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Web Links
CHAPTER 4: THE ROARING LIFE IN CANADA
INTERNET FOCUS QUESTIONS:
Communities: Local, National,
and Global
- How does artistic expression reflect the identity of Canadians and
Native peoples?
Change and Community
- What impact has social and demographic change had on Aboriginal communities?
- How and why have recent innovations in telecommunications changed
the lives of Aboriginal communities?
Citizenship and Heritage
- How have individual Canadians contributed to the development of Canada
and an emerging sense of Canadian identity?
- How have Aboriginal peoples' national organizations helped them gain
recognition and rights?
ACTIVITIES
CHANGING SOCIAL ATTITUDES
| 10.
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In the early decades of the century,
Native peoples in Canada tried unsuccessfully to form grassroots
organizations to resist the government's policy of assimilation.
Compare today's native organizations with those of the past. Why
have current organizations been more successful in achieving their
goal of independence? |
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Many factors prevented the
Native peoples of the early 1900s from taking control of their own
lives. Today, having learned from their past experiences, the original
peoples of Canada are asserting their right to independence. |
| Using a graphic organizer, compare and contrast
the situation of Native peoples in the past with their situation
today. Download and print the following Blackline
Master 4-4: Native Organization Past and Present.
Start your research for this activity by reviewing the sections
in Canada: Our Century, Our Story that deal with the federal
government treaties, the policy of assimilation, and the marginalization
of the Native peoples during the early 1900s, as follows: Immigration
and Canada's Native Peoples (pages 17-18) and Residential Schools
and Native Resistance (pages 98-100). As you reread the sections,
take brief notes on the reasons why Canada's Native peoples were
unable to form workable grassroots organizations. Also review Historian
at Work: Using Graphic Organizers (page 81) to see how graphic organizers
can help you record and organize your research findings and your
conclusions for this activity.
Focus your research on the following questions: |
- Why was it difficult for Native peoples to form and maintain grassroots
organizations in the early 1900s?
- What government policies worked against Native peoples' organizing
to assert their independence?
- How did the policy of assimilation disrupt the lives of Native peoples
in Canada?
- What do the language and content of Treaties 10 (from 1907) and 11
(from 1921) tell you about the federal government's attitude towards
Native peoples at the time?
- Why do the Native peoples of Canada want their art and artifacts returned
to them from Canadian and international museums? How does their art
represent their cultural identity?
- How have Native peoples used modern communication technologies to
form communities and grassroots organizations?
Use the text and visuals at the following websites:
- To investigate primary historical documents: the
treaties made by the federal government with Native peoples during
the early 1900s
- To read the perspective of the Assembly of First Nations on treaties
of the past visit the :
Assembly of First Nations Web site. Select About AFN. Scroll
down this page and click on the link History of the AFN.
- To read the Nisga'a people's perspective on their status today and
in the past, and to understand their desire to have their art and artifacts
returned to them: We
are Nisga'a
- To read an Inuit perspective on the history of the new Canadian territory
of Nunavut: Tunngavik
Incorporated
- To view Inuit art and to see how it reveals the culture and identity
of Inuit people: Virtual
Museum of Inuit Art and Cape
Dorset Inuit Art and Inuit Cultural Perspectives
AN OUTPOURING OF CANADIAN CULTURE
| 11.
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How did the works of Emily Carr and
the Group of Seven contribute to a sense of Canadian identity? View
works by these artists at Canadian virtual art galleries and select
one work that exemplifies Canadian identity for you. In a brief
oral presentation, explain the rationale for your choice. |
As you have seen in the previous activity, the art of a nation can come
to mean a great deal to its people; it can even represent a nation's identity.
Before you begin this activity, work with others to brainstorm some elements
of Canadian identity. What does it mean to be a Canadian? How are Canadians
different from other people in the world? What symbols best represent
your concept of Canadian identity?
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Review, in Canada: Our
Century, Our Story, An Outpouring of Canadian Culture (pages 106-107)
and the Images feature Emily Carr: A Vision in the Wilderness (pages
108-109). Then, as you view paintings by Emily Carr and the Group
of Seven at Internet virtual art galleries, keep in mind your definition
of Canadian identity. You may wish to use a concept map to organize
your responses to the research questions for this activity. |
"Heina" by Emily Carr, ACC. #4284, National
Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.
As you prepare your oral presentation, keep a clear focus on your topic,
make sure that you explain any technical terms your audience may need
in order to understand the painting you are presenting, and provide a
clear connection between your selection and your definition of Canadian
identity.
Visit the following virtual art galleries on the Internet to view a number
of paintings by these Canadian artists:
Use the following questions to guide your viewing:
- What do you see in the painting?
- What is the subject of the painting?
- What colours, light and shadows, and symbols are used in the painting?
- What is the story of the painting?
- What beliefs or values are important to the painter as demonstrated
in the painting?
- What is your personal response to the painting?
- How has your experience influenced your choice of painting?
- What is the theme of this painting? What is the tone of this painting?
- How does art represent the culture of a people?
- How does your chosen painting reflect the time period and society
in which it was created?
- How does this painting represent the values that the Group of Seven
and Emily Carr held in common?
- In what way does this painting represent Canadian identity for you?
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