CHC2D – Exploring Canada – Stage 1
Stage 1: Background Information and Research Question
•
This stage will require you to begin collecting general, background information on your topic. It will
serve to provide focus to your further research and help in the creation of a research question.
•
Consult the following resources for background information:
o Print or online general encyclopaedias (i.e. Canadian Encyclopaedia)
o Online databases (i.e. Canadian Points of View)
o Textbooks (i.e. Spotlight Canada)
•
Create a chart to document your notes from this background research. In your notes, create a chart like
the following and fill it in with the appropriate information.
Topic/Subject
Textbook
Suffrage –
gaining the
right to vote
Spotlight Canada:
• Suffragists = women who had
organized to advocate for the right to
vote
o Nellie McClung = ‘social
reformer’
• Women during WWI = doing traditional
male jobs
• Women wanted:
o Access to male dominated
careers:
o Doctors
o Lawyers
o Right to own property
o Right to vote
Right to Vote:
• Manitoba = first province to give
women the right to vote
o Followed by:
§ SK, AB, ON, BC
• Wartime Elections Act = 1917 grants
right to vote to:
o mothers, sisters, and wives of
soldiers
o nurses at the front
• By end of war = most women in
Canada over 21 could vote in federal
elections
• Not granted right to vote:
o Aboriginal women (some men)
o Asians & other minorities
• Dominion Elections Act – allowed
women to run for political office
Online Encyclopaedia
Canadian Encyclopaedia:
Quebec:
• Women could vote if they owned
property (1809)
o 1849 = word ‘male’ in law &
women no longer vote
Canada:
• 1900 = women = vote in municipal
• 1912 = Nellie McClung = advocate
Wartime Elections Act – 1917:
• Some immigrants lost right to vote
o If emigrated to Canada after
1902
May 24th, 1918:
• “all female citizens aged 21 and over
became eligible to vote in federal
elections”
July 1919:
• Women = could run for election (but
not Senate)
Provincial Voting Rights:
• All provinces eventually grant suffrage
in provincial elections
o NS – 1918
o Last = QC – 1940
1996:
• greatest # of women (i.e. 52) in H of C
• 8 = Cabinet Ministers
• 24 women in Senate
Developing your Research Question
• After you have completed a significant amount of research, complete a focus statement:
I am researching suffrage in Canada because I want to find out how Canadian society responded
to the issue of suffrage for women in order to help my audience understand played in Canadian
women becoming involved in the democratic process of voting and participating in politics.
•
Use the 5 Ws and How method to create several questions about your topic to further focus
your research (come up with a minimum of TWO questions for each category).
WHO
WHAT
WHERE
WHEN
WHY
HOW
Who was involved with the suffrage movement?
Who were the individuals who advocated for the right to vote?
Who were the individuals who advocated against suffrage?
Who benefited from women gaining the right to vote?
Who was Nellie McClung? Agnes Macphail? Cory Hind?
What happened in 1917 to allow women to vote? i.e. causes
What was the Wartime Elections Act?
What was the Dominion Elections Act?
What were the consequences of the Wartimes Election Act?
What was the response of Canadians to the Wartimes Election Act?
What was the Women’s Christian Temperance Union?
What role did the WCTU play in gaining the vote in 1917?
What were the long term consequences of women gaining the right to vote? i.e.
consequences
Where did the ideas for suffrage begin? i.e causes
Where did the suffragettes meet and organize?
Which city/province advocated the most?
When did women begin to organize and advocate for the right to vote? i.e. causes
When did women in other parts of the world (i.e. England and the US) receive the
right to vote?
Why was it important to Canadian women that they be able to vote in elections?
i.e. historical significance
Why didn’t men believe that women should be granted the right to vote? i.e.
historical perspective
Why did women originally need to own property to be allowed to vote?
Why did one piece of legislation – i.e. Wartime Elections Act – change the face of
Canadian society? i.e. consequences and/or historical significance
Why was gaining of the right to vote significant to Canadian women (and other
minority groups)? and/or historical significance
How did Canadians respond to women who gained the right to vote? i.e.
consequences
How did English Canadian women respond? i.e. historical perspective
How did French Canadian women respond? i.e. historical perspective
How did non-English/non-French Canadians (i.e. Aboriginal/Asian/Enemy Aliens)
respond? i.e. consequences
How did gaining of the right to vote lead to the gaining of other rights for women?
and/or historical significance
Research Question:
Why was the introduction of the Wartimes Elections Act important to Canadian women?
OR
How did the gaining of the right to vote in 1918 lead to women gaining other rights during the
20th century?