Duration: 20-45 minutes
Number of people who can take part: 2-10 people, plus the facilitator
Learning objective: demonstrate labour history knowledge by pairing historic photos with Canadian labour history wins; identify links between key events in Canadian labour history and the ensuing laws that benefit our working conditions in the country
Materials needed: printout of timeline images; printout of image descriptions; printout of timeline dates; printout of facilitator answer sheet; tape for participants’ pairing of images and descriptions
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Before your event:
Print out your materials. Ensure the images, descriptions, and timeline years are printed with one entry/page.
At your event:
1. Place the year sheets on the floor or on a large table in chronological order (oldest date to most recent).
2. Distribute the pictures and the image descriptions to the participants.
3. Ask the group to read out one image description at a time and to place it with the picture they think it matches.
4. Ask the group, once they have decided on the image-description pairs, the year they think each image was taken.
5. Explain that once the group has decided on an image’s matching year, they must place the image under this date. Each year has only one matching event – if someone wants to put multiple pictures under the same year, the group must debate this and narrow down which one is correct.
6. Give the group time to agree on the timeline they have created. Then, use your answer sheet to rearrange the pictures and give the correct answers to the participants.
Facilitator Tips:
If the group is especially large, divide it into small teams and give each team one or two images and descriptions to discuss and choose a year for. Give the teams a few minutes to talk amongst themselves about their prompts, and then have them share their images and report their answer(s) to the wider group. Engage the teams in discussion if they disagree with others’ descriptions and/or timeline placements.
Before starting this activity, consider asking participants a few reflective questions.
These questions will likely be answered by the activity and could include:
• Have working conditions in Canada improved over the years?
• What did work look like when your great-grandparents worked compared to your parents?
• How have unions impacted work in Canada throughout history?
Find the timeline materials in the attached PDF.
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