Teachers Resources

The questions presented within the students' section are designed to facilitate the students' deeper understanding of human relations, the problem of intolerance and creative ways to address the issue of racism today. Each set of questions are identified as essay, discussion, and extra projects for your convenience.
We suggest that before students begin the study of intolerance, time is taken, as a class, to look at words such as intolerance, racism, prejudice and discrimination and decide what they mean (see Discussion questions).

Grade 10

1) Writing Assignment
Storybook
Choose one of the following pictures. Use the information from the site to write a two page fictional story about an event depicted in one of the pictures.

Hints:
Think about the who, what, when, where that could be happening within the picture. Ask yourself "who are these people in the picture?", "what are they doing?", "when was the picture taken?", "where was the picture taken?" Then expand with details about the lives of the immigrant people.

From this question, we hope students will synthesise all they have learned from the site to write a fictional story about the experiences of people who immigrated to Canada. The picture choices cover a range of subjects and topics, so students will have different options and more opportunities to learn about the occurrences (how lived, where lived, how were treated, etc.) in the lives of Italian, Remittance Men and Chinese. The students' stories can be similar to the examples provided.

2) Writing Assignment
After reading through the site, choose one of the following prompts and write a paragraph in response:
(a) Two issues this site raises are...
(b) Two things I learned are...

These short essay questions are designed to achieve students' response to the subject of intolerance and the experiences of immigrants to Canada.

3) Writing Assignment
Write a two page essay in answer to one of the following questions:
(a) What is an issue that this site raises and how does this relate to life today?
(b) Write about one thing you have learned from the site. How can you apply this knowledge to other life experiences?

Through these essay questions, students will apply the information provided in the site to their own lives and experiences.

4) Writing Assignment
The following are interesting quotes about the subject of intolerance and human relations.
Your assignment is to:
(a) Choose one quote. Write two paragraphs in answer to the following:
(b) Explain the quote in your own words.
(c) What does the quote say about human relations?

(1) George Bernard Shaw
"The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity."

(2) Martin Luther King
"I look to a day when people will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character."

(3) Helen Keller
"The highest result of education is tolerance."

(4) Abraham Lincoln
"Fellow citizens, we cannot escape our history."

(5) 1902 Royal Commission - summary -
page 692
1. That the Chinese do not assimilate with the white race in British Columbia, and it would not be desirable if they did.
2. That it is not desirable to give them the franchise, as they are not and will not become citizens in the proper sense of the term or an integral part of the nation."

(6) Anton Chekhov
"Love, friendship, respect, do not unite people as much as a common hatred for something."

(7) John A. Macdonald
"The Chinese are foreigners. If they come to this country, after three years' residence, they may, if they choose, be naturalised. But still we know that when the Chinaman comes here he intends to return to his own country; he does not bring his family with him; he is a stranger, a sojourner in a strange land, for his own purposes for a while; he has no common interest with us, and while he gives us his labor and is paid for it, and is valuable, the same as a threshing machine or any other agricultural implement which we may borrow from the United States on hire and returnt to the owner on the south side of the line; a Chinaman gives us his labor and gets money, but that money does not fructify in Canada; and if he cannot, his executors or his friends send his body back to the flowery land. But he has no British instincts or British feelings or aspirations, and therefore ought not to have a vote."

(8) CHIEF JOSEPH OF THE NEZ PERCE
"Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade where I choose, free to choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to talk, think and act for myself -- and I will obey every law or submit to the penalty."

(9) Geroge Bernard Shaw
"There is nothing so bad or so good that you will not find an Englishman doing it; but you will never find an Englishmen in the wrong. He does everything on principle. He fights you on patriotic principles; he robs you on business principles; he enslaves you on imperial principles."

(10) Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Shall we judge a country by the [status of the] majority, or by the [status of the] minority. By the minority, surely."

(11) Walt Whitman
"As if it harmed me, giving others the same chances and rights as myself-as if it were not indispensable to my own rights that others possess the same. "

(12) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

(13) Albert Einstein
"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence."

(14) Kahlil Gibran
"I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers."

These response questions are designed to enhance students' critical thinking skills and to apply the information from the site to a wide range of sources.

5) Writing Assignment
Go to the Canada's Government and the "Chinese Problem" page. Then answer the following questions:
Q - Did the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act tackle the concerns of the majority of the Canadian population? If yes, in what way? What would the Chinese Exclusion Act have meant for Chinese people living in Canada, and for those wanting to come to Canada?

These questions deal with a single government act that greatly effected the lives of those Chinese living in Canada. The questions relate directly to the act and the repercussions. For those Chinese people living in Canada, the act singled them out as outsiders who did not belong and who were not wanted.

6) Writing Assignment
From the documents presented throughout the site, compare and contrast the experiences of two of the three immigrant groups (Chinese, Italian, Remittance Men). How where their experiences the same? How where their experiences different?

This question broadly looks at the lives of the three immigrant groups, and through comparing and contrasting two groups, the student will learn more details of the immigrants' lives and about how the situations differed.

7) Writing Assignment
"Another accused murderer lies awaiting his trial in the Nelson gaol[jail]. He is an Italian named Bruino, arrested some ten days ago near Goat River Landing on the charge of having caused the death of a fellow-countryman. Both the alleged murderer and his victim are of the labouring class, and the weapon used was a revolver. Italians, in their own country, do not, as a rule, carry firearms - cold steel is their choice for the offensive and defensive; but in this country they appear to take the revolver, and to use it upon the slightest provocation. We have on many occasions pointed out the necessity of searching characters of this class, and when concealed weapons are found upon them to impose the heaviest penalty the law will allow."
THE NELSON ECONOMIST, August 24, 1898, p.2

Q - What commonly held historical stereotypes does one find in this document? What effect would the stereotypes have on how this group was treated by other members of society? What does this piece tell you about the person who wrote it?

This essay questions deals with a specific case and how the case was presented to the public. The Italian man is portrayed as yet another case of a violent Italian.

8) Writing Assignment
Choose one of the following prompts and write a paragraph in
response:
(a) Intolerance of other people based on their skin colour or race is not acceptable because...
(b) The diversity of people found in our class is a positive situation because...
(c) People throughout the world are intolerant towards other tribes, nations, and races because...
(d) Individually, I can improve the situation by...

These questions focus on the subject of intolerance. Students can take an active role and think about what they can do to discourage intolerance. Because these questions are to be written, the students have a chance to express their feelings without the concern of their peers' input.

9) Discussion
Within small groups or as a class, discuss the following questions:
(a) What is racism?
(b) How does racism effect people when it is directed at them?
(c) Why do you think people are racist?
(d) What can you do to stop racism?

These group discussion questions are a good opportunity to discuss the basic topic of racism (or intolerance) with the class. From here, they may like to write their answers down.

(10) Extra Project

Crossword

This project encourages students to delve into the site and the topics in order to answer the questions.

The answers are:
Across
2. British Remittance Men
6. rice
9. remittance
12. lice
13. Trail
14. Phillips
15. violent
16. gold
Down
1. Fernie
3. railway
4. hydrolic mining
5. meetings
7. families
8. swing pick
10. mining
11. cricket

11) Writing Assignment
Vander Zalm vs. The Golden Star

Globe and Mail - Wednesday, September 15, 1999
By Rod Mickleburgh
In response to the Chinese migrants that arrived on the B.C. coast during the summer of 1999, Bill Vander Zalm said: If the situation isn't resolved in six weeks, put the people on a plane to Ottawa. "I'm sure you'll get some action then," former B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm said yesterday.

The Golden Star, May 12, 1905, p.2
It might be a good idea if some benevolently-inclined individual would ship a few of them to Eastern Canada and stock the market there, where the people have bucked our anti-Chinese laws to a standstill in the immediate past. By all means give them a taste of the yellow peril, and we will guarantee that there will be no more opposition to our restrictions on Asiatic immigration.

The above quotes are taken from newspapers published 94 years apart.

Answer the following questions:
1) What does each quote argue?
2) Based on the above quotes, have attitudes changed in 94 years? If 'yes', in what ways have attitudes changed? If 'no', in what ways have attitudes stayed the same?

This question is meant to bring the past situation into the present day by teaching the fact that attitudes have not changed over the past century. Within some areas of the population, Chinese immigrants are considered to be as much of a problem today as they were ninety-four years ago. It is important to realise that racism is still a problem and that awareness of this is necessary. The next step can then be taken and students can follow the instructions for question number seven.

1) Writing Assignment
Storybook
Choose one of the following pictures. Use the information you have learned in the site to write a one page fictional story about an event depicted in the picture.
Hints:
Think about the who, what, when, where that could be happening within the picture. Ask yourself "who are these people in the picture?", "what are they doing?", "when was the picture taken?", "where was the picture taken?" Then expand with details about the lives of the immigrant people.

From this question, we hope students will synthesise all they have learned from the site to write a fictional story about the experiences of people who immigrated to Canada. The picture choices cover a range of subjects and topics, so students will have different options and more opportunities to learn about the occurrences (how lived, where lived, how were treated, etc.) in the lives of Italian, Remittance Men and Chinese. The students' stories can be similar to the examples provided.

2) Writing Assignment
After reading through the site, choose one of the following prompts and write a paragraph in response:
(a) One issue this site raises is...
(b) One thing I learned is...

These short essay questions are designed to achieve students' response to the subject of intolerance and the experiences of immigrants to Canada.

3) Writing Assignment
Write one page in answer to the following question:
(a) Write about one thing you have learned from the site. Has anything that you learned ever happened to you?

Through these essay questions, students will apply the information provided in the site to their own lives and experiences.

4) Extra Project
Map the possible routes Chinese, Italian and Remittance Men took to arrive in the Kootenays.
MAP

Through these question, students can familiarise themselves with the countries of the world and how far the journey was for those leaving their home countries.

5) Extra Project

Wordsearch

This project encourages students to delve into the site and the topic in order to find the words.

6) Brainstorm
In a small group, brainstorm ways in which Chinese people could have been treated better.

This question can develop group and thinking skill as well as learn how they can treat people with respect and tolerance.

7) Discussion
Within small groups or as a class, discuss the following questions:
(a) What is racism?
(b) How does racism effect people when it is directed at them?
(c) Why are people racist?
(d) What can you do to stop racism?

These group discussion questions are a good opportunity to discuss the basic topic of racism (or intolerance) with the class. From here, they may like to write their answers down.

8) Novel Study
The novel The White Jade Tiger written by British Columbian author, Julie Lawson, is a fantastic story that takes the reader into the depths of British Columbia's history. The Chinese people's experience is covered in an entertaining and thought-provoking way. While The White Jade Tiger does not focus on the Kootenays, it discusses events and issues that were relevant to all Chinese people entering B.C.

We suggest the following websites for use within the classroom: