Canadian Studies · Grade 10

Active learning ideas

Government Responses to Depression

Active learning shifts students from passive note-taking to grappling with real dilemmas faced by leaders during the Great Depression. By debating policies, simulating protests, and analyzing party platforms, students connect abstract government responses to human consequences, making this historical period more vivid and relevant.

• Ontario Curriculum Expectations
• ON: Canada, 1929–1945 - Grade 10
• ON: Social, Economic, and Political Context - Grade 10

• 35–50 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Town Hall Meeting
• 50 min · Small Groups

Policy Debate: King vs. Bennett

Divide class into two teams: one defends King's limited intervention, the other Bennett's active measures. Provide source packets with speeches, stats, and letters. Teams prepare 5-minute opening statements, rebuttals, and closing arguments. Conclude with whole-class vote on most effective approach.

Critique the effectiveness of R.B. Bennett's 'New Deal' policies.

Facilitation Tip

In the Timeline Build, have students use sticky notes for events and policies so they can rearrange and revise their sequence as they learn new information.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Which government leader, Mackenzie King or R.B. Bennett, had a more effective approach to the Great Depression, and why?' Students should use specific policy examples and evidence of their impact to support their arguments in small groups.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Decision-Making
• Social Awareness

Activity 02

• Town Hall Meeting
• 45 min · Small Groups

Protest Simulation: On-to-Ottawa Trek

Assign roles as trekkers, officials, media, and Bennett's advisors. Groups plan a 'march' across the classroom, creating signs and demands based on historical facts. Hold a negotiation session where officials respond, then debrief on outcomes and legacies.

Explain the emergence of new political parties like the CCF and Social Credit.

What to look for

Ask students to write down one key policy proposed by either the CCF or Social Credit, and one sentence explaining why that policy was appealing to Canadians during the Depression. Collect these to gauge understanding of new party platforms.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Decision-Making
• Social Awareness

Activity 03

• Jigsaw
• 40 min · Small Groups

Jigsaw: CCF and Social Credit

Expert groups study one new party's platform using primary documents. Experts then teach their findings to home groups via posters or skits. Home groups compare platforms and predict electoral impacts.

Analyze the significance of the On-to-Ottawa Trek as a form of protest.

What to look for

Present students with a brief description of a relief camp worker's experience. Ask them to identify which protest movement or political party might best represent their grievances and explain their choice in one sentence.

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Activity 04

• Town Hall Meeting
• 35 min · Pairs

Timeline Build: Responses and Reactions

Pairs sequence events from King's election to post-Trek shifts on a shared digital or paper timeline. Add cause-effect arrows and quotes. Present to class, discussing turning points.

Critique the effectiveness of R.B. Bennett's 'New Deal' policies.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Which government leader, Mackenzie King or R.B. Bennett, had a more effective approach to the Great Depression, and why?' Students should use specific policy examples and evidence of their impact to support their arguments in small groups.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Decision-Making
• Social Awareness

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teach this topic through role-based inquiry, where students reconstruct historical decisions and their ripple effects. Avoid presenting leaders as heroes or villains; instead, focus on constraints and trade-offs. Research shows this approach builds critical thinking by letting students evaluate decisions with limited information, mirroring real-world policymaking.

Students will demonstrate understanding by contrasting King’s and Bennett’s approaches using policy evidence, explaining how protests influenced policy changes, and identifying how new parties shaped long-term welfare state development. Success looks like clear, evidence-based arguments and thoughtful connections between actions and outcomes.

---

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Policy Debate: King vs. Bennett, watch for students assuming Bennett’s New Deal fully succeeded like Roosevelt’s.

  Use the Policy Debate’s policy cards to compare the scope and timing of Bennett’s New Deal with Roosevelt’s, highlighting that Bennett’s measures were struck down by courts and implemented after the 1935 election loss.

• During Party Platform Jigsaw: CCF and Social Credit, watch for students viewing new parties as having no lasting impact.

  Have students map CCF policies in the Jigsaw to modern welfare state programs, such as public healthcare, to show direct influence and correct the oversimplification.

• During Protest Simulation: On-to-Ottawa Trek, watch for students dismissing the trek as a chaotic failure.

  Use the role-play’s discussion of the Regina Riot and public opinion shifts to emphasize the trek’s role in exposing camp abuses and pressuring policy changes, despite its violent end.

---

Methods used in this brief

• Town Hall Meeting
• Jigsaw