(BC Social Studies Grade 5) Canadian Issues and Governance

A new British Columbia social studies series designed and developed to provide a student-centred, user-friendly, flexible and engaging set of resources to fully support teachers and students.

Canadian Issues and Governance

Topics

O Canada, or O Canadas?

• Explores if there is a “Canadian identity” and what could influence it.
• Subjects include stereotypes, diversity, the influence of geography on identity, changes to identity over time, and the influence of the media and technology.

Our Home and Native Land?

• Explores the influence of geography on the lives of Canadians and the connections between First Peoples and the land.
• Subjects include diversity of climate and geography across Canada, natural resources, protecting water, the history of treaties, and stewardship of the land. 

True Patriot Love?

• Explores the legacies of Canada’s treatment of diverse peoples over time.
• Subjects include residential schools, the Indian Act, internment of Ukrainian and Japanese Canadians, the history of voting rights, Chinese immigration, the 1907 Vancouver riot, and the Komagata Maru incident.

From Far and Wide?

• Explores immigration in Canada.
• Subjects include push and pull factors, Canadian immigration policy (including how it has changed over time), the policy of multiculturalism, and how immigration affected First Peoples.

Glorious and Free?

• Explores Canada’s governments and the electoral system.
• Subjects include democratic rights, how Canadians choose their governments, different types of representation, how different levels of government affect Canadians, how the government gets and spends money, how laws are made, First Peoples’ governments, and the organization of the federal government. 

Does Canada Stand on Guard for Thee?

• Explores human rights (in Canada and around the world).
• Subjects include the formation of the United Nations, what human rights are, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention of the Rights of the Child, discrimination and equality, the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the rights of First Peoples in Canada, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and how the courts uphold rights.