National Empowerment

Canada at the Turn of the 20th Century

Grade 7 Social Studies

UNIT #6: NATIONAL EMPOWERMENT

Table of Contents:
Specific Curriculum Outcomes

Section One: How Canada Became Internationally Independent

3-4

Section Two: Canadas Role in World War One

4-5

Section Three: How World War One Changed Canada and Her People

5-6

Final Project

Appendix A

8-10

Appendix B

11

Specific Curriculum Outcomes:

7.6.1 Examine how events in the early 20th century led Canada toward independence

Explain the different perspectives on what the peoples of Canada at that time felt about Canada, Britain
and the United States
Explain how events like the Boer War, the Alaskan Boundary Dispute and the Naval crisis affected the
relationships between Canada and Britain, and Canada and the United States

7.6.2. Explain Canadas participation in WWI

Explain what caused WW I and why Canada became involved

Explain how advances in technology changed how the war was fought
Demonstrate an understanding of Canadas role in WWI

7.6.3. Demonstrate an understanding of the impact of WWI on Canada and her people

Examine the human and social impact of WWI on Canadians

Examine the economic changes that resulted from Canadas participation in WWI
Analyze some of the political issues resulting from Canadas participation in WWI

Lesson Plan:

Goals:

Lesson Content:

Resources:

Assessment Strategies:

How Canada
Became
Internationally
Independent

Within the first section of

this unit, students will be
expected to learn about
Canadas changing
relationship with Britain
and the United States as
Canada increasing
becomes more
independent. This will be
demonstrated by
studying events such as
the Boer War and the
Alaskan Boundary
Dispute, and Canadas
role within these events
in relation to their
relationship with Britain
and the USA.

For the first day or two of

this section, students will
listen to material on the
background of the Boer
War and the Alaskan
Boundary Dispute. These
lectures will provide
information of what these
two events were, and will
recount Canadas role
within them. The Boer
War being deemed
Canadas first foreign
war and the Alaskan
Boundary Dispute showed
the beginning of the
changing relationship with
Britain.

For lecture materials,

there are a series of links
that relay information
about the background of
the Boer War and the
Canadian perspective of
the war.
http://www.warmuseum.
ca/education/onlineeducationalresources/dispatches/forqueen-and-countrycanadians-and-the-southafrican-war-1899-1902/

Within this category,

students will be using
the Storyboard That
website to display their
understanding of how
Canadians reacted to the
events leading into the
20th century. Through
telling the story of one
of these two events from
the perspective of a
Canadian, students will
need to demonstrate that
they understand how
Canadians see their
changing relationship in
the world as they engage
in changing international
relations.

(3-4 days)

After the two days of

lecturing, the students will
spend the next two days on
Storyboard That where
they will pick one of the
two events. The students
will be expected to create a
storyboard of either an
experience of the Boer
War as depicted by a
Canadian citizen or
soldier, or an opinion on

http://www.victoriapark.com/the-boer-warcanadas-first-foreignwar/
Information on the
Alaskan Boundary
Dispute and the different
participants can be found
here:
http://canadachannel.ca/
HCO/index.php/The_Ala
ska_Boundary_Dispute:_
AngloCanadian_Imperialism_a
nd_the_American_Influe

the Alaskan Boundary

Dispute from a Canadian
citizen.

Canadas Role in
World War One
(11 days)

The next section, being

the largest, will discuss
Canadas role in WWI.
This section will explain
what caused WWI and
why Canada became
involved initially.
Students will also discuss
how advances in
technology changed how
the war was fought.
Students will use this
unit to demonstrate an
understanding of
Canadas role in WWI
and how this solidified
their independence in
international relations.

This section will begin

with a one day video about
the causes of the war. This
will summarize the
assassination of Franz
Ferdinand, the multiple
declarations of war within
Europe and why Canada
joined the war.
The next day will be spent
discussing Canadian
recruitment efforts in land.
Students will look at
recruitment posters and
discuss the effect that
these posters have on
Canadians- considering the
opinions of those for the
war effort and those
against the effort.
The next four days will be

nce,_1898-1903
http://www.mysteriesofc
anada.com/bc/alaskaboundary-dispute/
And for the Storyboard
That
http://www.storyboardtha
t.com/
Video for day 1 parts one
and two:
https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=PoPwSSX73
VQhttps://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=oYXs5ms
7c64
List of example
recruitment posters
provided as Appendix A
at the end of the unit.
Students will need to
research sites that
provide information
about technology used in
war. A list of examples:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w
iki/Canadian_Expedition
ary_Force#Equipment
And vessels:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w

Students will be
assessed during this
section on their ability to
demonstrate knowledge
on the Canadian war
effort overseas and at
home. During the
section on recruitment
posters, students will
demonstrate that they
understand how many
different Canadians felt
about the war- either
positive or negative
perceptions.
The research project on
technology will provide
students the opportunity
to show that they
understand the role
technology plays in
changing war time.

spent on a research project.

Students will research one
piece of technology used
by the Canadians during
the war. They will discuss
what it is, how it works,
why Canadians chose it
and how it made a
difference in the war
effort.

How World War

One Changed
Canada and Her
People
(7-8 days)

The final aspect of this

unit will leave students
with a sense of how
WWI changed the
society, economy and
political system in
Canada as they came into
a new international
world. Students will
examine the social
impact of the war, then

The next week will be

spent on researching the
major battles Canadians
fought during the war. The
first day will be a lecture,
and the following four
days will have students
working on Tiki Toki to
create a timeline of these
battles.
The first two to three days
of this lesson will be spent
discussing major issues
that came up after WWI
was over. For Canadians,
they were faced with
societal, economic, and
political changes due to
the war effort. Students
will learn about the
changing role of women in
society and the workforce,

iki/Military_history_of_
Canada_during_World_
War_I#Royal_Canadian_
Navy

The final project will

give students the
opportunity to learn
about the progression of
Students will also need to battles overseas. They
research what the major
will also be able to see
battles are and provide
how important the
information about where Canadian effort was in
the battle was, who lead
the grand scheme of the
the battle and the
war.
outcome for their
timeline.
Tiki-Toki:
http://www.tiki-toki.com/

A few resources from the

Canadian Encyclopedia
can help with either
lectures or a resource for
students to further read:
http://www.thecanadiane
ncyclopedia.ca/en/article/
womens-suffrage/

The project for this

section of the unit will
demonstrate the
understanding that
students have for the
experiences of
Canadians after the war.
They will be able to
demonstrate an
http://www.thecanadiane understanding of one
ncyclopedia.ca/en/article/ perspective of the war
women-in-the-labourafter it had concluded.

look at the economic

changes that have
occurred because of the
war. Finally, the lesson
will be concluded with
an analysis of the
political issues resulting
from Canadas
participation in the war.
Students should finish
this unit with an
understanding that
Canada is entering a
period of great change
and advance as they enter
the 1920s and on.

the economic hardships of

bringing back veterans
into that workforce, and
the political aftermath of
the war.
These days will
concentrate primarily on
certain incidents, such as
the development of
womens rights, the
Winnipeg General Strike,
and the Conscription
Crisis. This will lead into
the five day activity that
will be creating a
newspaper heading after
the war.
The newspaper will need
to detail which province it
is coming out of and
explain how people were
reacting to either the
economic, social or
political changes in the
country. Students will
spend the week writing a
brief article for their front
page, create a headline and
draft it out on paper or on
the computer to be handed
in for assessment.

force/

They will be able to

choose an aspect that
http://www.thecanadiane interests them and dive
ncyclopedia.ca/en/article/ deeper into learning
working-class-history/
about perspective and
experience within this
http://www.thecanadiane particular aspect of postncyclopedia.ca/en/article/ war Canada.
winnipeg-general-strike/
http://ww1.canada.com/h
ome-front/quebecsconscription-crisisdivided-french-andenglish-canada
Although the students
will be drawing their
own newspapers, this
website provides a good
template for all the
information needed to
compile their newspaper:
http://www.makethefront
page.co.uk/
Provided as Appendix B
at the end of the unit plan
is a template for how the
students will draft their
newspapers.

Final Project
(5 days)

To show that students are

engaging with one
experience, story or
event that occurred
between 1899 and 1920.

Students will be creating

their own Heritage
Minute. Although not
actually being filmed, the
students will write the
script for a Heritage
Minute as seen on
television. This script can
depict the story of an
individual between the
years studied, a battle in
one of the wars, the debate
during the Alaskan
Boundary Dispute, etc.
Any subject that has been
discussed during this unit
can be chosen by the
students to write about.

Examples of Heritage
Minutes can be found at:
https://www.historicacan
ada.ca/content/heritageminutes/agnesmacphail?media_type=4
1&media_category
Idea for the project can
be found at:
https://www.historicacan
ada.ca/content/education/
write-your-own-worldwar-i-historica-minute

The final project will

show how students are
engaging critically and
creatively with the ideas
that they have learned
over the previous weeks.
Picking one aspect of
this unit will allow
students to pick
something they find
interest in and research
it more fully and tell the
story in their own terms
and ideas.

Appendix A: Recruitment posters

10

http://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/wp-content/mcme-uploads/2014/07/4-a-4-e-resources-propaganda-posters_e.pdf

11

Appendix B: Template for newspaper