What does the Canadian heritage minute represent?

Heritage Minutes are sixty-second short films that dramatise key moments and figures in Canadian history, produced and distributed by Historica Canada (formerly Heritage Canada and the Charles R. Bronfman Foundation). The series began in 1991 with the goal of teaching Canadian history through brief, vivid scenes that could be aired between television programmes. As of 2024, more than ninety Heritage Minutes have been produced.

Famous Heritage Minutes include the 'Burnt Toast' Vimy Ridge film about the 1917 battle, the 'Underground Railroad' film about Harriet Tubman in St. Catharines, the 'Jacques Plante' film about the goalie who introduced the modern hockey mask in 1959, the 'Halifax Explosion' film about the December 6, 1917 disaster, and the 'Nitro' film about Chinese-Canadian railway workers. Heritage Minutes have featured Sir John A. Macdonald, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Lester B. Pearson, the Famous Five, Tommy Douglas, Terry Fox, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, and Inuit photographer Peter Pitseolak.

The films are written and directed by Canadian filmmakers, financed largely by private sponsors and the Government of Canada through Canadian Heritage. Many Heritage Minutes won Genie Awards or were nominated for them, and lines from the films, such as 'Burnt Toast', 'I smell burnt toast', and 'Doctor, I... I think I can hear them. Doctor Bell. They're calling out to me' have become Canadian shorthand among people who grew up with the broadcasts.

Recent Heritage Minutes have addressed previously underrepresented stories: Chanie Wenjack (the Anishinaabe boy who died fleeing residential school in 1966), Boat People (Vietnamese refugees of the 1970s), Viola Desmond, Richard Pierpoint, and the Komagata Maru incident of 1914. The series is freely available on the Historica Canada website and YouTube channel and is widely used in schools.