Overall Expectations Addressed:
A1. Political Inquiry: use the political inquiry process and the concepts of political thinking when
investigating issues, events, and developments of civic importance;
A2. Developing Transferable Skills: apply in everyday contexts skills developed through investigations
related to civics and citizenship education, and identify some careers in which civics and citizenship
education might be an asset.
B2. Governance in Canada: explain, with reference to a range of issues of civic importance, the roles
and responsibilities of various institutions, structures, and figures in Canadian governance
Activity: Who's Who in our government
| Who's Who in Government |
Did you know?Waterdown District High School has its own Parliament with different roles and responsibilities? The positions held by our students can all be found in Canada's expression of parliamentary democracy. |
 Vice Principal Merlino returns the mace to the 2011 Student Parliament of WDHS |
Whether it is The Queen, prime minister, or the sergeant-at-arms, every position in our Parliament (at Waterdown, or Ontario or Canada) has an important role to play.
| Waterdown District High School's Student Parliament Constitution |
The Written and unwritten Constitution, including Responsible Government
Most Canadians of all ages have little to no understanding of the Canadian Constitution. Perhaps because the country is inundated by American media and entertainment, Canadians think that their constitution closely resembles that of the United States, but this is simply not so. While the American Constitution is a written document, the Canadian version is a complex series of written and unwritten traditions, conventions and practices.
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Canada's Written and Unwritten Constitution
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What does Responsible Government mean?
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Reviewing Responsible Government
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Canada's form of government is a Constitutional Monarchy
Thanks to Canada's ideologies we govern ourselves using a system of government called a Constitutional Monarchy. This means that the state is built around the Canadian Crown, which is personified (represented in a human way) by Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of Canada. Our government is seen as separate from the State (or Crown), and is run by a Prime Minister.
 The Federal Parliament of Canada Canada's Federal Parliament is made up of three parts:
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