The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 1

Inside: 24 pages of Homes and yourTVTimes linjMVl Business: Vioxx lawsuit could cost Merck 18B, Dl fc53Satins 160r A SPECIAL CITIZEN HISTORY PROJECT 1 fA! Ik Am i yJ L- 1 i ''1' "cvtr -J 1. 1 i '-C JEAN LEVAC, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN For two weeks, Citizen reporters Neco Cockburn and Hayley Mick will be living as if they had been transported to the 1860s: No electricity, no running water, isolated from the conveniences of modern living. Canadian history is so borin or is it? Historian ALLAN GREER looks at this common complaint, and concludes the story of Canada isn't the problem. HISTORIANS ON HISTORY LITTLE HOUSE INTNEV1LLAGE Today, as part of the Citizen's celebration of its 160th anniversary, the newspaper begins a groundbreaking series that will take readers back in time. For two weeks, reporters Hayley Mick and Neco Cockburn will live at Upper Canada Village, trying to capture what it was like to live in the 1860s.

Wearing clothing of the time, preparing their meals over an open hearth and performing back-breaking work in the summer heat, Hayley and Neco will write about their experiences on a daily basis. Complementing their voices will be the insight of historians and researchers, several background articles by Citizen reporter Tom Spears, and a comprehensive website with bonus material. See today's Observer on page Bl, and visit www.ottawacitizen.com As someone who has spent 30 years researching, writing and teaching the history of Canada, I hear two main messages from my fellow Canadians about my favourite subject: It's boring; 2. We need more of it. The same people who tell you that Canadian history is a snooze will nod in agreement with newspaper reports raising the alarm over the latest Dorninion Institute poll showing that the average 14-year-old doesn't know the difference between John A.

Macdonald and Ronald McDonald. We need more Canadian history in the schools, they will insist, more historical content hji the media. If this is to be a self-respecting country, every citizen should have the names of prime ministers and the dates of battles at their fingertips. And by the way, These two attitudes may look antithetical, but they're not Depending on how you look at it, the Canadian past can be exciting and challenging or deadly dull For most people, the formative encounter with Canadian history takes place in school And this subject, unlike math, chemistry and English, tends to be valued mainly as civic education. Designed to tell us who we are as a nation and help us to be better citizens, the accent inevitably tends to be on consensus and uplift.

Not that the content is all uncritical celebration students learn that the internment of Japanese-Canadians during the Second World War wsi? a bad thing and the hanging of Louis Riel may not have been a good idea but even in the hands of dedicated and imaginative teachers, this is a subject bathed in an atmosphere of national piety. My point here is not to single out educators, since they only respond to the expectations of the society at large. Canada Day oratory, historic sites and reenactments and television "heritage moments" express a similar attitude towards Canadian history; together they proclaim, in essence, that this is about national pride and warm feelings. All very nice, I suppose, but hardly the stuff of intellectual excitement See HISTORY on PAGE A4 BACKHOE PLUNGES DOWN HILL CLIFF 1 Obesity tops smoking as health issue, poll finds of 0 professor accused of hosting anti-Semitic website Group files complaint over 'wild theories' that blame Jews for 911 BY PAULINE TAM Infill r'A 1 -f PAT MCGRATH, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN He said the strong recognition of obesity as health issue, and not a matter of esthetics, is all the more remarkable given the long history of public education about other ailments on the list of health concerns, such as smoking. "Whether that's now going to translate into action is the question a lot of public health officials and, frankly, a lot of Canadians should be wondering." Dr.

Beth Abramson, a Toronto cardiologist and spokeswoman for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, credits the public's increased awareness to education campaigns by organizations like hers and the emergence of obesity issues in the popular culture. "It's even in mainstream entertainment and movies such as Super Size Me," she said, referring to the 2004 documentary that follows a filmmaker who eats nothing but meals from McDonald's for one month. See OBESITY on PAGE A2 Only cancer is a more worrisome problem, Canadians say BY GLEN MCGREGOR Canadians are becoming keenly aware of the dangers of obesity and now rank it among their most serious health concerns, a new poll shows. The study conducted by GPC Research suggests a growing understanding of the risks of carrying extra weight and the role obesity plays in other diseases. Cancer remains the leading health concern for Canadians, with 88 per cent of those polled ranking it as a "serious health issue," followed by obesity at 75 per cent, smoking at 74 per cent, heart disease at 72 per cent and HIVAIDS at 55 per cent.

"If acceptance is the first step towards recovery, then Canadians are on their way to slimming down," said Jim Roche, president of GPC Research. "This is good news." A Jewish group has filed a complaint to the University of Ottawa against one of its professors after the discovery of content on his website that blames Jews for the terrorist attacks on the United States, and claims the numbers who died at Auschwitz are exaggerated. The website, www.global research.ca, also reprints articles from other writers that accuse Jews of controlling the U.S. media and masterminding the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Other postings suggest Israel, the U.S. and Britain are the real perpetrators of the recent attacks on London. The site, which is not hosted by the university, is run by Michel Chossudovsky, a controversial left-leaning economist, and came to the attention of B'-nai Brith Canada after public complaints to the advocacy group and the Citizen. "The material on the site is full of wild conspiracy theories that go so far as to accuse Israel America and Britain of being behind the recent terrorist University of Ottawa professor Michel Chossudovsky says research on his website Is 'anti-Zionist, not anti-Semitic' bombings in London," said Frank Dimant, executive vice-president of B'nai Brith Canada. "They echo the age-old anti-Semitic expressions that abound in the Arab world, which blame the Jews for everything from 911 to the more recent tsunami disaster." The organization singles out a discussion forum, moderated by Mr.

Chossudovsky, that features a subject heading called "Some Articles On The Truth of the Holocaust." The messages have titles such as "Jewish Lies of Omission (about the 'Holocaust')," "Jewish Hate Responsible For Largest Mass Killing at Dachau," and "Did Jews Frame the Arabs for 9u?" See WEBSITE on PAGE A8 CONGRESS CENTRE PLANS IN JEOPARDY The multimillion-dollar expansion of the Ottawa Congress Centre is threatened because of the inadequacies of the centre's board members and staff, a provincial tourism ministry report says. The report criticizes the handling of finances, administration and governance Issues on the long-delayed project. SEE STORY ON PAGE El. NICKI CORRIGAL, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN A 65-year-old construction worker was killed yesterday when the backhoe he was operating on Parliament Hill plummeted 50 metres to the Ottawa River's edge. SEE STORY ON PAGE E3.

INDEX PUBLISHED BYTHE PROPRIETOR Ottawa Citizen Group Inc, Ottawa, 0ntK2C3M4 JAMES ORBAN, Publisher TODAY'S WEATHER Cloudy with showers. High 25, low 18. Sunrise: 6:09 a.m. Sunset: 8:01 p.m. SEE PAGE EM.

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