Civic engagement and voting
CIVIX programs
"CIVIX focuses on the themes of elections, government budgets, elected representatives, digital media literacy and civic discourse." They offer a variety of programs including training for teachers and digital media literacy (CTRL-F), which is featured in this collection. Here are three additional programs originally designed for students in Grades 5-12 but readily useable by adult learners.
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Teach the skills and strategies that will enable learners to engage in constructive and respectful political discussions. "The activities help students practice active listening, perspective-taking, and respectful self-expression skills, and build relevant contextual awareness." Create an account to access materials. You don't have to be in the K-12 system to register. We have provided access to the teaching guide to help you decide if you want to sign up. If you do sign up you will be able to access videos, slide decks and activities in PDF, Doc and Word.
A set of lessons with videos accompanying activities are available. Activities can be saved or downloaded as PDFs, Word or Docs.
Student Vote resources are designed to "engage students in the election and foster discussion about the candidates." A couple of the activities reference the 2021 federal election but most are general and can be used during any election (federal, provincial or municipal). A video collection is aligned with the materials. The materials are available in multiple formats (i.e. Slides, PPT, Pear Deck or PDFs, Docs, Word and Forms). You can download the complete PDF package or copy the files to your Google Drive.
Note: Adult education programs aren't eligible to participate in Student Vote programs that are directly aligned with specific elections.
Learning resources from Elections Canada
Elections Canada learning resources are designed for secondary students but can be adapted for adult learners. Each lesson could take at least an hour to implement.
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Elections Ontario resource centre
The Elections Ontario resource centre has some quality materials that address voting and civic participation in general, not just for a specific Ontario election. Although they reference the K-12 Ontario curriculum, they can readily be used in adult education without modification.
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Which Election is a complete instructional resource with guidance for educators and photocopiable activities for learners. It will help adult learners better understand the three levels of government and their roles.
Although labeled at a Grade 5 level, the resources can work with adult learners since they address democracy, civic participation and the roles of government. There are also activities you can use to set-up a mock election. Download specific lessons or the complete collection.
The Grade 10 resources address citizenship and democracy. Compared to the Grade 5 resources they are more conceptual, requiring students to develop and express opinions and reflect on various issues. They also contain photocopiable materials to set-up a mock election. Download specific lessons or the complete collection.
See how personal views align with political parties
Vote Compass can be accessed before provincial and federal elections on the CBC News site. After responding to 30 questions, people's responses are analysed, and then displayed next to political party platforms so you can see where you fit. You can then take a deeper dive to explore the issues. Access doesn't require registration and no data is collected.
A learning version is also available. Vote Compass Youth Edition is not aligned to a particular election and can be accessed at anytime.
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