By Melissa Chan
As a Chinese Canadian raised in Markham, Ontario, I grew up valuing academic success. Like many in my community, I was encouraged to focus on math, science and extracurricular activities such as piano. Civics, though required in Grade 10, was seen as less important.
That changed for me when I learned about Chinese Canadian history in high school. I was shocked by the discrimination that people who looked like me had faced in Canada. This connection to my heritage sparked my interest in history and led me to study it in university. I learned how marginalized communities resisted injustice and worked creatively to change laws and public opinion. I realized that civics is not just about the three levels of government: It’s about community, participation and creating change together.
As a regional education coordinator with Elections Canada, I had the opportunity to bring some of this learning to students in my community. But I found that the case studies in Elections Canada’s resources didn’t reflect the communities I was serving.
I decided to customize the resource Civic Action: Then and Now to fill the gap in students’ knowledge of the history of Chinese Canadian experiences in elections and democracy. This way, the students could see for themselves that Chinese Canadians were, and still are, active and determined advocates for their rights.
Civic Action: Then and Now gets students to analyze the civic actions of people in the past through case studies. These case studies explore how women in Manitoba achieved voting rights and how Indigenous Peoples worked together to ensure that their rights were included in Canada’s Constitution. The resource shows students how people in the past made change by participating as individuals, working together in groups, building public support and working through the political system.
Many students in the Markham area identify as East Asian. Students liked the Civic Action: Then and Now lesson, but they didn’t see themselves in the case studies. So, I adapted the activity to explore how Chinese Canadians got voting rights in Canada. The students got to see how people of their own heritage took action in the past to secure their rights today.
For example, they built alliances with South Asian and First Nations groups to advocate for each other, and they refused to serve in World War II without a promise of democratic rights. They formed groups, such as the Chinese Canadian Club, founded in 1914 in Victoria. They coined the term “Chinese Canadian” to challenge the idea that they were outsiders. Later, in the 1930s, Alice Yeh formed a group for youth to learn about Chinese culture from elders. The group wrote and performed plays for the public in Victoria to counter racist ideas of Chinese people at the time.
By learning how Chinese Canadians took civic action in the past to gain voting rights, students were inspired to think about their own role in making change and empowered to speak up about the things that matter to them.
After completing the case study, one Grade 5 student shared that he “learned more about Chinese Canadian history” and wanted “to do it more.” Another student in the same class said she “liked that there is a lesson about how a Grade 5 can make change” and that it made her feel “like [her] voice and opinion matter.” In a Grade 10 history class, one student remarked, “I am proud to talk about my own community.” Another reflected that, as a teenager, he wants to contribute to society but feels pressured by his parents to focus solely on his studies; he expressed a desire to learn more ways to take civic action.
The framework for civic action is very flexible and can be adapted so that your students can explore their own heritage. I was able to create a culturally relevant case study for the students in my community, and any teacher can do the same for their students. Students could also use the framework to analyze texts about past or present civic actions that are relevant to them. They can also take it further and plan their own civic action, taking inspiration from the resilience and courage of people in the past.
No matter what your students’ heritage is, Civic Action: Then and Now provides many possibilities for them to explore the connections between civic actions in the past and present and prepares them to participate in Canada’s democracy.
About the author
Melissa Chan was Elections Canada’s regional education coordinator in Markham, Ontario. She developed culturally relevant approaches and services for future electors in the area and offered in-person and virtual professional learning activities for educators.