1. If you had a ballot in Newfoundland’s 1948 referendum to either form an independent country or join Canada as its 10th province, how would you have voted? Why?

2. Jennifer Holness says Viola Desmond “must have been so fed up, so sick of these laws or these rules – some of them clear, some of them hidden – that just tell you you’re just not one of us, you’re just not good enough, and we’re going to show you that in everything we do. And I think all those things go through your head, but you also think ‘I’m done. I’m not going to do this
anymore.’” Adolescents are often subject to
prejudice and discrimination. What are
some of the spoken and unspoken rules that you must follow that frustrate you?

3. Clement Virgo says of Viola Desmond,
“Imagine yourself as a Black Nova Scotian.
You know, you have your dignity being
denied on a daily basis in small ways, and
then you hear about this woman who said
‘No more’ and stood up. And then, the next
thing you know, you see her face on the
cover of the newspaper; what that must do
to the spirit.” Who is someone who inspires
you today? Why is that person an inspiration
to you?

4. Michie Mee says that Viola Davis “proves
that the smallest things you do may become
history. The resilience that you have inside
you to pursue your goals, to stand up for
what you believe in, in itself is history.” Why
does history remember some of these small
moments, but not others? What makes an
action historically significant?

5. Candy Palmater says “If you look at
oppression everywhere around the world,
the first thing the oppressor does is it takes
over the education of the people they want
to oppress.” Why might education be a
target for those looking to oppress others?
What norms, values and beliefs have you
been taught in your education?

6. Gerald McMaster says of the relationship
between Indigenous people and residential
schools, “For so long, the government had
such total control. You had Indian
agents...You had RCMP all over the place if
something happened. So that idea of fear
was always there.” How would you feel if
you were Stanley Redcrow and had to stand
idly by and watch the abuse of your son,
Andy, and be powerless to stop it?

7. Lorne Cardinal says of Canada’s Indigenous
peoples “We don’t need a paternalistic
society to tell us what’s good for us and
what we should do for the betterment of our
people. We’ll decide that.” If you were part
of a group negotiating towards self-
determination or self-government for your
people, what would be important to you?

8. Robert Bothwell says of the Richard Riots
“All of the resentment in Montreal about the
English, who are richer, who have better the
jobs, who speak only English, not French; all
of this explodes onto Sainte-Catherine
Street.” While Montrealers were certainly
upset about the suspension of their beloved
hockey star, Maurice Richard was a symbol
of greater anger and frustration among
Montreal’s francophone community. What
examples have you seen where a seemingly
small incident has sparked a much larger
protest? What caused those specific
incidents to go viral?





9. Pascal Bussière says of Quebecers’ reaction to the FLQ, “We’re not used to have this very polarized situation with extremist views. It left us with a big questioning about how far do we want to go to get to that freedom.” How would you answer Bussière’s question? What lessons did you learn from this episode about
how to effectively combat injustice and
oppression in the pursuit of freedom?


10. Charlotte Gray says that “Every generation
has reinvented this country and pulled
everybody along with it. And so this is still a
work in progress.” How will your generation
who are adolescents today reinvent
Canada when you assume positions of
power and influence? What will be your
priorities in making Canada a better place
than it is today?