Social Studies, Grade 5

Unit 1: First Peoples

Cluster 1: the First Peoples of North America before contact — their origins and stories, their deep connections to the land, their diverse pre-contact cultures and daily life, and how their communities governed themselves and used resources.

• Origins and migration
• The ice age and the land

• Canada's physical regions
• Traditional territories
• Beliefs and connection to the land

• Diverse cultures before contact
• Comparing daily life
• Stories of pre-contact and early contact

• Leadership in First Peoples communities
• How communities interacted
• Views of natural resources

Unit 2: Early European Colonization (1600 to 1763)

Cluster 2: Europeans arrive and colonize — early exploration and the search for new lands, the building of Nouvelle-France, the interaction of cultures, and the wars and conquest that reshaped early Canada.

• European colonial empires
• Why Europeans came to North America
• Explorers and the Northwest Passage
• Places of the colonization era

• Life in Nouvelle-France
• The royal government
• Builders of Nouvelle-France

• Impact of contact
• Life in Atlantic settlements

• European wars in early Canada
• The Acadian deportation
• The conquest of Nouvelle-France
• Where Europeans settled and why

Unit 3: Fur Trade

Cluster 3: the fur trade that shaped Canada — its expansion across the land, its dependence on First Nations and Métis peoples, daily life and rivalry between the trading companies, and the rise of the Métis Nation.

• Global forces behind the fur trade
• How the fur trade shaped Canada
• Fur trade moves west and north
• Mapping the fur trade and Métis Nation

• How the land shaped the trade
• The stories in place names
• Fur trade versus farming

• Daily life in the fur trade
• Stories of the fur trade
• The trade depended on First Nations and Métis
• Rival trading companies

• The rise of the Métis Nation
• Traditional Métis lands
• Diversity of pre-Confederation Canada
• Changing European views of First Peoples

Unit 4: From British Colony to Confederation (1763 to 1867)

Cluster 4: the road to Confederation — early immigration and the Loyalists, sharing the land (including the Selkirk Settlement), conflict and reform, negotiating Confederation, and how citizenship in 1867 compares to today.

• Why people immigrated
• The United Empire Loyalists
• How migration affects identity

• First Peoples, traders, and settlers
• The Selkirk Settlement

• The War of 1812
• The Rebellions of 1837–1838
• Canada East and Canada West

• Arguments for and against Confederation
• Building Confederation
• The first four provinces

• Citizens' rights in 1867
• Who was left out in 1867
• Citizenship then and now