CBC’s ‘Canada: The Story of Us’ tells the story of Canada like never before

We look pretty good for 150 years old. But it’s around this age that we sometimes need to have our memories refreshed.

For example: Exactly how did we get here? And what are the stories that helped shape our nation into the awesomeness we all know and love?

Well, tune into the premiere of “Canada: The Story of Us,” premiering Sunday, March 26, on CBC Television, in backto-back 60-minute episodes, to learn all that and more.

Actually, you’ll only learn part of that info on Sunday. The rest of our tale is told over the weeks to come. It’s an epic adventure history series that tells the extraordinary tale of the diverse people, places and events that shaped Canada, including stories of change makers and rule breakers, dreamers and visionaries, scientists and entrepreneurs who forged a nation in a vast and harsh land.

With an introduction from none other than our own Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the series jumps straight into the time when our Indigenous nations first met European newcomers and the settlement of Samuel de Champlain. Based on the format created by Nutopia, it combines factbased drama with CGI animation, and features interviews with more than 80 prominent Canadians such as Eugene Levy, Georges St-Pierre, Tatiana Maslany, Clement Virgo, Lilly Singh, Candy Palmater and David Suzuki.

“It’s a history for a new generation,” says executive producer Julie Bristow (“Hockey Night in Canada,” “Dragons’ Den”). “The power of television is in personal stories and personal dramas, so what attracted me to this was the fact that it’s based on personal dramas that are factual and over the course of the 10 episodes we hit on 50 stories we think are extraordinary and emblematic of how we came to be who we are as Canadians.”

And though the series will suck you in from the very first moment, it does so by telling the stories of Canadians that might not necessarily roll off your tongue.

“We looked for people whose stories would exemplify the broader tale of Canada,” says historian John English, Past General Editor of the Dictionary of Canadian Biography/ Dictionnaire biographique du Canada and primary consultant on the series. “We didn’t want to talk about the wars or the battles or whatever, but rather the individuals. Sometimes the extraordinary people, but sometimes the ordinary people who represented the experiences that Canadians have had.”

Martha Black has a remarkable story that is almost too hard to believe. An upper middle class woman from the United States who packed up everything to head to the gold rush in the north, leaves her husband along the way (while pregnant) and then ends up a member of Parliament and one of the most important people in the history of the north.

And her story is just one of 50 that will have you riveted to your couch in this spellbinding history lesson of Canada. Just us. It turns out we’re pretty amazing.