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Tips for Teachers

City of Ottawa Archives & Billings Estate National Historic Site Online Exhibition

Grade 7 History: British North America
Grade 7 Geography: Themes of Geographic Inquiry
Grade 8 History, Canada: A Changing Society
Grade 8 Geography, Patterns in Human Geography
Grade 9 Geography (Academic), Foundations: Systems and Space
Grade 9 Geography (Academic), Human-Environment Interactions
Grade 10 History (Academic), Communities: Local, National and Global
Grade 10 Civics, Purposeful Citizenship

Grade 7 History: British North America

Overall Expectations:

Use a variety of resources and tools to gather, process, and communicate information about the beginnings and development of the new British colonies;
Identify some themes and personalities from the period, and explain their relevance to contemporary Canada.

Specific Expectations, Application:

Illustrate the historical development of their local community (e.g., its origins, key personalities, and the contributions of various cultural groups), using a variety of formats (e.g., a heritage display, posters, a drama skit or role play, a brochure, a Web page).

Suggested Ideas and Activities for Discussion and Research

The members of the Billings family contributed to the growth of Ottawa in different ways. Research one member of the family and the contributions that they made to their community. Consider such contributions as buildings they helped to construct, opportunities they provided to newcomers, social changes that they helped to bring about, discoveries they made, etc. Present your research to your class using a heritage display, poster, drama skit, or another creative format.
Five generations of Billings’ family members lived at the Estate on the south shore of the Rideau River. They lived there for almost 150 years. Create a timeline showing some of the major events in Canadian history. On that same timeline, point out some of the major events that happened to the Billings. What impact did some of the major national events have on the Billings family?
Using one of the themes from the online exhibit, explore how it is still relevant to your community today. What are some of the issues surrounding your topic? How does the community feel about the topic at hand? Is there a general consensus or do different sides have different opinions? Who are the main characters and how are they similar to or different from their historic counterparts?

Grade 7 Geography: Themes of Geographic Inquiry

Overall Expectations:

Use a variety of geographic resources and tools to gather, process, and communicate geographic information;
Analyse current environmental issues or events from the perspective of one or more of the themes of geographic inquiry.

Specific Expectations, Application:

Choose an environmental issue that illustrates one of the themes of geographic inquiry and explain why various individuals and groups have different opinions on the issue (e.g., theme of interaction: wilderness conservationists versus loggers).

Suggested Ideas and Activities for Discussion and Research

When the Billings first settled on the south shore of the Rideau River, the area was largely covered with forests. They eventually cleared those forests to make room for farmlands. Over time, that arable land was replaced with a residential setting. Which theme of geographic inquiry best describes these changes? Some people might think that these kinds of changes were a good thing, while others might say that the land should have been left as the Billings found it. Using maps from different points in history, explain the two arguments. Which side do you agree with? Why?
Organize a class debate around the following statement of purpose: “The interaction that the Billings and their neighbours had with their environment over 150 years benefited both the community and its natural environment.” One side will argue in favour of the statement of purpose while the other side will argue that the human interaction was detrimental to the community’s relationship with nature.
Look at how the different generations of the Billings family interacted with the land. How many different ways did they interact with it? If you were put in their situations, would you have done the same? Why or why not? What would you have done differently?

Grade 8 History, Canada: A Changing Society

Overall Expectations:

Compare living and working conditions, technological developments, and social roles near the beginning of the twentieth century with similar aspects of life in present-day Canada.

Specific Expectations, Application:

Compare the challenges facing farmers and workers at the beginning of the 20th century to those facing farmers and workers today.

Suggested Ideas and Activities for Discussion and Research

Research what life is like for farmers in the 21st century. Using the information that is found in the online exhibit, how are the lives of modern-day farmers different than the lives of the Billings who farmed at the beginning of the 20th century? What kinds of changes have taken place? Present your findings as two journal entries – one in the form of a day in the life of a farmer who worked for the Billings and one in the form of a day in the life of a modern farmer.
Using a graphic organiser, compare and contrast the challenges facing farmers today with the challenges facing farmers from the time of the second and third generations of the Billings family. What were some of the issues facing farmers at the start of the 20th century and how do they compare to those facing farmers today? How has technology changed over time and what sort of effect has this had on the agricultural industry? How have markets changed?

Grade 8 Geography, Patterns in Human Geography

Overall Expectations:

Identify the main patterns of human settlement and identify the factors that influence population distribution and land use;
Use a variety of geographic representations, resources, tools, and technologies to gather, process, and communicate geographic information about patterns in human geography.

Specific Expectations, Knowledge and Understanding

Identify and explain the factors affecting population distribution (e.g. history, natural environment, technological development, immigration, trends/patterns).

Suggested Ideas and Activities for Discussion and Research

Using aerial maps from different points in time, comment on how the population of the Billings Bridge area has changed. Has it increased or decreased? What geographic and human features appeared and/or disappeared? What else was happening in the Ottawa area at these different points in time that would have affected the population of the area? What do you know about the population of Ottawa now that can help you make predictions about how the population might change in the future?
Considering some of the changes to population distribution that took place between the time of the Billings’ settlement and today, draw a map of what the Billings Bridge area might look like 25 or 50 years from now. What major changes do you think will have taken place and why? How many people do you think will live in the area? What factors will cause these changes? Explain your conclusions.
The Billings were the first family to live in the area. Why do you think that people had not wanted to live there earlier? What were the factors that made the Billings want to live there? How did the Billings make the area more livable for themselves and for others? Why do you think that they were interested in making the area more livable for others? Many of the people who moved there only stayed for a few years at most – why do you think this was the case?

Grade 9 Geography (Academic), Foundations: Systems and Space

Overall Expectations

Analyze local and regional factors that affect Canada’s natural and human systems.

Specific Expectations, Knowledge and Understanding

Distinguish between the characteristics of urban and rural environments (e.g., differences in population density, land use, forms of settlement, development patterns, types of employment).

Suggested Ideas and Activities for Discussion and Research

The community that the Billings settled was initially a rural environment. Using information that you find in the online exhibit, when would you say that the community became urban? What changing features led you to this conclusion? How has the land use changed? How has the population changed, and how do those people now live?
Using a modern map of Ottawa, identify which communities in the amalgamated City of Ottawa are rural and which are urban. Can you imagine any of the rural communities becoming urban, or urban communities becoming rural in the future? What sorts of changes would have to take place for this to happen? What could cause these changes to take place and how would they effect the human and natural systems?
What were the characteristics of Billings Bridge in 1850 that made it rural? What are the characteristics of Billings Bridge today that make it urban?

Grade 9 Geography (Academic), Human-Environment Interactions

Overall Expectations

Analyze the ways in which natural systems interact with human systems and make predictions about the outcomes of these interactions.

Specific Expectations: Knowledge and Understanding

Explain how human activities (e.g. agricultural and urban development, waste management, parks development, forest harvesting, land reclamation) affect, or are affected by, the environment.

Suggested Ideas and Activities for Discussion and Research

When the Billings settled their estate, the area was largely forested. Now it is largely an urban area. What types of activities were the Billings involved in that led to changing the landscape? How did these activities affect the natural environment?
When Braddish Billings arrived in Gloucester Township and settled on the shores of the Rideau River, he was located in a dense, marshy forest. How did the environment affect his choice to settle where he did? What opportunities did the setting offer him at the time, and what future opportunities did he recognize? How would the environment have affected further settlement and development decisions that were made over the period that the Billings lived in the area?
Using the letter written by Charlotte Elizabeth Humphries, how would you say that nature affected the spread of the fire? How did human activity affect the spread of the fire? How did humans use nature to their advantage in fighting the fire?

Grade 10 History (Academic), Communities: Local, National and Global

Overall Expectations

Assess Canada’s participation in war and contributions to peacekeeping and security.

Specific Expectations, Canada’s Participation in War, Peace and Security

Describe Canada’s and Canadians’ contributions to the war effort at home during World War I and World War II, as well as some of the effects the wars had on the home front (e.g., munitions industry, Halifax explosion, women war workers, British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, Camp X, the war effort in local communities).

Suggested Ideas and Activities for Discussion and Research

Hugh Braddish Billings I was very supportive of the war effort during the Great War. What evidence can you find for the support that he offered to the troops and the government while war was being waged? Why do you think that he was so patriotic? Was this common amongst Canadians at the time?
Despite Hugh Braddish I’s support for the war, by 1917 his attitude had changed substantially and he was anxiously awaiting the end of the war. What happened to change his attitude? How did he feel about other Canadians’ participation in the war around this time? What do his records say about the toll that the war took on Canadians at home?

Grade 10 Civics, Purposeful Citizenship

Overall Expectations

Demonstrate an understanding of the beliefs and values underlying democratic citizenship and explain how they guide citizen’s actions

Specific Expectations, Responses to Civic Issues

Describe and assess the contributions that citizens and citizens’ groups make to the civic purposes of their communities (e.g. neighbourhood associations, service clubs).

Suggested Ideas and Activities for Discussion and Research

Research one member of the Billings family. What were the contributions that they made to their community? Why do you think that those contributions were important to people who made them? What do you think were some of the outcomes of these contributions?
Design a community service award in honour of one of the members of the Billings family. What are the criteria for receiving this award? Do you know any candidates who would qualify to receive this award today? Why?
Braddish Billings came to Canada from American during the American Revolution. Upon turning 18 he was required to swear his loyalty to the Crown. After having studied the Billings family’s history, would you say that Braddish Billings was a loyal citizen? Consider both his own contributions to his community and his country, as well as the attitudes that he fostered in his children and grandchildren.

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