Making it Fair

Lesson Overview

Historical Thinking Concept(s)

• Identify continuity and change

Background Information

Lesson Activity

ACTIVATING

• In partners or small groups, ask students to define fairness. What is fair?  They can give examples from their everyday lives (e.g. fairness between siblings, fair rules for a game). Ask them to explain what fairness means to them on a basic level. Students should generate short sentences or key words. They can use post-it notes, chart paper or white boards, or a digital app to share their thoughts.
  • Teacher Tip: if students struggle with this question, ask students to explain what fairness looks like and feels like. How do they feel when they are treated fairly? Conversely, they may find it easier to explain what unfairness is using these prompts.
• Create a class list of criteria for fairness using students' thoughts. Some examples may be: everyone is treated equally, everyone is included, instructions and rules are clear, there are no secret rules, everyone’s voice is heard.
• Keep the class list in a visible location for the duration of the lesson.

ACQUIRING

• Students will begin by listing all the ways unfairness existed historically in Canada’s election rules and processes using the article “Scenes from the Bad Old Days” on page 20 in the Choosing Canada’s Leaders issue of Kayak: Canada’s History Magazine for Kids. Ask students to keep a list on chart paper or a digital whiteboard. Their responses should include:
  • voters insulted each other’s preferred candidates and got into altercations (20 people died in election-related violence)
  • election organizers divided up areas so they could increase the amount of people voting for who they wanted them to vote for
  • each province had their own rules about elections
  • there did not seem to be a lot of rules — like a candidate could just run for election in whatever area (riding) they wanted to
  • voters had to state their choice in public and could be intimidated to change their vote
  • people in positions of power tried to force others to vote how they wanted them to vote
  • business owners tried to intimidate their workers to vote a certain way
  • people running for election were bribing voters with free things and prizes
  • there didn’t seem to be any rules to verify who a voter was so they could vote many times or in many different areas/ridings
  • members of the House of Commons were found to have cheated during their election campaigns and had to quit
• In partners or small groups, ask students to rate how fair Canada’s elections seemed to be based on these historical examples. This can be a simple 1 (very unfair) to 5 (very fair). Ask students to prepare one reason to justify their ranking and share with the class. Alternately, students can physically line up in a ranking scale with students who select very unfair at one end of the line and others placing themselves along the line to very fair at the other end. Students can then share their reasoning with each other in line.
• Next, using the article, “The Election Trail,” and some details from the end of “Scenes from the Bad Old Days,” students will create a list of how these past unfair and unjust processes have been addressed to increase fairness in Canadian elections today. A simple chart paper or worksheet with columns titled “Historical Unfairness in Elections” —> “Making it Fair Today” will work.
• If students can’t find information in Kayak, ask them to brainstorm how they would make it fair today. At the end of the sharing process in a whole class discussion, highlight the areas that need further research. Divide students into groups and have them research how the issue has been addressed today.
  • You can refer to the Teacher Key for guidance on responses.

APPLYING

• Students can provide a final ranking for how fair or unfair Canada’s elections seem to be today using the same format described above and share their reasoning with each other or the class.
• An exit ticket, with the prompt: How fair do Canada’s elections seem to you?, would also be appropriate to assess student learning.

Resources

• Voting in Early Canada, The Canadian Encyclopedia.
• "Half the world will vote in 2024, but how many elections will be fair?," Toby James and Holly Ann Garnett, The Conversation, 15 March 2024.

Extension Activity

• The lesson can be extended to look at contemporary examples of unfairness in Canada’s elections today and/or elections around the world. In partners or small groups, students can research elections and look for examples of unfairness (e.g. voters not being registered properly, long lineups at voting sites, mistakes with voter information cards, corruption, voter intimidation, lack of choice in candidates, use of force/violence) and then consider whether they wish to change their final ranking on how fair Canada’s elections seem to be.