Overview

This resource kit exploring cultural relations and identities during early twentieth century Canada, as seen through the eyes of five pivotal groups, includes a teacher's guide and a double set of supplementary documents. These materials explore one of the most important questions in Canadian social, political and economic history; namely, the extent to which the story of Canada is one of inclusion and acceptance. While the focus is on the 1907 Vancouver riots, the story starts centuries earlier and reverberates to the present day.

Two additional themes run throughout these materials: examining history through multiple perspectives and teaching students to think critically about history. Building on the work of Professor Peter Sexias at the University of British Columbia, each lesson provides tools to help students assess sources of evidence, adopt the perspectives of historical groups, or period, make thoughtful moral judgments about historical actions and players, or assess the extent of continuity and change over time. All the while, students are presented with the differing perspectives of five groups, each of whom represents a pivotal voice on the period. They are “pivotal voices” because the explanations and sense-making of the events “pivot” according to the experiences, values, and perceptions of the group under consideration. Learning to recognize a multiplicity of voices and negotiate among them is necessary for understanding the past and crucial for building an inclusive future.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Guide to Lesson Format
Introduction to Critical Thinking
Overviews of Critical Challenges
British Columbia Curriculum Connections
Bibliography

Critical Challenges
1 Snapshots of British Columbia in 1907
2 One hundred years to rant and rave
3 What really happened and why?
4 Reactions and responses to the riots
5 Has anything changed?
6 Why bother?

Blackline Masters
List of Blackline Masters
List of Supplemental Documents