CBC Archives

Have students read the following quotation from Clip #7 of The Battle for Aboriginal Treaty Rights on the CBC Radio and Television Archives Web site: “Conditions on reserves are substandard and Canada's native people have a higher rate of unemployment. As a result, aboriginal protest has taken on a new and more violent form.” Have students take apart the two sentences, showing cause and effect. Ask: Do you see a real connection between the “causes” in the first sentence and the “result” in the second sentence? Do you think violence is a necessary result of substandard conditions and a high rate of unemployment? Generate a class discussion around the issue of violent protest.

Have students view or listen to Clips #7 and #8. Have them use this information of conflicting views to present “Two Stories of Ipperwash.” They can write this as two monologues, two comic strips, or two rap songs. Their creative works should reflect responses, likely differing, to questions like the following:

Why did the protest become violent?

Was the violence planned?

Who was at fault?

Did the government respond appropriately?

Have students share their creative works with the class. Ask them for their views about what happened and then encourage a general discussion of the appropriateness and effectiveness of violent action to resolve land claims.

Students can view the Additional Clips “RCMP and native people stand off at Gustafsen Lake” and “Man dies in Ipperwash confrontation (Warning: profanity in clip)” and reflect in their journals on the question: To what extent were the violent actions a factor in positively resolving the land claims in question?