Lesson Title: Introduction To The Charter Of Rights And Freedoms

Lesson Title: Introduction to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Teacher: Colin Ward
Date: November 2008
Class: Covenant Christian School
Total Duration: 3 day
ACTIVITY 1:

Duration: 25 minutes
Material: Whiteboard and Markers,

Launch a discussion about the Charter by having students “turn and talk” to an elbow partner about the following question:

· "What are the criteria you use to decide whether a decision concerning a group of people is made fairly or not?

Call students back together and ask them to share their answers for the group.

Write the words “OUR RIGHTS” on the board. Create a web by having students respond to the question. What do we know about our rights? Have students brainstorm examples of rights and freedoms that they know they have. (Speech, religion, assembly) When they are done filling in the web, ask them to narrow the list down to the most important right that we have. They must describe why it is the most important.

ACTIVITY 2:

Duration: 30-45 minutes
Suggested directives:

Invite the students to discover the government's response to injustice by visiting the Canadian Human Rights Commission web site (http://www.chrc-ccdp.ca).

The purpose of this investigation is to have students explore the site. The site will become a powerful research tool once the students have become accustomed to it.

Tell the students they are about to go on a "scavenger hunt". Distribute Handout 1. Tell the students to scour the site to find the answers.

Assist the students. Students may work individually or in teams if resources are limited.

ACTIVITY 3

Discuss the historical creation of the Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0001270

The Charter is the centre piece of the Canadian Constitution of 1982. It was forged in the heat of a political environment that wanted to bring Canada into sovereignty, out from underneath British Commonwealth rule.

At the time, Canada was experiencing many difficult issues. Quebec wanted separation from Canada. Oil and Natural Resources were difficult. Unemployment in the east, Wealth in the west. It was a time when question about fairness where everywhere.

Ask the students to address the issue of fairness by answering the following question. Have you ever seen an injustice done to an individual or a group in society? And “how would they propose ending an injustice and promoting fairness for all if you where the prime minister?"

Explain that the Canadian government has asked itself the same question throughout history. Use the example of Louis Riel and the Red River Up-rising and the historical problems that still exist today between different perspectives.

Describe to the students that there was a time in Canada’s history that produced great concern for the Rights and Freedoms of all Canadians. Read to them the story of the October Crisis and

http://archives.cbc.ca/politics/civil_unrest/topics/101/

Day 2 Activity 1: Investigation

Activity 3: Analysis

Duration: 45-60 minutes
Suggested directives:

Whereas Activity 2 served to have the students familiarise themselves with the web site, Activity 3 invites them to put order to what they have learned.

Ask the class how they can compare building a brick house to building human rights. The answer: Just as human rights are built one milestone at a time, so are brick houses built layer by layer, from foundation to rooftop.

Distribute Handout 2 and have the students answer the questions individually or in teams of two. The purpose, again, to stratify the information they have gathered in activity 2 into knowledge.

Assist the students.

Handout 3 may be corrected in class, or handed in.

Teacher Tip: Pick up the handouts and then redistribute them for immediate correction by the students themselves. Students are more likely to learn from their mistakes when they're pointed out soon after being committed.

Activity 4: Synthesis

Duration: 60-75 minutes
Suggested directives:

The purpose of this activity is to have students construct their respective subject positions on the foundation of knowledge established in activities 1-3. So far, they have learned facts and then added order to them. Now, they must interpret the impact of their findings.

Ask the students: "Ok, so you know that human rights have evolved in 20 th century Canada. So what? What does it all mean? What impact does all this have on your life? On Canada?" Students will most likely not know how to answer these questions at first. Comfort them by saying that these are complicated questions with many possible answers.

Distribute Handout 3 and go over the elements of a proper paragraph (topic sentence, clearly divided & properly supported points, concluding sentence)

Assist the students.

Handout 3 should most likely be handed in for correction.

Teacher Tip: Depending on the level of the students, you may wish to use the answer key as a model for those who find the assignment too challenging.

Activity 5: Personal Integration

Duration: Dependant on class size
Suggested directives:

So far the study of human rights has been mostly cerebral. Now it is time to get your students moving and feeling. This activity consists of having the students assume an Other's subject position, to become Nellie McClung (see milestone 13). In so doing, the students will learn that people, not facts, make history.

Launch the activity by visiting the sensational Canadian Heritage Project site where students may see "history come to life" by viewing some of the celebrated "heritage minute" vignettes--including one about Nellie McClung.

Ask the students what they like about the vignettes and invite them to incorporate these elements (costume, props, special effects, and effective acting) into their own presentations.

Distribute Handout 4. Go over the requirements with the students (see Handout 4).

Give the students time in class and at least one week to prepare.

Use "Handout 4: Evaluation Grid" to evaluate the presentations.

Teacher Tip: Allow video presentations as they often inspire creativity.

Enrichment Activities (see other lesson plans for more ideas)

Handout 5 is an optional final quiz that evaluates the students' retention of the knowledge they have acquired in activities 1 through 5.

Develop a "Classroom Charter of Rights & Freedoms" where students achieve a consensus about which freedoms and rights they should have. Post the charter in the classroom.

Have students re-enact Nellie McClung's mock parliamentary debate about allowing men the right to vote.

Draw a mural timeline illustrating the development of human rights.

Handout 1: Scavenger Crossword Puzzle

Name: / ______
Date: / ______
Mark: / /10

Scavenge the Canadian Human Rights Commission web site at www.chrc-ccdp.ca to find the answers to
the clues below.

Across

1 In 1993, Richard Sauvé, a ______, is granted the right to vote (8)
4 The average number of people per household in the year 1900 (4)
5 Banned from public schools in 1988 (6)
7 In 1960, aboriginal peoples are given the right to _____ (4)
8 In 1986, everyone including the mentally challenged cannot be sterilised for non-medical reasons without giving their _____ (7)

Down

1 Even though you are entitled to a "reasonable expectation of ______," a principal may still search your locker with good cause. (7)
2 In 1960, the government passes the Canadian Bill of ______(6)
3 Man who helped write the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1947 (8)
4 The Charter of Rights and ______was signed in 1982 (8)
6 The number of provinces in the year 1900 (5)

Corrected by: ______

Handout 1: Answer Key

Name: / ______
Date: / ______

Scavenge the Canadian Human Rights Commission web site at http://www.justice.canada.gc.ca to find the answers to
the clues below.

Across:

1 Prisoner, 4 Five, 5 Prayer, 7 Vote, 8 Consent.

Down:

1 Privacy, 2 Rights, 3 Humphrey, 4 Freedoms, 6 Seven.

Handout 2: Making Sense of it All

Name: / ______
Date: / ______
Mark: / /10

Now that you have had a chance to look over the Canadian Human Rights Commission web site, it's time to make
sense of everything you have learned. Answer the questions below by referring to the Internet
whenever necessary.

1) Identify the year in which the following occurred (see human rights timeline in the library) [ /5 marks]
(a) _____ Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms
(b) _____ 1st human rights code
(c) _____ Women become "persons" (Person's Act)
(d) _____ Blind Person's Rights Act passes in Ontario
(e) _____ Women first get the vote
(f) _____ No discrimination allowed in selling land
(g) _____ Aboriginal peoples get the vote
(h) 1900 No laws against discrimination
(i) _____ Asian-Canadians get the vote
(j) _____ Sexual orientation protected

Now, put the letters in chronological order in the timeline below:

HUMAN RIGHTS TIMELINE
H

2) Observe the colour of "Human Rights Milestones" from 1900 to 2000. Do you notice a trend? Describe the pattern you observe and write down what this seems to indicate about human rights in 20th century Canada.
[ /2 marks]