Many communities, one country: religious communities and Canadian identity

This lesson asks you to identify types of communities in Canada and some ways they have contributed to the country, and to identify and describe fundamental elements of Canadian identities. The curriculum asks for many examples; the museum links only one religious community, and its record names a month and its yearly themes but no particular contributions, so your class supplies the contributions and the other communities. ¹

Look at the expectations: they ask about the types of communities and what they have contributed, and about what is fundamental in Canadian identities. Notice how a community is recognised in a country's public life, and what that recognition says about the country itself.

Open the Government of Canada's page on commemorations and campaigns and see how it describes the month. It says Canadian Islamic History Month is October of every year, first established in 2007 as a time "to recognize, celebrate and reflect on the rich history, culture, and contributions of Muslims in Canada" ². It presents the month as an opportunity for all Canadians to engage in dialogue, advance understanding and foster inclusion and appreciation of the diversity of Canadian Muslim communities ². It names yearly campaigns, "Celebrating the Contributions of Muslim Women and Girls" in 2023 and "Celebrating Generations of Canadian Muslims" in 2024 ². The page does not name the parliamentary instrument that created the month ².

The page gives the month's purpose as dialogue, understanding and inclusion for all Canadians, while its 2023 and 2024 campaigns are about groups within Canadian Muslim communities. Using the page's own words, does a month given to one community's history say more about that community or about the country that marks it, and why?

• Canadian Islamic History Month: what the government page says about the month and its campaigns.
• Naheed Nenshi: the record of a mayor of Calgary from 2010 to 2021.

Read the record on Canadian Islamic History Month. List what it says about the month and its themes, then add the contributions your class has found for that community, and choose another community in your own neighbourhood and find out what is celebrated of its history.