Grade by Grade
B. People and Environments: The Role of Government and Responsible Citizenship · Government and Citizenship

Governments Taking Action: Is It Working?

B3.7 B1.1 B2.4 B2.5About 45 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can describe key actions governments, including Indigenous governments, have taken to solve significant issues.
  • I can use criteria to assess how effective a government action is.
  • I can use data and evidence to support my judgement.
  • I can suggest how an action could be improved.

Words to know

issue
A problem or question that people care about and may disagree on.
social issue
An issue about how people live together, like poverty, housing or health.
environmental issue
An issue about the natural world, like pollution, waste or protecting land and water.
effective
Working well; doing what it was meant to do.
criteria
The questions or standards you use to judge something.
evidence
Facts or data that support an idea.

Did it work?

Suppose your town puts a new crosswalk outside your school. A month later, are kids safer? How would you know?

Governments take actions to solve issues. Citizens have a right, and a responsibility, to ask: Is it working? In this lesson you will look at real actions by different governments, and learn to assess them like a social scientist.

A freshly painted striped crosswalk on the street in front of a brick school building.
A new crosswalk is an action a town might take to keep students safe. To know whether it works, you would need evidence, such as counting near-misses before and after. AI-generated image

Real actions by different governments

Federal: helping families with children. Child poverty is a social issue. In 2016, the federal government created the Canada Child Benefit: a monthly, tax-free payment to eligible families with children under 18. Families with lower incomes get more.

Provincial: safe drinking water. In 2000, the town water in Walkerton, Ontario, became contaminated with harmful E. coli bacteria. At least seven people died and thousands became sick. Ontario held a public inquiry to find out what went wrong. Then it passed new laws, including the Safe Drinking Water Act (2002), with stricter testing and training, and the Clean Water Act (2006), to protect lakes, rivers and groundwater that supply drinking water.

Municipal: reducing garbage. Many Ontario municipalities have green bin programs. Food scraps are collected and turned into compost instead of filling up landfills.

Indigenous government: protecting land. The Łutsël K'é Dene First Nation in the Northwest Territories worked for many years to protect Thaidene Nëné ("Land of the Ancestors"), a huge area of lakes, forests and tundra around the East Arm of Great Slave Lake. In 2019, it was protected through agreements between the First Nation, Parks Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories. Dene guardians from the community help watch over and care for the land.

2000unsafe waterin Walkertonthenpublic inquiryfinds what went wrong2002Safe DrinkingWater Act2006Clean WaterAct
Ontario's response to Walkerton, step by step: a public inquiry, then two new laws to make drinking water safer.
Criteria questionWhat to look for
1. Did it help solve the problem?Evidence: numbers before and after, reports, people's experiences
2. Who was helped? Was anyone left out?Fairness: did it reach the people who needed it most?
3. Was it worth the cost?Money spent compared with the results
4. Were there side effects?Unexpected problems (or unexpected benefits)
5. Did affected people have a say?Consultation, including with Indigenous communities when their rights are affected
6. Will it last?Is it a long-term fix or a quick patch?
Criteria for assessing how effective a government action is.

Judge the action, not the people

When you assess a government action, focus on evidence and results, not on whether you like a party or a politician. Say what worked, what didn't, and what could be improved. Two fair-minded people can look at the same evidence and still weigh it differently.

Worked example

Let's assess a green bin program with data

The pretend town of Maple Creek started a green bin program. Here is its data:

  • Garbage sent to the landfill before the program: 12 000 tonnes a year
  • Garbage sent to the landfill after the program: 9 000 tonnes a year
  • Households using green bins: 7 out of 10
  • Problems reported: raccoons opening bins; some apartment buildings don't have green bins yet
  1. Criterion 1, did it help? 12 000 − 9 000 = 3 000 tonnes less garbage. 3 000 is one quarter of 12 000, so that's a 25% drop. Yes, it helped.
  2. Criterion 2, who was left out? Apartment buildings without green bins. Their residents can't take part yet.
  3. Criterion 4, side effects? Raccoons getting into bins.
  4. Overall judgement: The program is mostly effective, but not complete.
  5. Improvements: give green bins to apartment buildings, and offer raccoon-resistant bins or locks; encourage the other 3 in 10 households to join.

Mostly effective: landfill garbage fell by 25%, but it could improve by including apartments and fixing the raccoon problem.

03 0006 0009 00012 00012 000 t9 000 tbeforeafter−3 000 t(25%)Garbage to landfill (tonnes a year)Households using green bins7 out of 10
Maple Creek's pretend green bin data: landfill garbage fell from 12 000 to 9 000 tonnes (a 25% drop), and 7 out of 10 households take part.
Worked example

Let's assess the response to Walkerton

Use the criteria to think about Ontario's response to the Walkerton tragedy.

  1. What was the problem? Unsafe drinking water, and weak testing and training.
  2. What did the government do? Held a public inquiry, then passed new laws for testing, training and protecting water sources.
  3. Did affected people have a say? The inquiry held public hearings where people could share what happened.
  4. Will it last? These are laws, so the rules continue for all of Ontario's municipal water systems.
  5. What we would still want to know: evidence from water test results over many years, to check that the rules keep working.

The response took the problem seriously and made long-lasting rules. To judge fully, we would look at test results over time.

Just for fun

Why did the raccoon love the green bin program?

It thought the town had opened a free buffet! (That's why some towns hand out raccoon-resistant bins.)

Hands-on activity

Rate a local action

With a grown-up, find a recent action by one of your governments: a new bike lane, a tree-planting program, a new park, a library program, or something your First Nation or Métis council has done. Look on a government website or in local news.

  1. Write: What issue was it meant to solve? Which government did it?
  2. Copy the six criteria questions. Give the action 1 to 3 stars for each, and write one piece of evidence for each rating (or I need more information).
  3. Write a final judgement: very effective, mostly effective, somewhat effective, or not effective, with your reason.
  4. Write one improvement.

What to look for: ratings are backed by evidence, not just feelings.

Your turn

1

What does effective mean?

2

What social issue was the Canada Child Benefit meant to address?

3

What happened in Walkerton, Ontario, in 2000?

4

Name one law Ontario passed after Walkerton.

5

Which First Nation worked to protect Thaidene Nëné?

6

Name three criteria for judging a government action.

More practice: warm-up

1

What happens to food scraps in a green bin?

2

Which level of government runs green bin programs?

3

Which level created the Canada Child Benefit?

4

What is evidence?

5

In what year was Thaidene Nëné protected?

More practice: on your own

1

Garbage in a town fell from 20 000 tonnes to 15 000 tonnes after a program began. How much less is that, and what fraction of the original?

2

Why is it important to ask "Was anyone left out?"

3

Why do Dene guardians help make Thaidene Nëné's protection effective?

4

Why did Ontario hold a public inquiry before writing new water laws?

5

Give one possible side effect of a new bike lane, and one way to deal with it.

Challenge

1

Two students assess the same program. One says "very effective" and the other says "somewhat effective". How can both be fair?

2

Why might an Indigenous government's action to protect land also help people outside the community?

3

Suggest one piece of evidence you would want to judge whether the Canada Child Benefit is effective at reducing child poverty.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

Which level of government created the Canada Child Benefit?

2.

After the Walkerton tragedy, Ontario passed the...

3.

Which is the best evidence that a green bin program worked?

4.

Which question checks fairness?

5.

Thaidene Nëné was protected through work by...

6.

A town's garbage fell from 8 000 to 6 000 tonnes. By what fraction did it drop?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Governments at every level, including Indigenous governments, take action on significant social and environmental issues. Students learn to assess those actions with clear criteria and evidence, not just opinions.

How to help at home:

  • Do the "Rate a local action" activity together and help find a reliable source (government websites, local news).
  • Practise the language of judgement with evidence: "I think it is mostly effective because..."
  • Keep conversations non-partisan: assess actions and results, not parties or personalities.

Common difficulties:

  • Judging by feelings ("I like it, so it works"). Ask: "What's your evidence?"
  • Seeing only success or failure. Encourage "mostly effective, but..." answers.
  • Fractions and percentages in the data. Grade 5 students can work with simple fractions like one quarter; help with subtraction first, then compare.

Note: The Walkerton story involves deaths from contaminated water. Share it calmly and focus on how the province acted to keep water safe.