As a secondary school teacher, Mr. Jonathan Donaldson has ensured the schools in which he teaches take part in the Lest We Forget project, a joint venture between Library and Archives Canada and Veterans Affairs Canada to connect Canadian youth to Canada’s history.
He has delivered the project in a variety of classes over his five-year tenure as a teacher, and he is often the first teacher to bring it forward into the curriculum. This project provides students with a tangible understanding of the past by encouraging them to work with original documents from the archives or contacting living relatives or local historians. He strives to instill in his students a passion and curiosity for Canadian military history.
For the past 10 years Mr. Donaldson has been an active member of the Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps Lanark. He incorporates his experiences with the Lest We Forget project into Lanark’s training operations, ensuring this project reaches beyond the students in his classrooms. He organizes and leads overnight cenotaph vigils with cadets, often in areas with little to no cadet involvement. Their presence in these areas have helped to reinforce the meaning of Remembrance Day for both the community and the cadets.