Yellowknife (Feb 17/03) - Students across the NWT will be exploring Canada's rich history from now until April.

This will be the fourth year the NWT has participated in the Canadian Heritage Fair.

It will be the first year a regional fair will be held in Inuvik prior to territorial fair in Yellowknife.

Schools wanting to participate in the fair have until Feb. 28 to express interest in entering projects this year.

Those schools must then hold school fairs to judge projects that will qualify for the territorial fair that begins on April 22.

Only 20 of the estimated 300 projects entered will qualify for the territorial fair.

Five of those entries will then have a chance to attend the national fair, which will be held in Sudbury, Ont., this year.

Sean Daly, a teacher at William McDonald school in Yellowknife, is helping to co-ordinate the fair for the territory.

He said the fair is open to students between Grades 4 and 9 and is an excellent opportunity to explore Canada's past.

"The most gratifying experience is kids connecting and realizing the world is a lot bigger," said Daly.

Students that qualify to come to Yellowknife, and then possibly to Sudbury, will not have to incur any costs.

Daly said all expenses are paid for through fundraising and money made available through histori.ca, the company that organizes the heritage fair nationally and is responsible for commercials like "Part of our Heritage."