Grade 7 Social Studies
10 units matched to the Alberta Curriculum.
Organizing ideas
- Canada: Origins, Histories and Movement of Peoples is the Grade 7 focus
- 7.1 Toward Confederation: how First Nations, Métis, Inuit, French and British peoples shaped what became Canada
- 7.2 Following Confederation, Canadian Expansions: how Canada grew, including into the West, and what that meant for the people who lived there
- Different peoples have different perspectives on the same events, and a fair history includes many voices
Units
Unit 1
New France & the Fur Trade
Daily life in New France (seigneurs and habitants, towns, Church), the fur trade and its partnerships with First Nations, the Métis, and migrant fishers, compared with life in Canada today.
Learning outcome: 7.1 · daily life in New France, the fur trade and partnerships with First Nations
Unit 2
The Fur Trade in the West
The Hudson's Bay Company and North West Company in the West, trading partnerships with First Nations and Métis people, pemmican and trading posts such as Fort Edmonton.
Learning outcome: 7.1 · the fur trade in western Canada and its partnerships with First Nations and Métis people
Unit 3
Power & Conflict, 1713 to 1800
The Treaty of Utrecht, the expulsion of the Acadians, the Seven Years' War, the Royal Proclamation of 1763, the Quebec Act, the Loyalists and the Constitutional Act, with attention to the perspectives of different groups and to checking sources.
Learning outcome: 7.1 · conflicts, treaties and changes in control between 1713 and 1800
Unit 4
Loyalists & the War of 1812
Loyalist settlement, the causes, key people and outcome of the War of 1812 (including the roles of First Nations allies and the Treaty of Ghent), and growth after the war: canals, the fur trade companies and the Red River.
Learning outcome: 7.1 · Loyalist settlement and the War of 1812
Unit 5
Reform & Rebellion
Government in Upper and Lower Canada, the Family Compact and Château Clique, the Rebellions of 1837 to 1838 from several points of view, the Durham Report, the Act of Union, immigration and hardship, and responsible government in 1848.
Learning outcome: 7.1 · reform movements, the rebellions of 1837 and responsible government
Unit 6
Confederation
Why the colonies joined in 1867, the conferences that led to it, who was included in the decisions and who was not, and how the country grew to include the West.
Learning outcome: 7.1 · the reasons for Confederation, the conferences and the provinces that joined
Unit 7
The Métis & the Red River
The Métis as a distinct Indigenous people, the Red River Settlement, Louis Riel and the Manitoba Act, 1885, and Métis Settlements in Alberta today.
Learning outcome: 7.2 · the Métis, the Red River Settlement and the expansion of Canada into the West
Unit 8
Treaties 6, 7 and 8
The numbered treaties, especially Treaties 6, 7 and 8 in Alberta, different understandings of the treaties, and the Indian Act and residential schools in age-appropriate terms.
Learning outcome: 7.2 · the numbered treaties in the West, different perspectives on them and their continuing importance
Unit 9
Railway & Settlement
The Canadian Pacific Railway, the North-West Mounted Police, homesteading under the Dominion Lands Act, the loss of the bison and how Alberta became a province in 1905.
Learning outcome: 7.2 · the railway, the North-West Mounted Police, homesteading and the creation of Alberta
Unit 10
People on the Move
Reasons people moved to the Prairies, immigration policies, the contributions and hardships of newcomers including Ukrainian, Chinese and Black settlers, and the long history of Indigenous peoples in the West.
Learning outcome: 7.2 · immigration to the West, push and pull factors, and the contributions of newcomers
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