By Jonathan Charlton
jonathan@peicanada.com

The idea for the Montague Intermediate 8C French Immersion students’ historical video came from Matthew Beck’s shaggy hair and his resemblance to Canada’s first prime minister.
When teacher Megan Morrison distributed pamphlets for the competition during science class in the fall and the class decided to participate, they wanted to do something about a PEI historical site.
The challenge was to create a historically significant video at a national historic site, national marine conservation area or national park.
The topic of the 1864 Charlottetown conference was chosen quickly, after the class realized Matthew resembled a young John A MacDonald.
“I said, Matthew, don’t cut your hair until I tell you to,” Ms Morrison said.
Upon seeing the finished product, “I was so proud, so excited,” she said.
The 17 students researched the conference over the following weeks and wrote a script based on the letters of George Brown, dug up by student Amy Moore.
They shot the video over two days at Province House, Sir Isaac’s in Montague and at a river near Principal Kevin Stonefield’s back yard, and edited it with the help of technology teacher Ryan Casey.
In the video, Ms Morrison is teaching the students about the history of Province House outside the building when Premier Robert Ghiz joins them.
The premier then gives a few more facts of the conference, remarking that the only documents of it are George Brown’s letters.
The video then switches to black and white, giving it a historical look, as the students, dressed in top hats, fake beards and suits, recreate the speeches and festivities of the conference.
The students learned a lot making the video, Ms Morrison said. Some hadn’t ever actually been to Province House and they were also surprised at how much of a party the conference was. (Though in the video, the students substitute adult beverages with glasses of milk.)
Taylor Matheson enjoyed meeting the premier.
“You usually only see him on the news, and he was right there helping our class,” she said.
“I was impressed,” Mr Stonefield, who makes a cameo appearance sporting an unkempt beard while rowing a boat, said. “An awful lot of work went into that, from students and staff.”
The public is encouraged to vote for the video once a day until February 24 at myparkspass.ca/video-gallery.
The 10 most popular of the 70 entries from across Canada are then judged, and the winning class will go on a four-day trip to Banff.

The 8C French class at Montague Intermediate has produced a video about the meetings of the 1864 Charlottetown conference for a Parks Canada competition. Here, they pose in costume in front of Province House. 
Submitted photo