Inquiry into the Issue

Inquiry into the Issue

As a citizen of Canada, you have many opportunities, including a good education, a healthy lifestyle, and the chance to be involved in political decision-making. These are a few of your individual rights as a Canadian. Citizens in many nations, such as the United States, Britain, and Australia, have similar opportunities.

Canada extends the protection of rights to certain collectives or special groups. This protection of rights, called collective rights, is guaranteed in the Canadian constitution. No other country has this type of legislation to protect the collective rights of a specific group. Not every collective, however, enjoys this type of protection.

collective: a group that shares or is motivated by a common interest

collective right: a group right as opposed to an individual right

Collective rights are guaranteed to Aboriginal peoples, Francophones, and Anglophones based on historical and constitutional reasons.

Although there are many Canadian collectives, Canada has recognized the importance of three collectives through their protection in Canadian law. The special groups that have guaranteed collective rights are the founding peoples of Canada: Aboriginal peoples, Francophones, and Anglophones. The federal government has established collective rights to assist in protecting the collective identity of each group.

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 Vocabulary

Retrieve your Issues for Canadians Definitions handout from your Activities folder, and record your definitions of collective and collective rights.

Review a definition for collective identity from earlier in the course. What new insights do you now have for collective identity and collective rights? What can you add to your definitions? As you complete your activities and assignments, be sure to include the new vocabulary that you are learning.

Save your updated handout to your Activities folder.

In this section, you will investigate this question:

How are collective rights of all Canadians protected?

Inquiry Activity

One collective to which every Canadian belongs is the country. What makes Canada unique?

You might say that Canada is unique because of its diversity and multiculturalism, because it has a Charter of Rights and Freedoms that protects individual and collective rights, or maybe because Canada is geographically the second largest country in the world.

What can you think of that would be part of the Canadian collective identity that makes Canada unique?

Click on the following links to find information about Canadian people, symbols (icons), events, and places.

https://thecanadaguide.com/symbols/emblems/

https://thecanadaguide.com/symbols/famous-canadians/

https://thecanadaguide.com/symbols/holidays/

http://www.canadaka.net/content/page/135-canadian-icons


Complete the I Am Canadian activity by clicking on one of the links below.

I Am Canadian (Word)
I Am Canadian (pdf)
I Am Canadian (Google Doc)

Save your completed activity to your Activities folder.

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