The Future of Canada

Suggested Activities

As a possible culminating challenge, students examine varying perspectives and tensions surrounding Canadian national identity as they attempt to reach consensus on a vision of national identity and prepare a recommendation on the desirability of embracing a national identity.

A. Draft a set of defining principles of national identity that is acceptable to everyone in your group.

Introduce simulated royal commission
Present a brief overview of the nature and purpose of a royal commission(see References). Announce to students that a royal commission has been established to explore the desirability of defining Canadian national identity and implementing that vision. The ultimate goal is to determine if there is consensus in Canada regarding this national identity and, if so, what might this identity be if placed on a continuum from a Common, Shared, Unified Vision to a Multi-dimensional, Diverse Vision. Briefly discuss the advantages and disadvantages of unified and diverse visions of national identities.

Assign roles in the royal commission
Explain that all students are responsible for participating in the royal commission proceedings either as lawyers or as witnesses—experts and advisors.

• Lawyers are responsible for interviewing the experts and organizing the evidence into arguments—two students will argue for a unified vision and two will argue for a diverse vision.
• Experts and advisors provide insights and information to the royal commission in these roles:
  
  
  • leader of an Aboriginal community
  • Canadian international business leader
  • Francophone living outside of Québec
  • Francophone living in Québec
  • Acadian
  • Maritimer
  • Westerner
  • African Canadian
    
  • recent immigrant
  • Ontarian
  • rural mayor/reeve
  • urban mayor/councillor
  • Council of Canadians member
  • representative from the Dominion Institute
  • representative from the Parkland Institute
  • contemporary religious leader (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, other)
  • members of various visible/invisible minority groups
  • feminist
  • person with a disability
  • Canadian living abroad or having travelled extensively.

To meet diverse learning needs, consider limiting the number of potential roles.

Prepare for the role
In preparation for the royal commission, students who are assuming the roles of expert or advisor will organize and present evidence about the nature and implications of a vision of national identity from an assigned perspective.

If students have completed the challenge Multiple Perspectives on National Identity (Critical Challenge) in this Overarching Critical Inquiry, the assigned expert or advisor role could be the one they had developed previously.

Arrange for students to research and prepare a profile on their role before participating in the commission. The pairs of lawyers will conduct general research and prepare questions that they will ask of various experts and advisors who testify at the proceedings. You may want to assign one-quarter of the witnesses to each of the four lawyers and ask them to prepare to be interviewed in their allotted roles.

Determining criteria for consideration
In deciding on the vision of Canadian identity the assigned roles might embrace, ask students to consider criteria such as the following:

• serve political and economic interests
• protect fundamental rights
• promote personal and cultural values and ideals
• serve the common good.

Encourage students to look for information about their assigned roles to help them decide what their perspectives would be and to develop arguments supported with evidence to defend this perspectives.

To structure the gathering of relevant information, you may wish to adapt the Character Profile chart found in Collecting Information (Support Material).

Conduct the royal commission proceedings
During the royal commission proceedings, encourage students to express their opinions  in a respectful manner, to listen to other opinions, to defend their opinions and to revise their opinions.

Ask students to take notes during proceedings when the lawyers present their cases and the experts and advisors give testimony. Students should focus on key points related to the desirability of embracing a national identity.

Announce that you (or a parent, other teacher or the school principal) will be the head of the royal commission and will chair the proceedings. When students are ready, conduct the royal commission proceedings.

At the end of the proceedings, ask students to rate the two opposing visions—unified or diversified—on how well each team met the criteria for the perspective of their assigned role.

To structure the gathering of information, you may want to adapt the Rating Conditions chart found in Rating Options (Support Material). The chart might be adapted as follows:

Seek consensus on a final recommendation
After all the witnesses have testified and the lawyers have presented their closing remarks, invite students to attempt to reach consensus on a vision of national identity that the royal commission could recommend that would satisfy the diversity of people represented at the commission's proceedings. Invite students to form small groups and, in role, try to agree on a set of five to ten principles or statements that would define a national identity; e.g., all cultural beliefs must be respected equally, or cultural beliefs must respect the rights of others, or cultural beliefs must be respected except in unusual cases. Explain that each group should make its statements more or less specific or decisive so that every group member could accept the statement.

Invite each group to share its set of principles with other groups, and look to identify which of these, if any, have the support of all groups.

For more detailed instruction and strategies on teaching students how to reach consensus, see Reaching Group Consensus (Modelling the Tools).

B.  Should individuals and groups in Canada embrace a national identity?

Submit a recommendation
Ask each student to write the final recommendation in the royal commission's report addressing the following question:

• To what extent should individuals and groups in Canada embrace a national identity? (20-1)
• Should individuals and groups in Canada embrace a national identity? (20-2)

Explain that students are to write the recommendation from the point of view of someone who is trying to understand and accommodate the views heard throughout the proceedings. Review the factors they might want to consider in making their recommendation:

• serve the political and economic interests of Canada
• protect fundamental rights of everyone in Canada
• promote personal and cultural values and ideals to the greatest extent possible
• serve the common good.

To structure and assess this task, you may want to adapt one of the charts and rubric in Justifying My Choice (Support Material).

Share recommendations
To extend the learning, you may wish to have students share the final report with another class, members of the community or in a public forum.