Celebrating Canada’s Cultural Diversity

The Mathieu Da Costa Challenge

Pre-Activity:

¨  As a group read, “Canada – A Cultural Mosaic” Discuss as a group, what multiculturalism means to you? What has been your personal experience and understanding of Canada’s Culture diversity?

¨  Who is Mathieu Da Costa? Read the article found in the file folder. What was his significant achievement and contribution to the development of Canada? What impact did he have on Atlantic Canada?

¨  Multiculturalism Program

In 1971, the first official Multiculturalism Policy was enunciated and, in 1988, the Canadian Multiculturalism Act was proclaimed, outlining the Multiculturalism Policy and its implementation. The Policy recognizes multiculturalism as a fundamental characteristic of Canadian society. It encourages a vision of Canada based on equality and mutual respect with regard to race, national or ethnic origin, colour and religion. The goals of the Policy are civic participation, identity and social justice.

Activity:

¨  Students will create an original piece of writing or artwork that celebrates the contributions of Canadian Aboriginal, African and other ethno cultural backgrounds have made to the building of Canada.

An original piece of writing like:
¨  A non-fiction essay
¨  A short story
¨  A poem
¨  A Web page
¨  An illustrated book
¨  A comic book
Maximum of 800 words

Criteria

Title
Good understanding of the theme
Originality, clarity of expression and creativity.
Evidence of critical thinking /

Artwork

¨  A painting
¨  A drawing
¨  Computer-generated artwork
¨  A poster
¨  A collage
¨  Your choice of medium
Minimum of 28 cm x43 cm
Maximum of 38 cm x 50 cm

Criteria

Title
Originality, creativity and visual presentation
Evidence of critical thinking
Clear presentation of the theme

¨  Students will learn more and share their knowledge of Canada’s cultural diversity.

¨  Students will complete the Interest Survey (worksheet) found in the file folder to help narrow their focus (p.18-19)

¨  Choose a topic about a chosen individual or group.

¨  Decide on what information to uncover – Significant contributions to Canadian life- important dates, achievements and skills, important contributions to the development of Canada. Lifetime path- Early life, Mid-life, and Later Life / or Challenges faced / Adversity overcome.

¨  Read p.26 –27 “Exploring Research Sources” found in file folder. Begin research in books and Internet sources.

¨  Useful online sources: Historica www.histori.ca

Canadian Heritage www.canadianheritage.gc.ca

The Beaver www.historysociety.ca/beaver.asp

The Dominion Institute www.dominion.ca

The Memory Project www.thememoryproject.com

“Passages” www.passagestocanada.com

Aboriginal Culture www.inac.gc.ca/nad/

Japanese Canadian History www.japanesecanadianhistory.net

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org

Evaluation:

Rubric will be used for assessment found in the file folder.