Social Studies, Grade 5

Before Europeans arrived, diverse First Nations and Inuit peoples lived across distinct regions — the Northwest Pacific Coast, Interior Plateau, Plains, Eastern Woodland, Sub-Arctic, and Arctic — each with its own way of life.

The Métis emerged from the meeting of First Nations and European (French and British) peoples during the fur trade, with their own origins, language, and history such as the Red River Métis and the North-West Resistance.

People move to Canada for reasons such as employment, family reunification, refuge, and education; refugees and immigrants come for different reasons.

Canada's treatment of newcomers has not always been fair — for example the Chinese head tax of the 1800s and the internment of Japanese Canadians in the 1930s–40s.

Canada has distinct physical regions — Western Cordilleran, Interior Plains, Canadian Shield, Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Lowlands, Appalachian, and Arctic/Innuitian — each with its own landforms and resources.

Canada is organized into geopolitical units (country, provinces, municipalities), and its physical geography helps explain where people settle.

Climate, resources, and topography shape where and how people live in Canada.

Different worldviews about the Earth affect how resources are used — for example Aboriginal and European attitudes toward land ownership, Treaties, and Crown land.

European explorers such as Cartier, Champlain, and Hudson came to what is now Canada, changing the societies they encountered.

Canada grew from 1608 to 1867 and then from 1867 onward, as provinces and territories joined Confederation at different times.

A constitution sets out how a country is governed; the British North America Act of 1867 and the Constitution Act and Charter of Rights and Freedoms of 1982 are key to Canada.

First Nations governments have their own structures — bands, band councils, and elected or hereditary chiefs.

First Nations self-government and national organizations such as the Assembly of First Nations give First Nations a voice in Canada.

Canada's federal government is patterned on the Westminster parliamentary system, with a House of Commons and a Senate.

Renewable resources (forests, fish, water) can be replaced; non-renewable resources (oil, minerals, potash) cannot.

Non-sustainable practices have consequences — lack of resources for the future, endangered species, and climate change — while conservation and reuse support sustainability.

Demographic trends — a growing senior population, a growing Aboriginal population, immigration rates, and rural depopulation — will shape Canada's future.

Canada's principal industries may change, such as large agricultural companies replacing family farms or technology industries growing in importance.