The Role of the Citizen in Canadian Democracy

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Canada in the Contemporary World Teacher’s Online Resource

Chapter 7: The Role of the Citizen in Canadian Democracy

Figure 7-1 (Page 198) Do you think television, newspapers, newsmagazines, or cell phone service news offer the best way to become a more informed citizen?

Student opinion answers will vary. Have them make a comparison based in several common denominators, such as: reliability and accessibility.

Active Citizenship (Page 199) Community Action

Figure 7-2 (Page 200) In a democratic society, there are various ways for citizens to express their views. These women used masks to protest domestic violence.

Some demonstrators have worn masks at domestic violence protests so that they remain anonymous. Some have claimed that their lives and their children's lives are put at risk when family courts grant contact orders allowing violent ex-partners to visit their children.

Figure 7-3 (Page 200) Spectrum of opinion and voting preference.

Figure 7-4 (Page 200) Spectrum of opinion on, interest in, and knowledge of current events.

Figure 7-5 (Page 201) Spectrum of opinion on participation in community.

Figure 7-6 (Page 201) Spectrum of opinion on joining a political party youth group.

Using Your Knowledge (Page 201)

1. Student opinion answers will vary.

Thinking It Through (Page 201)

2. Before students begin to answer the second question, have them come up with a list of the qualities that a ‘good’ citizen possesses. (Page 199 offers: obeying Canada’s laws, paying taxes, and voting). Encourage the students to think up other qualities, such as: trying to improve the quality of life for other citizens in the country, respecting the rights of others, defending one’s owns rights against those who would abuse them, and exercising one’s rights.

Inquiring Citizen (Page 201)

3. a) Canadians have achieved the following as ‘good world citizens’: • 1950 – the Colombo Plan • 1968 – the creation of CIDA • 1985 – Eastern Canada Acid Rain Program • 1987 – Montreal Protocol • 1991 – Air Quality Agreement • 2005 – a commitment by the federal government for $1 billion toward the reduction of greenhouse gases • Canadian contributions to the World Food Programme • Several Canadian NGO’s, such as: Canadians Foodgrains Bank and the Mennonite Central Committee. • Canadian roles in international organizations such as the Commonwealth and the United Nations. b) Until 1947, "Canadians" were simply British subjects living in Canada. There was no such thing as a Canadian citizen. This became an embarrassment for a country that emerged from World War II with a strong sense of nationhood. On Jan. 1, 1947, the Canadian Citizenship Act came into effect and Canadians finally became "Canadian citizens." The Citizenship Act was the creation of Liberal cabinet minister Paul Martin Sr. He conceived of the idea after visiting the military cemetery at Dieppe in France, where thousands of Canadians from many different backgrounds fought and died for their country.

Figure 7-7 (Page 203) How have other societies defined citizenship? How do Aboriginal peoples decide who is a member of their nation? Societies around the world view those born in foreign lands in different ways. Most nations decide who belongs and who does not belong through nationality laws.

• How have other societies defined citizenship? Today, most countries define citizenship based on jus soli or jus sanguinis, or on a combination of the two. Jus soli is the principle in which a child born in a country's territory acquires that country's citizenship. In jus sanguinis, either the father or mother must normally be a citizen of the country in question in order for the child to be a citizen. Many countries do not recognize dual or multiple citizenship. (Canada does; Burma, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, Syria, Thailand, Vietnam and Zimbabwe do not).

• How do Aboriginal peoples decide who is a member of their nation? - Status (Treaty) Indian: Status Indians are registered with a band and are members of that band. Band membership is passed to children from one parent. If both parents are Status Indians, children become the member of only one band - either the mother’s or father’s. - Métis: The Manitoba Métis Federation recognizes an individual as being Métis if: he/she lives in the province of Manitoba and if he/she is of Métis descent (one parent is Métis or he/she can trace their lineage back to the Red River Colony).

Figure 7-8 (Page 204) New Canadians take the oath of citizenship. Each year more than 160 000 people take this oath. What beliefs about the role of citizens in Canadian society are emphasized by this oath?

They include: to obey Canada’s laws, to vote in elections, to respect the rights and freedoms of others, to eliminate discrimination and injustice, to care for Canada’s heritage, and to help others in the community.

Figure 7-9 (Page 206) Canadian oath of citizenship.

Figure 7-10 (Page 206) Lebanese Canadians arriving in Cyprus aboard a ferry chartered by the Canadian government.

Active Citizenship (Page 206)

Dual Citizenship.

Canada's Citizenship Act allows people to be citizens of two or more countries at the same time. Dual citizenship can cause difficulties. Canadians with dual citizenship in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria – since the terrorist bombing in New York in September 11, 2001 - may come under suspicion at the U.S. border and be fingerprinted.

Using Your Knowledge (Page 207)

4. Student opinion answers will vary.

5. Class debates will vary.

Inquiring Citizen (Page 207)

6. In Manitoba there is one Citizenship Judge who presides over Citizenship Courts. His name is Arthur K. Miki.

7. Canadian Prime Ministers who were dual citizens: Canada’s former Prime Minister John Turner holds dual citizenship (Canada and the United Kingdom). John A. Macdonald, Alexander Mackenzie, Mackenzie Bowell, and John Turner were all foreign born. R.B. Bennett is Canada’s only former Prime Minister to be buried outside of the country. He is buried in Surrey, England.

Manitoba premiers who were foreign born are: Premiers Alfred Boyd, Henry Joseph Clarke, and Thomas Greenway. John Norquay, premier from 1878 to 1887 was the first to be born in Manitoba.

Figure 7-11 (Page 209) Federal election results, 1993-2006. What does this chart tell you about voter support for the major political parties?

Figure 7-12 (Page 211) A sample ballot.

Figure 7-13 (Page 211) You and the DRO each have a role to play when you cast your vote. Why is it important for DRO to monitor the balloting?

Organize and Understand (Page 212)

8. Shown: Returning your ballot to the DRO. Not Shown: Checking in with the polling clerk, receiving your ballot, marking your ballot and folding it, counting of the ballots, poll report being sent to the returning officer.

Using Your Knowledge (Page 212)

9. Student opinion answers will vary.

10. a) • October 25, 1993 – Liberal • June 2, 1999 – Liberal • November 27, 2000 – Liberal • June 2, 2004 – Liberal • January 23, 2006 – Conservative b) • October 25, 1993 – Majority • June 2, 1999 – Majority • November 27, 2000 – Majority • June 2, 2004 – Minority • January 23, 2006 – Minority

A majority government was formed if the governing party held more than 50% of the seats in the House of Commons; a minority government was formed if the governing party held less than 50% of the seats in the House of Commons. c) After ten years of public support, favour for the federal Liberals dissipated until they achieved only a minority government. The Canadian electorate then gave the Conservatives a chance at the top spot in Canada with a minority government as well.

Figure 7-14 (Page 213) Nellie McClung

Thinking It Through (Page 213)

11. Student opinion answers will vary. Have them consider that voter participation in the 2006 Canadian federal election was 64.9%. In the 2004 federal election in Australia, voter turn-out was 94.85%.

12. Student opinion answers will vary.

Inquiring Citizen (Page 213)

13. Student research will vary.

In the federal election in September 1925, the Conservative Party won 115 seats to 100 for William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberals. Counting on the support of the Progressive Party (which had 22 seats) to overcome the Conservative minority, King did not resign and remained in office with a minority government.

The King-Byng Affair occurred when Governor General, Viscount Byng, refused a request by Prime Minister King to dissolve parliament and call an election. In June 1926, King's government was about to be condemned for corrupt practices by a vote in Parliament. He asked the governor general to dissolve Parliament before that vote could be taken so that another election could take place. Viscount Byng refused, believing that the Conservatives should have a chance to govern. King angrily resigned and Conservative leader Arthur Meighen took over as prime minister. A few days later, Meighen's government was accidentally defeated in a vote, and Governor General Byng dissolved Parliament.

King accused Byng, the Queen's representative, of interfering in Canadian politics. In September 1926, the Liberals were returned to power with a clear majority and King as Prime Minister. Once in power, King's government sought at a Commonwealth conference to redefine the role of Governor General as that of a figurehead while real political power rests in the hands of the prime minister and other elected officials.

Using Your Knowledge (Page 213)

14. Student opinion answers will vary.

Thinking It Through (Page 214)

15. Student opinion answers will vary. Have the students consider the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ of mental patients, homeless, inmates and their right to vote.

Inquiring Citizen (Page 214)

16. Student research will vary.

Province Year women got the right to vote Saskatchewan 1916 Alberta 1916 British Columbia 1917 Ontario 1917 Nova Scotia 1918 New Brunswick 1919 Yukon 1919 Prince Edward Island 1922 Newfoundland 1925 Québec 1940 Northwest Territories 1951

• Irene Parlby: an advocate for rural women and children; was elected to the Alberta Legislature in 1921. She was appointed Minister without Portfolio—the first female Cabinet Minister in Alberta history and only the second in the British Empire • Agnes McPhail: one of the earliest women leaders in Ontario. She was the only woman elected to the House of Commons in 1921, in the first election in which women were allowed to vote or run for office. • Emily Stowe: was a pioneering Canadian physician and suffragette; she was the first Canadian woman to practise medicine in Canada and was also a lifelong champion of women's rights • Emily Murphy: she spearheaded the fight to have women declared "persons" in Canada in 1917 and, therefore, eligible to serve in the Senate. She became the first female police magistrate in the British Empire. • Louise McKinney: was the first woman elected to government in Canada in the 1917 provincial election in Alberta; she was the first female legislator in the British Empire. • Roberta MacAdams: one of the two first women elected to the Alberta Legislative Assembly; one of the two first women elected to a legislature in Canada and in the British Empire; first and only woman representative to be elected by the Armed Services in the British Empire; first woman to introduce a piece of legislation in the British Empire • Mary Ellen Smith: she was the first woman to be elected to the British Columbia Legislative Assembly; first woman in the British Empire to be appointed a Minister and to serve as Acting Speaker of the Legislature. • Thérèse Casgrain: the first woman head of a political party in Québec.

17. Student investigations will vary. a) Status Indians were given the right to vote in 1867, on the condition that they gave up their treaty rights and Indian status. Very few were willing to give up their status and rights to vote in a system where they saw no representation for them. Another reason for not extending the franchise to Status Indians, (aside from the paternalistic and/or racist social attitudes of the day) was the notion that Aboriginal people would become the dupes of non-Aboriginal politicians.

Asians were not given the right to vote because they were thought to be "inassimilable”; meaning that Asians were incapable of taking on the (mainly British) characteristics considered necessary to be a "good Canadian."

Inuit were disenfranchised in 1934 when a provision was introduced called The Dominion Franchise Act which disqualified First Nations persons living on reserves and Inuit people from voting in federal elections. Again this was due largely to paternalistic and/or racist social attitudes.

The Military Voters Act of 1917 disenfranchised conscientious objectors and British subjects naturalized after 1902 who were born in an enemy country or who habitually spoke an enemy language. Most Mennonites in Canada at this time had come from Europe, spoke German, and were conscientious objectors.

b) Student research will vary.

According to The Charter of Rights and Freedoms, all Canadian citizens have the right to vote, subject only to "such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society." After 1982, this opened the floodgates for certain groups that were still disenfranchised, notably the mentally disabled.

Prior to 1988, people living in mental institutions had been excluded from voting in Canada's federal elections. That year, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that this restriction breached the Charter and the Canada Elections Act was amended and all passages that excluded the mentally disabled from casting their ballots were eliminated.

Figure 7-15 (Page 215) Pressure groups have been influencing change in Canada for decades.

Figure 7-16 (Page 216) Demonstration of the Assembly of First Nations.

Figure 7-17 (Page 217) In 2003, many Manitobans appeared before a provincial task force on environmental tobacco smoke to advocate for a ban on smoking in public spaces. Today, that goal has become a reality.

Thinking it Through (Page 219) 18. Student opinion answers will vary.

Inquiring Citizen (Page 219) 19. Student opinion answers will vary.

20. Student research will vary. Internet links to Lobbyists Registration Act include: • Department of Justice Canada--- http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/L-12.4/ • Government of Canada--- http://www.faa-lfi.gc.ca/docs/ap-pa/ap-pa05_e.asp

Organize and Understand (Page 220)

21. The media plays a large role in facilitating communication between MPs and their electorate. Media (television, newspapers, pamphlets/brochures, Internet) allow MPs to address the issues that concern their constituents.

Thinking it Through (Page 220)

22-24. Student opinion answers will vary.

Figure 7-18 (Page 222) Campaign workers during the 2004 election.

Figure 7-19 (Page 223) In response to public pressure, the Federal Elections Expenses Act, 1974, established the rules listed here. It was amended in 2004. Do you think candidates should be limited in the amount of money that they can spend on their campaigns?

Using Your Knowledge (Page 223) 25. Student opinion answers will vary.

Figure 7-20 (Page 224) The Conservative Party of Canada.

Figure 7-21 (Page 225) Prime Minister Stephen Harper, leader of the Conservative Party.

Figure 7-22 (Page 225) Stéphane Dion, leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Figure 7-23 (Page 225) The Liberal Party of Canada.

Figure 7-24 (Page 226) Leader of the New Democratic Party, Jack Layton

Figure 7-25 (Page 226) The New Democratic Party.

Figure 7-26 (Page 226) Leader of the Bloc Québécois, Gilles Duceppe

Figure 7-27 (Page 226) The Bloc Québecois

Organize and Understand (Page 229)

26. Four ways of influencing government are: voting in elections, expressing your opinion in the media, joining a pressure group, and joining a political party.

Using Your Knowledge (Page 229) 27. Student reports will vary.

Thinking it Through (Page 229) 28 - 30. Student opinion answers will vary.

Inquiring Citizen (Page 229) 31. Student responses will vary.

32. Information on the 2007 Manitoba election may be found at: • Elections Manitoba: http://www.elections.mb.ca/main/election/39gen/results/

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