Diefenbaker Center
Located on the University of Saskatchewan Campus, the
Diefenbaker Center honors the former Prime Minister of Canada. Our group
visited the center and were debriefed as to what they have to offer to us as
future teachers hoping to utilize the program. We were greeted by Leland who took
us through what the center offers for not only high school students, but middle
and elementary. We were led into a conference room where they present issues
surrounding democracy, government, and voting. They offer three different
presentations:
Make Your Mark:
·
Covers structural aspects of democracy
·
Right to vote
·
Parliamentary process
·
Differences between Canada’s democracy and other
countries’. Ex. Direct Democracy in Greece
·
Representative Democracy
·
Dictatorships
·
Monarchies
·
China – 1 party communist
·
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
·
Canada Elections Act
·
Citizenship
·
Why it is important to have the right to vote/be
a candidate
·
Separatism/Right to dissent against majority
·
Levels of government/elected officials
·
Juxtaposes Canada and USA democracies
·
Judiciary and Senate
·
Timeline of the right to vote ex. Women,
Aboriginal people
·
Lightly goes over parties
·
Campaign imagery
·
Party platforms
·
Mock vote
·
Election rules
·
Pop quiz
This program is shorter but geared more towards the high school level. It involves deeper thinking and critical skills. It covers:
·
UNESCO
·
Editorial cartooning
·
Progression of political cartoons
·
Freedom of expression vs. hate crimes
·
Rights of the offender and offendee ex. Molly
Norris and Draw Mohammed Day
Human Rights and
Rights Documents
This presentation looks more globally than the other two. It
covers:
·
UN Declaration of Human Rights
·
Stresses the universality not state
·
Human rights in the Canadian psyche
·
Sovereignty rights
·
Case Study: work for human rights and argue for
why a POW should be released by using UN Declaration and Charter of Rights and
Freedoms vs. a country’s sovereign rights.
The students are also led through a tour of the center,
which includes a gallery containing facts about Diefenbaker and his government.
There are showcases filled with gifts from other countries during his tenure as
Prime Minister, which includes his famous headdress, a recorded call between
him and President John F. Kennedy, and a decorative carving of ivory. There are
also the replica rooms of the Privy Council Chambers and the Prime Minister’s
office while Diefenbaker was in power.
This entire tour can take approximately half the day, but it
can be paired up with other programs the U of S has to offer, such as a tour of
the barns. This makes it more feasible for out of town schools to partake. If
all three presentations are booked, there is a discount, which brings the total
to $50 per student.
Saskatchewan Legislature
Technology has replaced the traditional field trip for this opportunity to view the Legislative Assembly at work. The proceedings can now be viewed live via the internet, and
archives can be accessed through the Legislative Assembly website. Tours of the
buildings in Regina can still be scheduled 362 days of the year, but this covers the building itself, not a viewing from the balcony.
The Speaker's Educational Outreach Program
The Speaker comes to the school to present about the parliamentary
process. They aim to promote awareness and understanding of democracy and the
Legislative Assembly. Students learn
about subjects such as the role of the Speaker and MLAs, how laws are made, a
brief history of the Assembly, and much more.
Saskatchewan Teachers Institute
This is a five day program aimed to enhance teacher’s
knowledge about democracy and the parliamentary processes in order to take it
to their classrooms. If the teacher knows more, they are able to teach
democracy and politics more in their disciplines. Participants meet with people
such as The Speaker, Lieutenant Governor, and cabinet ministers. In the
description offered on the website, they stress that this program is
non-partisan, so what we learn from the program should not change when a new
party comes into power. This is offered annually in April and costs between
$100 and $125 depending on how quick you apply, but as teachers you can apply
to your principal to cover the cost as Professional Development.
This non-profit and non-government organization has plenty of
teaching resources available at their website. Jonas provided us with some of
those on our first day. PLEA offers a list of speakers that can come out to
schools to present on over 100 topics. There is a request form online where you
can fill in what topic you want to cover in class and they match up a speaker
with your needs.
Fundraising With A Twist
Most of the speakers that come to the schools come free of charge, or the school division will cover the expense. However, a class trip to an out-of-town locale can add up fairly quickly. Fundraising is sometimes a must in order to utilize external sources created primarily to educate on their respective topic.
Many organizations have, and still use silicon wristbands as a means to raise both awareness and funds. YBUW Wristbands is the cheapest option I found for customized silicon bands. The class can personalize text, such as RAISE YOUR VOICE, and choose whatever color they want. You can get 200 wristbands for $116 dollars, which brings the cost to .58 per band. If we sold them
for even three dollars each, we would make $2.42 per wristband. This could be
pure profit for the field trips, but there is another option.
We could raise the price for each
band and give half the profits to a charity or organization. As a play on democracy, we can
have five foundations and each time someone buys a band, they vote for one of
the foundations they want the money to go to. This may add extra incentive for
people to buy, especially if we are in smaller communities and need the public
to raise money. There are countless other ways to raise money, but this approach
involves an element of democracy.
Other External Sources
Democracy Challenge
Pairs social media and democracy.
NEO K12
This site has a bunch of videos regarding democracy and aims towards many different grade levels.
Elections Canada
This site is filled with resources available for teachers in order to raise awareness of our nation's government.
http://www.canadashistory.ca/Education/Lesson-Plans/Lesson-Plans/High/Democracy--Participating-in-the-Process.aspx
This is a lesson plan created by Rick Homan from Alberta. It was found on the internet and made accessible to the public. He is from Alberta, so there is some prairie pride involved.
http://www.lessonplanet.com/search?keywords=democracy&gclid=CKLii-LxsbUCFcg7MgoduXkAoA
This site has many lesson plans on democracy, many of them American. However, there are also some global issues available, which can be used to compare Canada to other nations, or simply to view what is going on around the world. These could link up with some current events classes as well.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/govt09a-eng.htm
Here are the stats for voters in federal elections since the millenium.
http://www.cbc.ca/archives/teachers/materials.html
CBC provides some lesson plans and activities that vary in grade level as well as length of time to complete. They also link video archives to the lessons.
http://www.democracyeducation.net/index.html
Democracy Education Network addresses the need for Canadians to develop democratic skills. This website includes news, projects, publications, teacher resources, courses, and information on how to support the site.
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