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Social Studies 9

Social Studies 9 · Worksheets

Year-end challenge

Ten questions of mixed difficulty, covering Collective rights, Consumerism and politics, Government, Immigration, Justice. Print it, or work through it on screen — the answer key starts on its own page.

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Year-end challenge

Social Studies 9 · maddyhelps.com

Name
Date
Score
/ 10

Circle the best answer for each question. Use the space to note the reasoning or the source detail that decided it.

  1. A news alert reads: "Housing bill passes third reading in the House of Commons." What must still happen before the bill becomes law?

    1. a) A majority of the provinces must vote to accept it
    2. b) Nothing, because the elected House has approved it
    3. c) It must pass the Senate and then receive Royal Assent
    4. d) The Supreme Court must review and approve it first

  2. A summary: "Québec's Charter of the French Language, Bill 101 (1977), made French the language of work, business and most schooling in Québec. Most children of newcomers must attend French-language schools." Which view would a supporter of Bill 101 most likely hold?

    1. a) French needs legal protection to survive in English-speaking North America
    2. b) Only the federal government should pass laws about language
    3. c) Every parent should be free to choose the language of their child's school
    4. d) Québec should make English its second official language

  3. Speaker 1, a restaurant owner in Brooks: "I can't hire enough cooks. Without newcomers, I'll have to close two days a week." Speaker 2, a renter in Calgary: "Rents keep climbing. Population growth should slow until more housing is built." Which statement best describes the two perspectives?

    1. a) Speaker 1 opposes immigration; Speaker 2 wants more of it
    2. b) Speaker 1 focuses on labour shortages; Speaker 2 on housing
    3. c) Both speakers are mainly worried about national security
    4. d) Both speakers want Canada to stop immigration entirely

  4. Source 1, an Elder: "Our ancestors agreed to share the land, to live in peace, and to be looked after. They did not sell the land." Source 2, the written English text of the treaty: the First Nations "cede, release, surrender and yield up" their rights to the land. What do the two sources show?

    1. a) Both sources agree the land was sold for a fixed price
    2. b) The Elder is mistaken, since only the written text counts
    3. c) The treaty was never agreed to by First Nations leaders
    4. d) The oral and written understandings of the treaty differ

  5. A backbench MP: "My bill to ban a harmful chemical passed the House and the Senate and received Royal Assent last June. But the department still hasn't written the regulations needed to enforce it." Which conclusion does this source best support?

    1. a) Making a law and carrying it out are jobs for different branches
    2. b) Only a bill written by Cabinet can ever become a law
    3. c) The Senate can block a law after it has received Royal Assent
    4. d) The courts must approve a law before it can be enforced

  6. A letter to the editor: "In some American states, voters elect their judges. Canada should do the same, so judges have to follow what the public wants." Which principle of Canada's justice system does this proposal most directly challenge?

    1. a) Judicial independence
    2. b) The presumption of innocence
    3. c) Party discipline
    4. d) Responsible government

  7. A contractor tells a homeowner: "I'll paint your whole house for $2000 cash. No receipt, no tax." If a lot of work in a community is done this way, what is the most likely effect on quality of life there?

    1. a) Stronger consumer protection for local buyers
    2. b) Higher official employment figures for the region
    3. c) Less tax money for schools, roads and health care
    4. d) Lower prices for every good sold in the economy

  8. A timeline: 1885, head tax on Chinese immigrants. 1923, Chinese Immigration Act bars almost all Chinese immigrants. 1947, that Act is repealed. 1967, a points system applies the same criteria to all applicants. Which conclusion does the timeline best support?

    1. a) Policy moved from open discrimination toward the same rules for all
    2. b) The head tax was replaced directly by the points system in 1947
    3. c) Canada's policy treated every applicant equally from Confederation on
    4. d) Chinese immigration was fully banned from 1885 until the points system

  9. A family from Québec visiting Banff National Park gets service in French at the Parks Canada visitor centre, but most shops in the town serve customers only in English. What best explains the difference?

    1. a) Federal institutions must serve the public in both official languages
    2. b) The Charter requires every business to offer both English and French
    3. c) Shops must use French only in towns where most people are francophone
    4. d) Alberta made French an official language only inside national parks

  10. A summary: "In Mahé v. Alberta (1990), the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that francophone parents in Edmonton had a right to a degree of management and control over their children's French-language schools." What was the most direct result in Alberta?

    1. a) Alberta used the notwithstanding clause to reverse the ruling
    2. b) All Alberta students had to study French until Grade 12
    3. c) French became an official language of the Alberta government
    4. d) Francophone school authorities run by francophones were created

Answer key · Year-end challenge

Social Studies 9 · maddyhelps.com

  1. c) It must pass the Senate and then receive Royal Assent — A bill must pass both the House of Commons and the Senate in the same form, then receive Royal Assent from the Governor General. Courts do not approve bills in advance; they rule on a law only if someone challenges it later.
  2. a) French needs legal protection to survive in English-speaking North America — Supporters argue that francophones are a small minority on an English-speaking continent, so without laws French would lose ground at work and in school. Free parental choice is the position of Bill 101's critics, who see it as limiting individual rights for the sake of a collective one.
  3. b) Speaker 1 focuses on labour shortages; Speaker 2 on housing — Speaker 1 sees newcomers as the answer to a labour shortage; Speaker 2 wants growth slowed, not stopped, because of pressure on housing. Both views are part of the real debate over immigration levels, and the skill is naming what each speaker is weighing.
  4. d) The oral and written understandings of the treaty differ — The written text uses the language of surrender, while First Nations oral histories describe an agreement to share the land in peace. The treaties were negotiated through interpreters and spoken promises, and Canadian courts now consider that context, so treating the written text as the only record is the mistake.
  5. a) Making a law and carrying it out are jobs for different branches — Parliament, the legislative branch, passed the law, but the executive (ministers and their departments) writes the regulations and enforces it. The source itself shows a backbencher's bill becoming law, so the claim that only Cabinet bills can pass is contradicted by the evidence.
  6. a) Judicial independence — Canadian judges are appointed and very hard to remove so that they can decide cases on the law and the evidence, even when a ruling is unpopular. The writer wants judges to answer to voters, which is exactly the pressure judicial independence exists to prevent.
  7. c) Less tax money for schools, roads and health care — Unreported cash work is part of the underground economy, so no tax is collected on it and public services have less to spend. The work never shows up in official figures, and buyers lose protection too, since there is no receipt if the job goes wrong.
  8. a) Policy moved from open discrimination toward the same rules for all — The timeline runs from a tax on one group, to a near-total ban, to repeal, to a system that scores everyone the same way. The ban lasted from 1923 to 1947; before 1923, Chinese immigrants could still come if they paid the tax, which is the detail the tempting wrong answer skips.
  9. a) Federal institutions must serve the public in both official languages — The Official Languages Act (1969) makes English and French the official languages of federal institutions such as Parks Canada, which offers its services in both. The Act does not cover private shops, and Alberta has never made French an official language of its government.
  10. d) Francophone school authorities run by francophones were created — Management and control meant francophone parents needed a real say in running their own schools, so Alberta set up francophone school authorities in the years that followed. Alberta has never made French an official language of its government; New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province.