Minds On

Human Rights

illustration of a protester hand in the air with a collection of activist buzz words

Create a mind map about “Human Rights.” What rights do you think every human should have? Consider the rights of both adults and children.

Press ‘Mind Map’ to access an example.

Mind Map

A mind map is an organizer where you can record your ideas.

Action

While the content in this learning activity is aligned to the curriculum, some content may be sensitive to individual learners. Consider reaching out to a trusted adult to share your feelings and questions.

Task 1: Treatment of Indigenous communities

For this learning activity, review the following key definitions.

Press the following tabs to access the definitions.

The process where individuals or groups of different ethnic heritages are forcibly absorbed into the dominant culture of society. The process of assimilation involves taking on the traits of the dominant culture to such a degree that the assimilating group becomes socially indistinguishable from other members of society.

The stage of human social and cultural development and organization that is considered most advanced.

The planned, systematic destruction of a national, racial, political, religious, or ethnic group.

A group of Indigenous individuals standing in front of a tipi. There are trees around them.

Press the following tabs to learn about the treatment of Indigenous communities.

In the early 1800s, the perspective about how the British government should interact with Indigenous communities was shifting. With population growth, they no longer needed Indigenous communities in the event of a conflict, and they were beginning to see them as “administrative challenges.” This new perspective meant that they believed British society and culture was superior to Indigenous culture and beliefs. They felt the need to bring “British civilization” to the Indigenous culture. The creation of the Indian Department in Upper and Lower Canada became the driver for a new plan of “assimilation” and “civilization” for Indigenous communities. This plan involved bringing Christianity and culture to Indigenous groups, which meant abandoning their traditional lifestyles. This is a genocide sanctioned and by the legalized government as they attempted to assimilate Indigenous peoples into their “ideal society.”

Starting in the 1820s, the colonial administrators undertook many initiatives aimed at “civilizing” Indigenous communities. One early example is an experiment that took place at Coldwater-Narrows in Upper Canada. A group of Anishinaabe were asked to settle in a typical colonial style village and encouraged to begin farming and adopt the Christian religion, abandoning their hunting and fishing way of living. According to the British government, this experiment was short-lived as it was unorganized and underfunded. However, the Indian Department did not understand Indigenous culture or ways of living.

A variety of attempts were made over the next 150 years to assimilate Indigenous communities to the British culture. In 1839, the “Crown Lands Protection Act” was passed, which made the government the guardian of all Crown lands, including First Nations reserve lands. An influx in immigration caused squatters to begin to settle on unoccupied territory, including Indigenous lands.

Residential schools

A photograph of Mohawk Institute. It is a big building with many windows and balconies. — Mohawk Institute

Residential schools have a long history in Canada. In the 1830s, residential schools became part of the government and church policy. In 1842, Sir Charles Bagot (Governor General of Canada) proposed federally run “Indian Residential Schools” as a good tool for separating children from their parents and forcing Indigenous peoples away from their traditional life.

This also mandated that individuals carry only one legal status name, thus forcing British citizenships upon many, specifically the Métis, and erasing their identity and culture. One of these schools was the Mohawk Institute (located in modern-day Brantford, Ontario), which began as a day school for First Nations boys. In 1831, Mohawk Institute began accepting boarding students. The Mohawk Institute remained open until 1970.

Explore the following video for more information on residential schools in Canada.

Brainstorm

How did attitudes in the 1800s towards Indigenous peoples change? How were Indigenous communities viewed by the British government? What was the impact of these views?

Press ‘Review’ to access a possible response to check your answers.

Review

Previously, Indigenous peoples had a valuable connection with colonizers, as they taught them how to live off the land, trade, and navigate the waterways. However, Indigenous peoples were being seen as “challenges.” To the colonizers, they were impeding the growth and development of Canada, despite the fact that they were on the lands prior to colonizers arriving. These views impacted Indigenous communities as colonizers worked to assimilate them into their perceived ideal of “Canadian Culture.”

To this day, Indigenous peoples are fighting for the government to not only reconcile its harmful past treatment of Indigenous peoples, but to also revisit polices that continue to harm them.

Reading Time

Deepen your understanding

In this section of the learning activity, you have only scratched the surface on assimilation, residential schools, and the treatment of Indigenous communities in Canada’s past.

Examine the following articles to learn more about residential schools in Canada and how they are still impacting communities today.

Press tvo today to access “‘Not Forgotten Children’: Honoring the Victims and Survivors of Residential Schools.”

Press tvo today to access “‘Felt Through Generations’: A Timeline of Residential Schools in Canada.”

Press tvo today to access “Residential Schools are Not a Footnote in Canada’s History. They Are Its Past and Present.”

Task 2: Discrimination of Black Canadians

“When Canadians talk about slavery, we often point with pride to the role our country played in the mid‐1800s as a safe haven for Americans escaping captivity via the Underground Railroad. This, however, is only half the story. Like the United States, this land has its own history of slavery – and it is a history we should never forget.”

Source: McRae, 2018 Canadian Human Rights Museum (https://humanrights.ca/story/the-story-of-slavery-in-canadian-history)

The enslavement of African peoples was a legal process that began in Canada in the 1600s. During this time, people treated those who were enslaved as personal property that could be bought, sold, traded, and inherited. Some French colonists enslaved people through private sales. In 1760, when the British conquered the French, they put a clause in their surrender, that French inhabitants would be allowed to keep those enslaved.

Explore the following printable Advertisement in the Halifax Gazette for the Sale of Slaves document.

Press the Article button to access the "Advertisement in the Halifax Gazette for the Sale of Slaves.".

Article

French and English colonies depended on people who were enslaved for labour to increase their personal wealth and enhance local economies. In Canada, the majority of those enslaved worked as domestic servants, and in local businesses (butcher shop, inn, taverns), or as agricultural workers (clearing land, harvesting, attending to livestock). These people had no basic human rights and were often treated inhumanely or cruelly.

By the 1820s, slavery was still legal in Canada, but the practice of enslavement was decreasing. During this time, there was an attempt at “indentureship,” which meant those who were once enslaved would continue to work for those who enslaved them but would be paid for their labour. In August of 1834, the “Slavery Abolition Act” came into effect, abolishing all slavery in Canada. The Act officially made enslavement illegal and any remaining people who were enslaved in Canada were freed.

Reading Time

Expand your learning

Explore the following articles about slavery in Canada.

Press tvo today to access “Looking Back at Toronto’s Historic Anti-Slavery Convention of 1851.”

Press tvo today to access “Ontarians Should Know More About the Black History of Oakville.”

Review Questions

Now that you have explored the articles on slavery in Canada, choose one reflection question from each article to respond to using the following fillable and printable document or using a method of your choice.

Press the Activity button to access the Slavery In Canada Reflection Questions.

Activity

To review your answers, examine the following Review Questions Answer Key document.

Answers

Reflection Questions Answer Key
Looking back at Toronto’s historic antislavery convention of 1851	Ontarians should know more about the Black history of Oakville
1. What was the Fugitive Slave Act and how did it impact formerly freed slaves? The Fugitive Slave Act was passed on September 18th, 1850 and it permitted people to pursue and retrieve formerly owned enslaved people in any state, including states where slavery had been abolished. Citizens were required to help these people apprehend those they previously enslaved. This sent formerly freed enslaved people into hiding and attempts to run away were made as states became “hunting grounds” and families were broken apart.	1. Summarize the Black history of Oakville in your own words. In the 1850s, approximately 400 Black people settled in Oakville who had escaped slavery via the Underground Railroad. Escaped enslaved people, such as James W. Hill, helped others escape slavery by aiding them to get from New York to Oakville.
2. Who was Henry Bibb and why was he important at this time? Henry Bibb was born an enslaved person in 1815 and finally escaped slavery in 1840. Henry and his wife launched an anti-slavery newspaper called “Voice of the Fugitive” and founded the Refugee Home Society. These actions led to the North American Convention of Colored Freemen in which Henry was the president. The convention lasted three days in which Henry fought against slavery in the United States, and prompted the assistance of those fleeing Ontario.	2. What point is Duncan trying to make about Black people coming to Canada via the Underground Railroad? The main idea of this article is that Black people are the “fabric of Canada” (said Duncan) and did more than just escape slavery, but rather came to Canada as entrepreneurs. For example, Duncan’s great-great-grandfather, Samuel Adams, came to Canada and invented a device called the “stonehooker” which was used to build houses. Other worked as barbers, hairdressers, gunsmiths, newspaper creators, and many other essential roles within the community.

Press the ‘Activity’ button to access the Review Questions Answer Key.

Activity

Task 3: The Underground Railroad

What do you already know about the Underground Railroad?

Explore the following video.

The Underground Railroad was not a railroad with a train and tracks. It was a secret network of citizens who worked together. They helped those who escaped enslavement find safe houses and transport to reach freedom in the North.

In this section of the learning activity, you will use the inquiry process to investigate and draw conclusions about the Underground Railroad in Canada.

What is inquiry?

Inquiry is a multi-step process used to formulate questions, gather, organize, and analyse information, evaluate and draw conclusions, and communicate results. Although the stages are not always done in the same order, the following graphic is from the Ontario Ministry of Education which provides a summary of these steps.

Examine the diagram to review how the steps relate.

Use the following fillable and printable The Underground Railroad Graphic Organizer to help you conduct research. Think about the perspectives you should consider, and how it impacted Canada.

Press the Activity button to access The Underground Railroad Graphic Organizer.

Activity

Task 4: Modern day connection

In this learning activity, you have learned about the mistreatment of Indigenous and Black communities in Canada’s past. These groups were often targeted because they were believed to be less superior to the “white” or “British” colonist, and therefore they were not treated equally.

“No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” – Nelson Mandela

Source: Soken-Huberty,2020 https://www.humanrightscareers.com/issues/anti-discrimination-quotes-that-shaped-our-understanding-of-equality/

Unfortunately, discrimination still very much exists in our modern-day world. Choose one of the following personal stories or the video to explore further modern examples of discrimination and racism.

Press tvo today to access “Black Identity and the Skin I’m In.”

Press tvo today to access “Does Talking About Racism Make You Uncomfortable? Too Bad.”

TVO Web Series: My Native Voice

Brainstorm

Give your opinion

In your opinion, what are two things you can do to combat racism and discrimination in your community?

Record your ideas in a method of your choice.

Press the ‘Answer’ button to access a variety of examples to check your response.

Answer

Treat everyone equally
Educate others about what you have learned
Stand up if you see someone being treated unfairly (or tell someone you trust)
Include others or invite others to join you
Celebrate diversity
Examine your own biases
Ask about how your school works to combat racism and discrimination; help out with these efforts
Continue to learn more and educate yourself

Learning goals

Success criteria

Minds On

Human Rights

Action