Teacher Resources

How to use this Resource

The process by which Canada is governed is a complex and exciting one. Every day in the news, there are updated reports on the issues, personalities, and processes of Parliament available at your fingertips. It is important that your students become informed, interested, critical, and conscientious Canadian citizens.

Learning goals and outcomes

  • This resource will increase your students’ understanding of the parliamentary system.
  • Students will learn how they can connect to and interact with their representatives.
  • This resource provides an opportunity for students to examine the processes of Parliament as they occur, using the daily news.
  • The activities will allow your students to learn about and assess the decision-making process in Canada from a non-partisan perspective.

Activities

The activities are designed to satisfy a variety of student learning styles. They have been designed to address the following:

  • People who work at Parliament
  • The parliamentary process (lawmaking)
  • How Parliament affects all Canadians
  • The role of the media in relation to Parliament

Classroom Preparation

Watch the following videos and discuss before doing the activity. Consider supporting this with examples of live proceedings from the Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC).

Discussion questions

Go over the following discussion questions with your class to understand their news reading habits.

  1. How often do you read the news?
  2. Where do you go to access the news?
  3. What are some of your favourite news sources?
  4. How often do you read print news?
  5. What are some of the differences between online news sources and print news?

Supporting resources