U4L3 Canadian Unity

Introduction

Key Issue
To what extent should Canadian national unity be promoted?

The Canadian government must often face the challenging demand of meeting the various needs of all of the country's citizens.  Even when citizens share similar goals, they may not agree on the most effective way of achieving them.  

The lesson will explore the extent to which national unity should be promoted.  Consider the following questions while working through this lesson:

• What is national unity?
• How does the nature of Canada affect national unity?
• How has the changing face of Canada affected national unity?

Canadian National Unity

TERMS patriated equalization payments inherent right ecozone economic nationalists

Lesson

RESOURCES

Read and refer to Chapter 15 as your resource for completing this lesson's assignment.

Nunavik
Inuit

LESSON 

National unity refers to people's feelings of 'oneness' with others which often becomes connected with their sense of identity.  
Those who feel a common bond with others or who have a strong sense of belonging to a particular group or collective often feel as if they are part of a unified whole or nation.  For many Canadians, this sense of national identity and unity means sharing basic beliefs and values such as respect for diversity.
Maintaining unity in any group can be a challenge.  In any organization, large or small, conflicting forces create divisions between people.  People within these groups may have different interests and goals or conflicting personalities and ways of doing things.  As people mature and explore new opportunities, old loyalties may be strained and ways must be found to maintain them.  Nations and countries experience similar challenges and these are magnified in a country as large and diverse as Canada.

 Watch the following videos to learn about the various factors that impact Canadian national unity.

Canada's Geographic Challenge:  

Western Alienation

Problems with  Equalization

Aboriginal Land Claims

Canadian Multiculturalism

In the latter part of the 20th century, the federal government changed Canada's 
immigration policies and began to welcome immigrants from many different parts of the world.  This changed the character of the country and in 1971, Canada became the first country to adopt multiculturalism as official government policy.  This policy, which was affirmed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and enhanced in the Canadian Multiculturalism Act of 1988, is reflected in the country's pluralistic society.  

Official Bilingualism
The Official Languages Act was passed by the Liberal government in 1969.  Its goals were to 

• affirm the equal status of English and French
• preserve and develop official language communities in Canada
• guarantee the federal services are available in both official languages
• ensure that Anglophones and Francophones have equal opportunities to participate in Parliament and other federal institutions. 

Assignment

Open the following Issues That Affect Canadian National Unity assignment.
Label this assignment SS20U4L3.surname and submit this assignment using the Assignment Folder for U4L3 National Unity.

This is an online assignment to be automatically graded when completed.  In addition to your notes and text reading, use the  links located within the RESOURCES section of this lesson to help you complete the following open book 'quiz' assignment (this does NOT count toward your final grade). 

SS 20-2 Unit 4 Lesson 3 Quiz  

Evaluation and Conclusion

Evaluation

Content

• demonstration of understanding - 20
• paragraph answers, supported with evidence - 20

Total - 40

Conclusion

Some feel that the changing face of Canadian unity is positive; that giving increased power and self-government will help maintain Canada as a single unit, while others feel that these developments are weakening our country. Groups such as the Inuit, First Nations and Quebecois wish to remain part of Canada, but have greater autonomy over their own affairs.