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

Many Communities, Many Contributions

A3.4 A1.3About 45 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can identify different settler and newcomer communities in Canada.
  • I can describe contributions these communities have made to Canada.
  • I can use criteria to assess how important a contribution is to Canadian identity.
  • I can describe contributions without using stereotypes.

Words to know

community
A group of people who share something: a place, a language, a faith, a culture or a history.
contribution
Something a person or group gives or adds that helps make something better or different.
identity
Who a person, group or country is: what makes it itself.
bilingual
Using two languages. Canada has two official languages, English and French.
multiculturalism
Respecting and including many cultures in one country. Canada adopted it as an official policy in 1971.
francophone
A person whose first language is French.
criteria
Standards or tests you use to judge something.

Let's start with a question

Look around your home. Is there a word you use that came from another language? Food your family eats that came from another country? A holiday you celebrate?

All of these are small signs of a big idea: many communities have helped make Canada what it is.

A long table at an outdoor festival covered with dishes from many cultures.
Foods like these show how many communities have shaped what Canadians eat today. AI-generated image

Settler and newcomer communities and their contributions

Here are some of the many communities that have shaped Canada. Each one includes many different people with different lives.

  • Francophone communities (French-speaking): French settlers built some of the first European settlements. Today Canada is bilingual: the Official Languages Act of 1969 made English and French the official languages of the federal government. In Ontario, Franco-Ontarians have their own schools, flag and newspapers.
  • British communities (English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh): brought the parliamentary system of government, the English language and many laws. Irish and French Canadian workers did much of the hard work of building the Rideau Canal (finished 1832).
  • Black communities: Black people have lived in what is now Canada since the 1600s. Black Loyalists founded communities in Nova Scotia, and freedom seekers founded communities such as North Buxton, Ontario. Mary Ann Shadd published a newspaper, the Provincial Freeman, starting in 1853, and is often called the first Black woman in North America to publish a newspaper.
  • Chinese communities: thousands of Chinese workers built some of the most dangerous parts of the Canadian Pacific Railway through the mountains of British Columbia. The railway, finished in 1885, joined Canada from coast to coast.
  • Ukrainian communities: from 1891, Ukrainian settlers turned prairie into farmland and helped make the Prairies a great wheat-growing region. Ukrainian dance, music and pysanky (decorated eggs) are part of Prairie life.
  • Italian, Portuguese, Greek, South Asian, Caribbean, Filipino, Somali, Vietnamese and many other communities have built homes, businesses, places of worship and festivals. For example, the Toronto Caribbean Carnival (first held in 1967 as Caribana) is one of the largest celebrations of Caribbean culture in North America.

Contributions to Canadian identity

Some contributions changed what it means to be Canadian:

  • Two official languages came from the French and British communities.
  • Parliamentary democracy came from the British.
  • Multiculturalism: in 1971, Canada became one of the first countries to make multiculturalism an official policy. Many communities had worked for this. The Canadian Multiculturalism Act followed in 1988.
  • A railway from sea to sea helped make Canada one country, thanks in part to Chinese workers.
  • Farming the Prairies made Canada a major wheat producer, thanks to Ukrainian and many other settlers.
Some contributions from this lesson, in order1832Rideau Canalfinished1853ProvincialFreeman1885railwaycoast to coast1891Ukrainiansettlers arrive1967firstCaribana1969OfficialLanguages Act1971multiculturalismpolicy1988MulticulturalismActnot to scale: the dots are evenly spaced
Some contributions from this lesson in order. Notice that communities kept shaping Canada long after the 1800s, right up to the Multiculturalism Act of 1988.
CommunityOne contributionKind of contribution
FrancophoneFrench as one of two official languagespolitical, cultural
Britishthe parliamentary systempolitical
Irish and French Canadian workersbuilding the Rideau Canaleconomic
Chinese workersbuilding the railway through the mountains of B.C.economic
Ukrainian settlersfarming the Prairies; dance, music, pysankyeconomic, cultural
Black communitiescommunities like North Buxton; newspapers like the Provincial Freemansocial, political
Caribbean communitiesthe Toronto Caribbean Carnivalcultural
Some examples of contributions. Every community has made many more.

How do we assess a contribution?

To assess means to judge how important something is, using criteria. Here are three good criteria:

  1. Reach: how many people did it affect?
  2. Lasting: does it still matter today?
  3. Identity: does it change how Canadians see themselves or their country?

The more criteria it meets, the more important the contribution is to Canadian identity.

Worked example

Let's assess a contribution

Assess the contribution of Chinese railway workers to Canadian identity using the three criteria.

  1. Reach: the railway joined British Columbia to the rest of Canada and carried settlers and goods across the country. It affected millions of people over time. Yes.
  2. Lasting: the railway is still used today, and B.C. stayed part of Canada partly because of it. Yes.
  3. Identity: "from sea to sea" became part of how Canadians see their country. Yes.
  4. One more thing to notice: the workers were paid less than other workers, did the most dangerous jobs, and many died. Assessing a contribution also means recognising the people who made it.

It meets all three criteria, so it is a very important contribution to Canadian identity, made by workers who were often treated unfairly.

Assessing a contribution: Chinese railway workersReachaffected millionsover timeLastingrailway stillused todayIdentity“from seato sea”meets all 3:a veryimportantcontribution
The worked example as a picture: the contribution meets all three criteria (reach, lasting, identity), so it is very important to Canadian identity.
Just for fun

In winter, part of Ottawa's Rideau Canal, which Irish and French Canadian workers helped build, becomes a skating rink almost 8 km long. Some people really do skate to work! ⛸️

Worked example

Let's spot a stereotype

Which sentence describes a contribution without a stereotype? A) "Italian Canadians are all good cooks." B) "Italian Canadian workers helped build many homes, roads and subway lines in Toronto after the Second World War."

  1. A stereotype says all people in a group are the same. Sentence A says "all". That is a stereotype, even if it sounds nice.
  2. Sentence B describes what some people did, with a time and a place. It can be checked.

B describes a real contribution. A is a stereotype.

Avoid stereotypes

Watch for the word all ("all Ukrainians...", "all Chinese people..."). Groups are made of individuals. Describe what people did, with when and where.

Hands-on activity

Contribution hunt in your neighbourhood

You need: paper, a pencil and a grown-up to walk with you (or a map website at home).

  1. Walk or look around your neighbourhood. Find five signs of different communities: a street or place name, a place of worship, a cultural centre, a festival poster, a bakery, a monument, a bilingual sign.
  2. For each one, write the community and the kind of contribution (political, economic, social or cultural).
  3. Choose one and assess it with the three criteria: reach, lasting, identity.
  4. Share your hunt with someone at home.

Stay with your grown-up and on the sidewalk. Do not go into buildings without permission.

Your turn

1

Name the two official languages of Canada and the law that made them official.

2

What system of government came from British communities?

3

Which workers built some of the most dangerous parts of the Canadian Pacific Railway?

4

What did Ukrainian settlers help the Prairies become?

5

Who was Mary Ann Shadd?

6

What are the three criteria for assessing a contribution in this lesson?

7

In what year did Canada make multiculturalism an official policy?

More practice: warm-up

1

What does bilingual mean?

2

What is a francophone?

3

In what year was the Canadian Pacific Railway finished?

4

Which canal did Irish and French Canadian workers help build?

5

What are pysanky?

More practice: on your own

1

Is "the parliamentary system" an economic, political or cultural contribution? Explain.

2

Rewrite this stereotype as a fair statement: "All Black Canadians came as freedom seekers."

3

Assess bilingualism with the three criteria.

4

Why does assessing the railway workers' contribution also mean talking about unfair treatment?

5

Give one cultural contribution from a community not named in the lesson's table.

Challenge

1

Which do you think contributed more to Canadian identity: the Rideau Canal or official bilingualism? Use the criteria.

2

Why might multiculturalism be called a contribution of many communities, not just one?

3

A newcomer family opened a bakery in your town ten years ago. Is that a contribution to Canada? Explain.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

Which community's contribution includes one of Canada's two official languages?

2.

Which contribution is political?

3.

Who built some of the most dangerous parts of the railway through B.C.?

4.

Which sentence avoids a stereotype?

5.

Which is NOT one of the lesson's criteria for assessing a contribution?

6.

In what year did Canada make multiculturalism an official policy?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Many settler and newcomer communities have contributed to Canada, and some of their contributions shaped Canadian identity itself (A3.4, A1.3).

How to help at home:

  • Share your family's own communities and traditions, and talk about how they are part of Canada.
  • Visit a cultural festival, museum or heritage site together.
  • Practise assessing with the three criteria (reach, lasting, identity) when you discuss the news.

Common difficulties:

  • "Positive" stereotypes: "they are all good at..." is still a stereotype. Ask "Is that true of every person?"
  • Seeing contributions only as food and festivals: point out economic and political contributions too (building canals, railways, laws, businesses).
  • Leaving out unfair treatment: the next lessons look at hard experiences many communities faced.