Welcome to yet another Humanities blog post! This project was about the Confederation of Canada.
The Driving Question: What did nationalism mean for people around Canada?
We started this project with learning a bit about nationalism. Nationalism is a group of people who have shared beliefs, values, language, culture and ideologies. Part of the definition is that the nation is the people, and the nation expresses what the people want.
After learning about nationalism we did a little assignment called Current Events. We had to chose an article we found and explain how it showed nationalism. I chose an article from Japan (what a surprise) about the US military bases in Okinawa. Here it is:
We also did a symbols of Canada keynote where we chose a symbol of Canada, and explain where it came from, what group of people it is associated with, and its importance to Canada.
I chose the beaver. Here is my keynote:
Almost forgot about this part of the project, the Simulation! We were put into groups, each representing one of the Canadian colonies (Canada North+ East, Nova Scotia, PEI, New Brunswick, and New Foundland). Kira, Jessie and I were PEI. We discussed what we wanted from joining the Confederation, and what we could provide. After a group talk with all the colonies, we landed on some common ground, such as the building of a railway to connect everyone and military representation.
Here is my paragraph reflecting on the simulation:
Then we began brainstorming ideas for our board game. Here is Kira and I’s board game proposal.
We adapted the game later on after coming up with better ideas.
Here are our final rules:
And some of the cards.
Now to answer the driving question – What did nationalism mean for people around Canada?
Nationalism meant different things for different people in Canada. For settlers, it meant coming to together and establishing a colony. For them, it was an important achievement, becoming independent from the British. For First Nations People, it was a horrible experience, their land was taken against their will, families torn apart, children taken away to residential schools, and more. They were given no say in the Confederation, even though it was their land. Racist white men came to Canada, exploited the native people, and did what was good for themselves. They did not consider what they were doing or what consequences it would have in the future.
Thank you for reading!