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Social Studies 20-1

Social Studies 20-1 · Worksheets

National identity in Canada

Ten questions of mixed difficulty, covering Canada. Print it, or work through it on screen — the answer key starts on its own page.

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National identity in Canada

Social Studies 20-1 · maddyhelps.com

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Circle the best answer for each question. Show your work in the space provided.

  1. Residential schools were intended to

    1. a) teach Indigenous languages
    2. b) provide the same education as other Canadian schools
    3. c) assimilate Indigenous children by separating them from their families, languages and cultures
    4. d) prepare students for university

  2. Treaties between the Crown and First Nations are best understood as

    1. a) informal understandings with no legal force
    2. b) agreements between provinces
    3. c) one-time land sales that are now historical
    4. d) nation-to-nation agreements whose terms remain legally binding today

  3. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 94 Calls to Action are

    1. a) recommendations addressed to governments, churches, schools and other institutions
    2. b) legally binding court orders
    3. c) a list of compensation payments
    4. d) amendments to the Constitution

  4. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was adopted in

    1. a) 1982
    2. b) 1867
    3. c) 1969
    4. d) 1949

  5. Canada is officially

    1. a) neither bilingual nor multicultural
    2. b) bilingual and monocultural
    3. c) bilingual and multicultural
    4. d) unilingual and multicultural

  6. Bill 101, the Charter of the French Language, was passed in 1977 to

    1. a) make French the common public language of Quebec
    2. b) ban the use of English in private homes
    3. c) remove French from Quebec schools
    4. d) make Quebec officially bilingual

  7. The three distinct Indigenous peoples recognised in Canada's Constitution are

    1. a) First Nations, Inuit and Francophones
    2. b) First Nations, Métis and Inuit
    3. c) Treaty peoples, Status Indians and settlers
    4. d) Métis, Inuit and immigrants

  8. In the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty, the result was

    1. a) a decisive No, by about twenty points
    2. b) a narrow Yes
    3. c) a tie requiring a second vote
    4. d) a narrow No, by about one percentage point

  9. The argument that Canada is a nation of nations rests on the claim that

    1. a) Canadian identity is defined only by citizenship
    2. b) every province is a separate country
    3. c) several peoples with their own identities share one state without merging into one nation
    4. d) Canada has no national identity at all

  10. A common criticism of Canadian multiculturalism policy is that it

    1. a) applies only in Quebec
    2. b) requires immigrants to abandon their culture
    3. c) can emphasise difference in a way that weakens a shared national identity
    4. d) has no legal basis

Answer key · National identity in Canada

Social Studies 20-1 · maddyhelps.com

  1. c) assimilate Indigenous children by separating them from their families, languages and cultures — The Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded in 2015 that the system amounted to cultural genocide. Understanding the intent is what makes the lasting harm intelligible.
  2. d) nation-to-nation agreements whose terms remain legally binding today — Canadian courts have repeatedly affirmed them as living obligations, and the parties often understood their terms very differently at the time. That gap is at the centre of many modern land and rights cases.
  3. a) recommendations addressed to governments, churches, schools and other institutions — They are not law, which is why progress depends on political will and can be measured — and is. The Commission reported in 2015 after hearing thousands of survivors.
  4. a) 1982 — It came with the patriation of the Constitution in 1982. Quebec's government did not sign, which set up the Meech Lake and Charlottetown attempts to bring it in later.
  5. c) bilingual and multicultural — The Official Languages Act of 1969 made English and French the languages of the federal government, and multiculturalism became policy in 1971 and law in 1988.
  6. a) make French the common public language of Quebec — It governs the language of work, commerce, signage and schooling. Defenders see it as the minimum needed for a French-speaking society in an English-speaking continent; critics see it as a limit on individual choice.
  7. b) First Nations, Métis and Inuit — Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 names all three and affirms their existing rights. They are distinct peoples with different histories, languages and legal relationships to the Crown.
  8. d) a narrow No, by about one percentage point — 50.6% voted No and 49.4% Yes, on a turnout of nearly 94%. The 1980 referendum had been about 60–40 against, so the margin had narrowed dramatically.
  9. c) several peoples with their own identities share one state without merging into one nation — It treats Quebec, Indigenous nations and the wider Canadian community as real and simultaneous. The counter-argument is that a state needs a single shared identity to hold together at all, which is the heart of Related Issue 4.
  10. c) can emphasise difference in a way that weakens a shared national identity — Supporters answer that a shared civic identity does not require cultural uniformity. This is the Canadian form of the civic-versus-ethnic nationalism argument from Related Issue 1.