A. Heritage and Identity · Communities in Canada, Past and Present

Communities Today: Different Ways of Life

A3.8 A2.3About 45 minutes

Learning goals

I can identify key differences among several communities in Canada today.
I can compare communities using categories such as size, language, work, environment and government.
I can make a thematic map to show information about communities.

Words to know

contemporary
Happening now, in the present.

urban
In a city.

rural
In the countryside or a small town.

remote community
A community far from big cities, sometimes with no road connecting it to the rest of the country.

francophone
French-speaking.

economy
The ways people in a place earn a living and make, buy and sell things.

legend
The part of a map that explains its symbols and colours.

Let's start with a question

What if you woke up tomorrow in a different community in Canada? Would you speak the same language at school? Would you get to school by bus, subway, car, snowmobile or on foot? Would your food come from a nearby farm or by plane?

Canada is huge, and its communities are very different. Let's compare four of them.

	Iqaluit, Nunavut	Toronto, Ontario	Hearst, Ontario	Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario
Kind of community	small capital city in the Arctic; remote	Canada's largest city; urban	small town in the northern forest; rural	a First Nation near Brantford
Size	about 7 400 people (2021)	about 2.8 million people (2021)	about 4 800 people (2021)	one of the largest First Nations in Canada by membership
Languages	Inuktitut and English, also French	English and many other languages; almost half of the people were born outside Canada	mostly French	English; Mohawk and Cayuga are taught in schools and immersion programs
Environment	tundra; long, cold winters; no road to the rest of Canada	the shore of Lake Ontario; mild for Canada	boreal forest; cold winters	farmland and forest along the Grand River
Work and economy	government, services, construction; hunting and fishing are important for food and culture	finance, technology, film, health care, tourism and much more	forestry and sawmills, services, a small university	businesses, farming, schools, health and community services
Getting food and goods	by plane, and by ship (sealift) in summer; food costs are high	stores and markets everywhere	stores; goods come by road and rail	stores; goods come by road
Government	territorial capital and city council	city council and mayor	town council and mayor	an elected council, and also the traditional Haudenosaunee Confederacy council

Comparing four communities in Canada today. Populations are rounded.

The bars are drawn to scale. Toronto's population is so large that Iqaluit's and Hearst's bars are thinner than a line!

Key differences

Size: Toronto has more than 300 times as many people as Iqaluit.
Language: in Hearst most people speak French; in Iqaluit, many speak Inuktitut; in Toronto, people speak hundreds of languages at home.
Environment and transportation: Iqaluit has no road connecting it to the rest of Canada, so food and goods come by plane or by ship in summer.
Economy: Hearst depends a lot on the forest; Toronto has many kinds of jobs; in Iqaluit, government is a big employer, and hunting and fishing provide country food (such as caribou, seal and Arctic char).
Government: Six Nations has an elected council and also its traditional Haudenosaunee Confederacy council of chiefs and clan mothers.

And some things in common

All four have schools, families, celebrations, people who volunteer, and people who care about their land and language. Each is part of Canada.

A small Arctic town of colourful houses on rocky hills beside a bay. — In a northern community like this, there may be no road to the rest of Canada. Food and goods arrive by plane, or by ship in summer. AI-generated image

Iqaluit has no road to the rest of Canada, so food and goods arrive by plane all year or by ship in summer. That is one reason food costs more there.

Worked example

Let's compare two communities

Compare Iqaluit and Toronto using two categories: getting food and language.

Choose the categories: food and language.
Iqaluit food: comes by plane or by sealift in summer, so it costs more; country food from hunting and fishing matters too.
Toronto food: stores and markets everywhere, with food from farms nearby and around the world.
Iqaluit language: many people speak Inuktitut as well as English.
Toronto language: English and hundreds of other languages.
Write a comparison sentence with a joining word: "While Iqaluit gets much of its food by plane and ship, Toronto has stores everywhere."

Iqaluit depends on planes and ships for food and many people speak Inuktitut; Toronto has stores everywhere and hundreds of languages.

Just for fun

Try asking a map app for driving directions from Toronto to Iqaluit. It will give up: there is no road! You would have to fly, or wait for summer and go by ship. ✈️

Worked example

Let's plan a thematic map

Plan a thematic map showing the main language spoken in the four communities.

Title: "Main languages in four Canadian communities".
Base map: a simple outline of Canada with the four places marked (Iqaluit in the far north; Hearst in northern Ontario; Toronto and Six Nations in southern Ontario).
Symbols: one symbol for each language, such as a triangle for French, a star for Inuktitut and a circle for English. Six Nations can show a circle plus a small square for Mohawk and Cayuga.
Legend: explain each symbol.
Check: a reader should be able to answer "Where is French the main language?" by looking at the map and legend alone.

A thematic map needs a title, a base map, symbols and a legend, and should answer a question at a glance.

Fair comparisons

Comparisons can slide into stereotypes ("everyone in the North...", "all city people..."). Use facts with numbers or examples, and words like many, most or some.

Hands-on activity

Make a thematic map of communities

You need: a printed or hand-drawn outline map of Canada (or of Ontario), coloured pencils, and a ruler.

Mark four communities: the four in this lesson, or swap one for your own community.
Choose one theme: main language, population size, or how food arrives.
Create a symbol or colour for each category, and draw a legend in a box.
Add a title and a north arrow.
Under the map, write two sentences comparing the communities, using your map as evidence.

Tip: for population, you could use circles of different sizes, such as a big circle for Toronto and a small circle for Iqaluit.

Your turn

Which of the four communities is Canada's largest city?

Why are food prices high in Iqaluit?

What language do most people in Hearst speak?

Which two governing councils exist at Six Nations of the Grand River?

What is country food? Give one example.

Name one thing all four communities have in common.

More practice: warm-up

What does urban mean?

What does rural mean?

Which community is the capital of Nunavut?

Which lake is Toronto on?

What part of a map explains its symbols?

More practice: on your own

About how many times more people live in Toronto than in Iqaluit? Show your thinking.

Why is the forest so important to Hearst's economy?

Write a fair comparison sentence about language in Toronto and Hearst.

Which theme would a map with circles of different sizes show best?

Rewrite this unfair sentence: "Everyone in the North lives in igloos."

Challenge

How does the environment affect daily life differently in Iqaluit and Toronto? Give two examples.

Why might a community like Six Nations have two kinds of government?

Choose two communities from the table. Which one would you most like to visit, and what would you need to learn or bring? Use facts from the table.

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which community has no road connecting it to the rest of Canada?

In which community do most people speak French?

Which is the best fair comparison?

What is a thematic map?

Which community is a First Nation near Brantford?

Hearst's economy depends a lot on...

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Communities in Canada today differ in size, language, environment, economy and government (A3.8). Your child also plans and builds a thematic map (A2.3).

How to help at home:

Compare your own community with one far away, using the same categories (size, language, work, environment, food, government).
Look up your community's population on Statistics Canada's "Census Profile" page together.
Practise map basics: title, legend, north arrow, symbols.

Common difficulties:

Stereotypes about the North or about cities: use "many, most, some" and facts.
Mixing up a thematic map with a general map: a thematic map focuses on one topic.
Large numbers: rounding (2.8 million, 7 400) helps comparisons; dividing to compare sizes is a good math link.