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CM . . . .
Volume VII Number 19 . . . . May 25, 2001
People often think of the Speaker of the House of Commons as a sort of "policeman" - very
elegantly-attired, mind you, but a policeman of procedure and propriety. However, Our House
presents Gilbert Parent, the Speaker of the House of Commons in 1998, as the "host" of the
House, and you'd be hard put to find a host more charming and genial. As he tells the visitors to
whom he speaks during the filming of the video, and to us, the viewing audience, "This place, it's
yours and it's mine." As expected, we get a tour of the House, along with interesting historical
commentary. Although we learn about and view the many architectural splendours of Canada's
House of Commons, this video excels in giving us a sense of what makes our federal legislature a
truly Canadian institution. Unlike many videos of this type, Our House is narrated directly by
Gilbert Parent - he's not an anonymous voice-over, and having that narrator in front of you helps
to develop a highly personal relationship with his audience. Parent clearly loves the House, and, as
Speaker, he did much to open it up to visitors: each summer since 1994, nearly half a million
Canadians have toured their House. And it is truly a House open to all: Parent is particularly
proud of the occasion on which para-Olympians were invited on to the floor of the Chamber, an
honour made possible because of accessibility modifications.
Gilbert Parent - along with many others, including historians and
architectural specialists -- is also interviewed in Jewel on the
Hill. Originally produced for History Television, Jewel on the
Hill is a much more traditional tour of the Parliament Buildings.
Gordon Pinsent narrates the story of the main buildings which comprise the
Canada's Parliament: the Centre Block, the Library, and the East and West
Blocks. As with many national federal institutions, construction took
place in stages. The first stage began with the rather surprising
selection of Ottawa, at the time, a provincial lumber town, as the site of
the national capitol buildings, continued with the construction of the
first Parliament Building, and ended in 1916 with their destruction by
fire. Re-construction of a more fire-proof Centre Block, the building of
the magnificent Peace Tower, with its Books of Memory, marked the second
great stage of construction. The final stages saw the great expansion of
the civil service into the West Block, while the Prime Minister's Office
and Cabinet locating, appropriately, in the Centre Block. These
magnificent neo-Gothic structures, rising above the cliffs of the Ottawa
River are, truly, a jewel on the hill, and the final frames of the video
are a magnificent shot of the buildings, silhouetted against a sky
flashing with fireworks on Canada Day.
I enjoyed both videos, although for very different reasons. Our House is much shorter, and its
length worked well with Gilbert Parent's narration; warmly personal, he truly invites you into our
national home. Jewel on the Hill is definitely edited for classroom presentation: the 91-minute
video is divided into chapters of approximately 10 minutes, each focusing on a specific aspect of
the Buildings' history. At times, I found the editing intrusive, breaking up the narrative flow.
However, the combination of archival photos, interviews, and stunning video photography was
highly effective in telling the 150 year-old story of the Parliament Buildings. Ideally, I would
recommend purchase of both videos because they really do complement each other. However, if
you have to choose, make your choice on the basis of the focus of program delivery in your
school: Our House is probably a better choice for a school where most of the viewing will be
by grade 9 Canadian Studies students, while grade 11 students are more likely to have the
historical knowledge to understand and appreciate much of the information presented in Jewel
on the Hill.
Recommended.
Joanne Peters is a teacher-librarian at Kelvin High School in Winnipeg, MB.
To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.
Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association.
Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice
is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without
permission.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - May 25, 2001.
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