1978.
In 1996, the Banff Centre opened a conference facility,
and the same year the Centre's fourth division,
Mountain Culture programming, was created.
Today, the Banff Centre is recognized globally
as a leader in creative business, arts, and environmental studies.
They continue to offer a full range of programs
in the performing, literary, new media and visual arts,
in leadership development, and mountain culture,
as well as their world-class conference facility.
Please reflect on the following Synthesis Questions.
What lasting impacts can be seen in Eastern Canada
from the Antigonish Movement today?
What led to the demise of the Workers' Educational Association in Canada?
And do you think that the Banff Centre achieves its mission
of distinguishing Canada as a progressive and sovereign entity?