B. Civic Awareness · Civic Awareness: Democratic Values, Governance and RightsCivic Issues, Perspectives and Political Thinking
B1.1 B1.5 A1.1 A1.4 A2.3About 70 minutes
Learning goals- I can explain what makes something a civic issue and give local, national and global examples.
- I can use the political inquiry process and ask different types of questions about an issue.
- I can use the four concepts of political thinking to analyse an issue.
- I can compare the perspectives of different groups on a civic issue.
- I can state and explain my own position on an issue, showing how my beliefs and values shape it.
Words to know
civic issue
A matter of public concern that affects a community and that people disagree about, often needing a decision by a government or by citizens.
citizen
A member of a community or country. In this course, "citizen" also means anyone who takes part in community life, whatever their legal status.
perspective
The way a person or group sees an issue, shaped by their beliefs, values, experiences and interests.
stakeholder
A person or group affected by, or interested in, a decision.
political inquiry
A process for investigating a civic issue: ask questions, gather evidence, analyse it, draw conclusions and communicate them.
inquiry question
A big, open question with no single simple answer that guides an investigation.
position
The side or view you take on an issue, backed by reasons and evidence.
Who gets to decide?
A town council is about to vote. A parking lot downtown could become an apartment building with homes people can afford. Some residents are excited. Store owners are worried about parking. Someone who uses a wheelchair needs accessible spaces close to the shops. The council has to think about the town budget.
Nobody here is a villain. They simply care about different things. Questions like this, where a community must decide something together and people disagree, are civic issues. Civics is the study of how we make those decisions, who gets a say, and what our rights and responsibilities are while we do it.
This unit, Civic Awareness, is the knowledge half of the course: democratic values, how government in Canada works, and your rights and responsibilities. The other unit, Civic Engagement, Service, and Action, is about putting that knowledge to work.
Remember from earlier grades
In Grade 5 you learned the jobs of the federal, provincial and municipal governments, met band councils and school boards, and practised explaining why people see issues differently. In Grade 9 Geography you used an inquiry process to investigate issues such as land use and resources. Civics uses the same habits of mind, now aimed at political questions: power, decisions, rights and fairness.
What makes an issue "civic"?
A civic issue usually has these features:
- It is public: it affects many people, not only you.
- People disagree, often because they hold different values.
- A decision is needed, usually by a government, a court, a school board or the public.
- It involves rights, responsibilities, power or fairness.
A cracked phone screen is a personal problem. Whether phones should be allowed in class is a civic issue: it affects every student, people disagree, and a government made a rule about it (since September 2024, Ontario has limited student cellphone use during class time).
Civic issues come at three scales:
- Local: bike lanes, library hours, a new housing development, snow clearing on side streets.
- National: the cost of housing, health-care wait times, how Canada trades with other countries, protecting the Arctic.
- Global: climate change, refugees, how artificial intelligence should be regulated.
Many issues are all three at once. Climate change is global, but your city's flood plan and Canada's emissions targets are local and national parts of it.
The political inquiry process
When you investigate an issue in this course, you will follow five steps. The steps are a loop, not a straight line: new evidence often sends you back to ask a better question.
Asking different types of questions
Good inquiry starts with good questions. Use a mix:
- Factual questions have one checkable answer. What does Ontario's cellphone rule say?
- Interpretive questions ask you to explain causes, effects or meaning. Why did the province make the rule?
- Perspective questions ask how others see it. How do teachers, students and parents view the rule?
- Evaluative (judgment) questions ask you to decide using criteria. Has the rule improved learning?
An inquiry question is the big, open question that ties your investigation together, for example: To what extent should schools limit phones? Notice the words to what extent, how well and should. They invite evidence and judgment, not a yes or no.
The four concepts of political thinking
The Ontario civics course uses four concepts of political thinking. Think of them as four lenses. Look at any issue through each lens and you will notice different things.
Perspectives: why people disagree
A perspective is how a person or group sees an issue. Perspectives are shaped by:
- Beliefs and values (what people think is right or important, such as fairness, freedom, safety, tradition or the environment)
- Experiences (someone who has struggled to find housing sees a housing project differently)
- Interests (what a person stands to gain or lose, such as money, time, safety or jobs)
- Identity and community (age, culture, language, faith, being First Nations, Métis or Inuit, being a newcomer, living in a city or in the North)
To compare perspectives fairly, describe each group's view in words its own members would accept. That is not the same as agreeing with it.
Worked exampleModelled example: Comparing perspectives on the classroom cellphone rule
Use political thinking to compare perspectives on limiting cellphones in Ontario classrooms.
- Name the stakeholders: students, teachers, parents and guardians, school boards, and the provincial government that made the rule.
- Describe each perspective fairly. Many teachers say phones distract from learning. Some students say phones help with research and that they should learn self-control. Some parents want to reach their child in an emergency; others are glad to see less screen time. The government said the goal was better focus and less distraction.
- Find the values underneath. Focus and well-being (teachers, government); freedom and responsibility (some students); safety and contact (some parents).
- Apply a concept: objectives and results. The objective was less distraction. To judge the result you would need evidence, such as teacher surveys or student marks before and after. Without evidence, any claim of success or failure is only an opinion.
- Apply a concept: political significance. It affects about two million Ontario students every school day, so it is significant even though it is "only" about phones.
Groups disagree mainly because they put different values first (focus, freedom, safety). A fair comparison describes each view in its own terms, links it to its values, and asks what evidence would show whether the rule meets its objective.
Taking your own position
In civics you will often be asked for your position. A strong position statement has five parts:
- Claim: your position in one clear sentence.
- Reasons: two or three reasons.
- Evidence: facts, data or examples that support each reason.
- Values: say which of your beliefs and values lead you there. This is honest, and it shows you know your view is a choice, not just a fact.
- Counter-argument: name the strongest point on the other side and respond to it respectfully.
Your position can change when you learn more. That is a sign of good thinking, not weakness.
Worked exampleModelled example: A position statement on the voting age
In Canada, you must be 18 to vote in federal elections. Some people have proposed lowering the age to 16; so far Parliament has not changed it. Write a model position statement.
- Claim: "I think the federal voting age should stay at 18 for now, but Grade 10 civics should include a practice vote."
- Reasons and evidence: "Most 16-year-olds are still in high school and have not yet studied many of the issues, and a school mock vote lets students practise before it counts."
- Values: "I value informed participation, and I believe a right as important as voting should come with preparation."
- Counter-argument and response: "Supporters of voting at 16 say young people pay sales tax and live with long-term decisions such as climate policy. That is a strong point, so I would support a trial in municipal elections first."
- Check: the statement has a claim, reasons, values and a respectful response. Someone could just as reasonably argue the opposite claim using the same structure.
A good position statement is clear, supported, honest about its values, and fair to the other side. The structure matters more than which side you choose.
Just for funThere is a real name for when a group spends five minutes approving a huge project and an hour arguing about something tiny: bikeshedding. It comes from a story about a committee that quickly approved a power plant, then argued at length about the colour of the bike shed. Watch for it at your next council meeting!
Hands-on activityCivic issue scan
You need: a news website or app, a local newspaper or your municipality's website, paper and a pencil.
- Find three current civic issues: one local, one national and one global. Your municipality's website often lists council meeting agendas, which are full of local issues.
- For each issue, write one sentence explaining why it is a civic issue (public, disagreement, decision needed).
- Pick one issue. Draw a perspective map with the issue in the centre and at least four groups around it. Under each group, write their view in their own words and the value behind it.
- Write one question of each type: factual, interpretive, perspective and evaluative. Then write one inquiry question.
- Ask a family member for their position on the issue and why. Write it down without arguing.
- Write your own position statement using the five parts.
What to look for: issues at three scales; four distinct groups with fair descriptions; four question types that really differ; and a position with a claim, reasons, evidence, values and a counter-argument.
Your turn
1Is "My bus is always late" a civic issue? Is "Should our city add more bus routes in the suburbs?" a civic issue? Explain.
The first is a personal complaint. The second is a civic issue: it affects many people, people disagree (cost versus service), and city council must decide.
2Give one local, one national and one global civic issue.
Sample answer: local: a proposed new arena in town; national: the cost of housing in Canada; global: climate change. Any public issues at the right scales are correct.
3Name the five steps of the political inquiry process.
Formulate questions; gather and organize evidence; interpret and analyse; evaluate and draw conclusions; communicate findings.
4Label each question as factual, interpretive, perspective or evaluative: (a) Why did the city raise transit fares? (b) How much is a bus fare? (c) Was the fare increase fair to low-income riders? (d) How do seniors view the increase?
(a) interpretive; (b) factual; (c) evaluative; (d) perspective.
5Which concept of political thinking does this question use? "What did the new law try to do, and did it work?"
6List four things that shape a person's perspective.
Beliefs and values, experiences, interests (what they could gain or lose), and identity or community.
7What are the five parts of a strong position statement?
Claim, reasons, evidence, the values behind it, and a counter-argument with a respectful response.
More practice: warm-up
A person or group affected by, or interested in, a decision.
2Name the four concepts of political thinking.
Political significance; objectives and results; stability and change; political perspective.
3True or false: describing a group's perspective fairly means you agree with it.
False. You can describe a view accurately without sharing it.
4Which word makes a question an inquiry question: "Is there a library?" or "To what extent does our library meet the needs of newcomers?"
The second. "To what extent" invites evidence and judgment.
5Name one civic issue that is both national and global.
Sample answer: climate change, refugees, international trade or regulating artificial intelligence.
More practice: on your own
1A city proposes a bike lane on a busy street, removing 40 parking spaces. Name three stakeholders and the value most likely behind each one's view.
Sample answer: cyclists (safety, the environment); business owners on the street (income, customer access); drivers who live nearby (convenience). Other fair answers: pedestrians, transit users, emergency services.
2Write an evaluative question and a perspective question about the bike lane.
Evaluative: "Would the bike lane improve safety enough to justify losing the parking?" Perspective: "How do shop owners on the street view the plan?" The evaluative one asks for a judgment; the perspective one asks how a group sees it.
3Use the concept of stability and change to ask two questions about Ontario's cellphone rule.
Sample: "What changed in classrooms after September 2024?" and "What stayed the same, for example the ways students still use technology for learning?" The concept asks what changed, what did not, and why.
4Why is it useful to look at an issue at more than one scale (local, national, global)?
Because causes and solutions often sit at different levels. For example, a city can build flood protection, but reducing emissions needs national and global action. Looking at one scale only can miss who has the power to act.
5Two classmates disagree about a new skatepark. One values safety for young people; the other values keeping taxes low. Can both be reasonable? Explain.
Yes. Both values are legitimate. They disagree about which matters more in this case, and about the facts (cost, use). Recognizing that helps them discuss evidence instead of attacking each other.
Challenge
1Write a full position statement (claim, reasons, evidence, values, counter-argument) on whether your municipality should lower speed limits on residential streets to 30 km/h.
Model: "Our town should lower residential limits to 30 km/h (claim). Pedestrians are much more likely to survive being hit at lower speeds, and many families walk to school on these streets (reasons and evidence). I value safety for children and older adults (values). Some drivers say trips will take longer; but on short residential streets the extra time is usually small, and main roads would keep higher limits (counter-argument and response)." Look for all five parts and a respectful tone; the opposite claim is also acceptable if well supported.
2Explain how the same piece of evidence ("The skatepark will cost $400 000") could support two different positions.
Someone who values low taxes might say it is too expensive. Someone who values youth recreation might say it is a fair price for a facility used by hundreds of young people for twenty years. Evidence does not speak for itself: values decide how much a fact weighs, which is why political perspective matters.
3Create an inquiry question about a global issue and three supporting questions (one factual, one perspective, one evaluative) that would help you answer it.
Sample: Inquiry question: "To what extent should Canada increase the number of refugees it resettles?" Factual: "How many refugees did Canada resettle last year?" Perspective: "How do resettlement agencies and municipalities view their capacity?" Evaluative: "Which criteria (humanitarian need, housing, cost) should matter most?" The supporting questions should clearly build toward the inquiry question.
Quiz
1. Which is the best example of a civic issue?
2. What is the first step of the political inquiry process?
3. "Was the new recycling program worth its cost?" is what type of question?
4. Which concept of political thinking asks "How do different groups see this, and why?"
5. Why do people often disagree about civic issues?
6. Which part of a position statement explains why you lean that way personally?
Big idea: Civics starts with seeing that public decisions involve real people with different, often reasonable, values. This lesson introduces the tools used all unit: the five-step political inquiry process, four question types, the four concepts of political thinking, and the five-part position statement.
How to help: Pick a local news story together (a council decision, a school board change) and ask: Who is affected? What does each group want? What value is behind that? Share your own position and the values behind it, and invite your teen to disagree respectfully. Modelling calm disagreement is one of the most useful things you can do.
Common difficulties:
- Confusing personal problems with civic issues. Ask: does it affect many people, and does someone have to decide?
- Describing other views unfairly ("they just don't care"). Push for a description the other group would accept.
- Position statements that skip the counter-argument. Ask: what would the smartest person on the other side say?