High School Block:

Social Studies 9

Learners have opportunities for personalization through explorations of Canadian Identities and Civics in
compulsory Grade 9 and 10 courses, and a wide range of elective courses to support their interests, passions, and
sense of identity. Learners will engage with persistent issues across Canada and the globe and apply the skills
they have developed in history, geography, civics, and economics to real-world problems locally and globally. By
the end of Grade 12 this looks like having a strong sense of personal agency to effect change, a clear sense of the
systems that influence the lives of citizens, a solid understanding of place, and a developed identity as a global
citizen.

For Educators:

Social Studies 9 Companion Document

CONTEXTS AND CONCEPTS

CANADIAN IDENTITIES

GEOGRAPHY

  • Canada’s physical and human landscapes
  • Types of maps
  • Climate and climate change
  • Natural and human resources
  • Pervasive geographical issues in Canada

HISTORY

  • National identity over time in Canada
  • Immigration and migration Canada’s history
  • Indian Residential and Day Schools
  • World War II and the Holocaust
  • Pervasive historical issues in Canada

CIVICS

  • Nationalism and regionalism
  • Human rights legislation and issues
  • Government and governance in Canada
  • Minority rights in Canada
  • Pervasive civic issues in Canada

WABANAKI

  • Historic and contemporary influences on the treaty relationship
  • Indigenous governance
  • Sovereignty
  • Pervasive
  • Indigenous issues in Canada

ECONOMICS

  • Cost of living
  • Minimum wage
  • Standard of living
  • Food security
  • Pervasive economic issues in Canada
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GRADE 9

Strand: Geography

Big Idea: Places and Regions

Skill Descriptor: Investigate basic features of Canada’s landscape and climate.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Interpret at least three different types of maps
  • Explain the variations in the physical landscape across Canada
  • Investigate examples of the impact of climate change in Canada
  • Describe characteristics of Canada’s climate regions and variations between them
  • Discuss the difference between climate and weather

Big Idea: Human Systems and Interactions

Skill Descriptor: Analyze the effect of human settlement on place over time.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Discuss the historical events that have shaped the Canadian human landscape
  • Explain why communities are established and grow at particular locations
  • Assess the effect of natural and human resources on regional prosperity
  • Research the causes of and responses to resource depletion
  • Define regionalism in Canada
  • Describe world locations that have economic, technological, demographic, environmental, or political connections to Canada
  • Describe Canada’s landscape, climate, regionalism, and cultural diversity through analysis of art, literature, media, and music

Strand: History

Big Idea: Events and Peoples

Skill Descriptor: Analyze various perceptions of identities in Canada.

Global Competencies: CL, CM, CTPS, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Describe the concept of identity and what it means to them
  • Research how the concept of national identity in Canada has changed over time
  • Connect historical and current events to their own sense of identity
  • Discuss different Canadians’ point of view on what it means to be Canadian
  • Discuss factors that connect Canadians to shared identities
  • Debate the concept of a national identity in a diverse society
  • Describe Canadian identities through analysis of art, literature, media, and music

Skill Descriptor: Analyze the impact of migration and immigration on identities in Canada.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Explain why people migrate, including push and pull factors
  • Describe immigration patterns in Canada’s history, including the trafficking of enslaved persons
  • Explain the impact of immigration on Canada, including Canada’s history of discriminatory immigration policies
  • Investigate the impact of immigration to Canada on Indigenous ways of life
  • Discuss the relationship between immigration and the creation of the Residential and Day School systems for Indigenous Peoples
  • Explain requirements for entering Canada as an immigrant or refugee
  • Describe immigration and its impact in Canada through analysis of art, literature, media, and music

Strand: Civics

Big Idea: Civic Engagement

Skill Descriptor: Take age-appropriate actions that demonstrate the rights and responsibilities of citizenship (local, national, and global).

Global Competencies: CL, CM, CTPS, ICE, SASM, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Define citizenship, including rights and responsibilities
  • Analyze how the history of Canada has shaped concepts of citizenship
  • Discuss human rights as identified in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the NB Human Rights Act
  • Plan and carry out age-appropriate actions that demonstrate engaged citizenship

Big Idea: Power and Governance

Skill Descriptor: Explain the structures and operations of governance in Canada.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Describe how democracy works in Canada
  • Outline the operation and responsibilities of government at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels, including First Nations governance
  • Describe the roles and responsibilities of executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government
  • Explain the election process for governance in Canada
  • Identify the official political parties in Canada
  • Research the Federal government’s responsibilities in the international community

Big Idea: Rights and Responsibilities

Skill Descriptor: Investigate persistent issues involving the rights, responsibilities, roles, and status of individuals and groups in Canada.

Global Competencies: CL, CM, CTPS, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Discuss how the law can be a tool of oppression and a tool for equity
  • Describe Canada’s role in WWII and its effect on Canadian communities
  • Outline why some First Nations communities are seeking self-governance and what traditional modes of self-governance look like
  • Describe the historic and current state of duality and linguistic rights in Canada
  • Describe the historic and current work to end gender disparity in Canada
  • Describe the historic and current work to gain minority rights in Canada
  • Explain rights, responsibilities, roles, and status of peoples in Canada through analysis of art, literature, media, and music

Strand: Wabanaki

Big Idea: Treaty Education

Skill Descriptor: Examine key issues involving treaty relationships in Canada.

Global Competencies: CL, CM, CTPS, SASM, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Analyze how and why Western perspectives tend to be privileged over Indigenous perspectives
  • Outline issues impacting the treaty relationship, both historic and contemporary (statues of Cornwallis, John A. MacDonald, naming of university buildings, etc.)
  • Discuss contemporary legal implications and applications of the treaty relationship
  • Contrast the Peace and Friendship Treaties to other Treaties in Canada (for example, the Numbered Treaties)

Strand: Economics

Big Idea: Sustainability

Skill Descriptor: Investigate living conditions for groups in Canada.

Global Competencies: CL, CM, CTPS, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Compare minimum wage with costs of living (housing, food, amenities, childcare, etc.) across Canada
  • Describe minimum standards of living as described in human rights documents
  • Outline research-based and community-informed solutions to issues of food security, housing, and access to services in Canada
  • Identify ways that people use their skills and community support to address inequalities and to make life better for themselves and others
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