Activity 2

Are you Responsible?

Objectives

To become familiar with:

1. the development of Canada's unique form of democracy during the pre-Confederation years;
2. terms such as representative government, responsible government, democracy and other important concepts; and
3. the reasons for the evolution of responsible governments, in Canada and elsewhere.

Directions

1. Discuss the definitions of, and differences between, responsible and representative governments (see the Glossary in the Additional Resources section of the guide). You may wish to have the group decide whether their local school's form of government is responsible or representative, or both.
2. As a whole or in smaller groups, discuss the following questions:
   1. What kind of government does Canada have today?
   2. Why do responsible governments often, as in North America, evolve after representative governments?
   3. Is it possible to have a “true democracy”—one in which the citizens rule themselves, directly and equally? Why or why not?
   4. What are the advantages of representative democracy?
   5. What are the disadvantages of representative democracy?
   6. How might interconnectivity—the Internet, etc.—lead to true democracy (e.g. every citizen could vote on every issue and/or bill that affects them)? Would they like such a system? Is it feasible?
3. With this discussion in mind, have users read background material on the development of our system of government. In addition to available library resources, there are excellent on-line resources, such as the Canadian Encyclopedia and other Web sites listed in the Additional Resources section of this guide.
4. Using this information, complete the activity sheet, showing for each of the places and dates how they represent progress toward our current federal and provincial/territorial systems of government. In particular, focus on appointed versus elected representatives and the role and rights of the average citizen.
5. Optional activity (enrichment) on cause and effect: create a list of events and pressures that tend to lead to a more democratic form of government. Relate this list to current events on the international stage; where do they see similar developments? They may use newspapers, news magazines and the Internet to research developments in democracy and representative governments.

Activity Sheet

ARE YOU RESPONSIBLE?

Using the format below, recreate the chart and fill in the missing information.