• Introduce the curricular competency of ethical judgement by showing this 6-minute video by the Critical Thinking Consortium
• Have students respond to the following questions:
  • Before watching the video, were you aware that the Canadian government interned Ukrainians in Canada during the First World War?
  • Why do you think more Canadians are not aware of this historical event?
  • What might have been the government’s motivations for interning groups of people during a time of war?
  • What impact would this government action have on the people who were interned?
  • Was internment justified? Why or why not?
• Point out three criteria for making an ethical judgement about a historical event:
  • Interests and perspectives of all key groups are considered
  • Beliefs at the time are considered
  • Adequate relevant evidence is consulted

• Have students work in small groups to brainstorm other examples of discriminatory policies toward ethnic minorities and First Nations in Canada.
• Have students discuss the question: Do discriminatory policies continue to exist in Canada today?

• Have students work in small groups to choose a historical injustice in Canada that interests them. For example:
• Head Tax on Chinese immigrants
  • Chinese Head Tax in Canada
• Komagata Maru incident
  • Komagata Maru
• internment of Japanese-Canadians during World War 2
  • Japanese Canadian Internment: Prisoners in their own Country
• residential schools
  • Residential Schools in Canada
• potlatch ban
  • Potlatch 
  • The Potlatch Ban 

• women’s suffrage

Women’s Suffrage in Canada

• Students should work with their groups to research this historical injustice using multiple sources.
• Provide students with a copy of the chart “Inquiry into a Discriminatory Policy in Canadian History” and access to text and digital resources related to their topics (see additional references). Students should record their findings in the inquiry chart.
• Provide students with a copy of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and a copy of the handout “Thinking About the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms”. Have students work in their groups to consider what sections of the Charter relate to their chosen historical injustice and determine whether this injustice could happen today.
• Groups should organize their key findings on poster paper or chart paper and then participate in a gallery walk to view the findings of other groups.

Journal:

• What reasons did the Canadian government have for creating discriminatory policies in the past?
• Were these reasons ever justified? Give specific examples to support your point of view.
• How effective is the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in preventing discriminatory policies today? Give examples to support your point of view.

Debate Topic: Is the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms effective in preventing discrimination?

Inner Circle-Outer Circle Debate

• Arrange students into two groups of equal size who take opposing sides in the debate. Each group has an opportunity to listen to the other group discuss an issue and formulate conclusions, as well as discuss and formulate its own conclusions.
• The students in Group 1 sit in a circle of chairs facing out, away from the center, while the students in Group 2 sit in a circle of chairs around Group 1, facing the center of the circle as well as the students in Group 1. Once the students are seated, the teacher reads aloud the issue to be discussed.
• The students in the inner circle have 10 to 15 minutes to discuss the topic. During that time, all other students focus their attention on the students in the inner circle. No one else is allowed to speak during the inner circle's discussion time.
• As the outer circle group observes the inner circle group and listens to the discussion, members of the outer circle group create a list of the arguments made by each member of the inner circle group. The outer circle students also prepare their own notes about these arguments.
• After 10 to 15 minutes, the groups switch roles and the process is repeated. After the second round, all students share their outer circle observations. The notes from both rounds may be used in a follow-up classroom discussion and/or as an editorial writing assignment for students to express their positions on the issue at hand.

Canada. [n.d.] “Ethical Dimensions.” The Historical Thinking Project.

https://historicalthinking.ca/ethical-dimensions

Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. [n.d.] “A Guide to Understanding the Human Rights Tribunal.” https://www.chrt-tcdp.gc.ca/documents/guide-eng.pdf

Chan, Arlene; McIntosh, Andrew. 2020. “Chinese Head Tax in Canada.” The Canadian Encyclopedia.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chinese-head-tax-in-canada

Francis, Daniel. 2015. “Banning the Potlatch in Canada.” The Canadian Encyclopedia.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/potlatch-to-give-feature

Hanson, Erin. 2009. “The Residential School System.” University of British Columbia. First Nations & Indigenous Studies. https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/the_residential_school_system/

Johnston, Hugh. 2016. “Komagata Maru.” The Canadian Encyclopedia.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/komagata-maru

McRae, Matthew. [n.d.] “The Story of the Komagata Maru.” Canadian Museum for Human Rights. https://humanrights.ca/story/the-story-of-the-komagata-maru

Miller, J.R., Marshall, Tabitha and Gallant, David. 2020. “Residential Schools in Canada.” The Canadian Encyclopedia.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/residential-schools

Palmer, Howard, Driedger, Leo and Skikavich, Julia. 2015. “Prejudice and Discrimination in Canada.” The Canadian Encyclopedia.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/prejudice-and-discrimination

Robinson, Greg; McIntosh, Andrew. 2020. “Internment of Japanese Canadians.” The Canadian Encyclopedia.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/internment-of-japanese-canadians

Strong-Boag, Veronica. 2016. “Women’s Suffrage in Canada.” The Canadian Encyclopedia.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/suffrage

“Timeline: Immigration.” [n.d.] The Canadian Encyclopedia.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/timeline/immigration

First Nations Education Steering Committee. [n.d.] “Learning First Peoples Classroom Resources.”

http://www.fnesc.ca/learningfirstpeoples/