The State of Pre-Confederation Canada POWERPOINT PRESENTATION

Alone or in a maximum of a group of 3, students will create a PowerPoint presentation on the state of British North America (BNA) and those who lived within its borders around 1850.

Steps

1. Participate fully in the preliminary work and listen to the videos and Mr. Arthur when he explains the broad state of BNA. Take notes on the key points.

2. Research the following questions using history textbooks and relevant Internet sites. Some sites to use are listed on the class website.

3. Include maps and pictures in your PowerPoint to help explain your points.

4. Create a PowerPoint that has a logical order.

5. SPLIT UP THE QUESTIONS SO THAT EACH PERSON IS IN CHARGE OF PARTICULAR QUESTIONS. You should have other group members check your work and add to what you have done but each person is responsible for particular questions and presenting the answers to those questions. [Group the questions 1-3 and 4-6 for a group of two or 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6 for a group of three – If you are working on your own then do either questions 1-3 or 4-6).

Questions:

Big Question: What was the area of modern day Canada like around 1850-1890?
1. What were the settlements in BNA like at this time? What did the territory look like before Confederation (the creation of Canada) and just after Confederation (1867)

2. What prominent ethnic groups were there in BNA at this time? [include a map or graph]

3. What do we know about them? What did they do? What was their daily life like? Where did they live?

4. What challenges were the groups living in British North America facing at this time?

5. Was there a hierarchy amongst groups at this time (i.e. were some groups more powerful than others)? Explain.

6. What did the groups with less power do to improve their situation around 1850-1890?

How to answer the questions

For each question you need to answer it clearly and provide an example or case study that explains your point.

Example:

POINT: Extreme racism was normal in Canada at this time and many non-white groups were discriminated against.

EXAMPLE and MORE DETAIL: Most slaves in Canada were aboriginals; there were few African slaves in Canada because they were too expensive for the Canadian settlers to purchase and their labour was not really needed for farming or fur trading. More often, slaves were used as domestic servants by the wealthy to show off their status. Black slaves were known as “ebony wood” if sold in good condition and were advertised in newspapers. The last recorded slave sale in Quebec was in 1797 and Britain abolished slavery in most of its empire in 1833.

However, black Canadians faced significant discrimination in the 1850s. They lived in fear of American kidnappers who would try to take them back to the United States so they could be enslaved. They faced discrimination in housing, employment and access to public services (up to the mid 1900s). They were also subjected to physical violence by whites.

** One should go on and explain the situation of another discriminated group: Jewish people, Asian people, Women, Aboriginals, etc.

Checklist for Success (i.e. 4+)

  • The presentation has a clear and effective organized structure (i.e. state what you are going to present and then present and then conclude; order the items presented in a logical structure; include examples following your points to explain the point you make). [oral]
  • The presentation is clearly well-prepared. Students practiced beforehand and make few errors in presentation. [oral]
  • The slides are effective (i.e. good use of graphics and key words – they do not contain large amounts of text which the student reads). [media]
  • Student researched and presented a sufficient amount of detail for the presentation [a sufficient answer would be two to three times the length of the example response above – I gave an example of one discriminated group. Students should give two or three].
  • Sources used in the presentation are listed at the end of the presentation in the proper format (see APA style).

Websites:

Life in Canada around Confederation (1867)

Groups that are often left out of Canadian Confederation history

Native people:

Women:

Immigrants:

Working Class: