Teachers Institute on Parliamentary Democracy

I'm in Ottawa, from February 8 to February 13, to participate in a Teachers Institute on Canadian Parliamentary Democracy. A very cool opportunity. After quite an application process, 70 educators from across Canada were chosen to participate in a week long, intensive professional development workshop about our government. I am looking forwarding to learning with like-minded individuals about our parliamentary system. I have never been to our Nation's capital before so I am also looking forward to having a look around Ottawa and visiting museums.

Yesterday was a "get your bearings" day. We had a tour of the Centre Block of the Parliament buildings which included the House of Commons chamber, the Memorial Chamber, the Peace Tower, and the Library of Parliament. So much history! The House of Commons carpet and chair upholstery are green - symbolic of the commons, the green commons ground, and the common people who are served by our parliament. I could have spent heaps more time in the Library of Parliament, but we weren't allowed to go into the shelves - what an amazing room! The library is the only part of the orginial Parliament building that survived the fire in 1916, ironically on my birthday, February 3rd.

In the afternoon we went to the Canadian War Museum - a must-see when you come to Ottawa. Very well done! The details are amazing! In one particular corridor you can see the Peace Tower through the windows. The light shining on the wall in the corridor from little windows says "Lest We Forget" in Morse Code. A lot to see - I skimmed through part of it to spend most of my time in the World War II section because Dad was a 2nd Lieutenant in the tanks and the South Africa section because my Aussie Grandpa fought there.

We also met our working group for the week - grouped with teachers from other provinces and territories - arranged by colour - I'm in the purple group - no, I did not plan this!