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Lesson Plan: The Costs of the Softwood Lumber Dispute
Lesson Plan
Before Exploring
Ask: Have you ever tried to reap
benefit for yourself at the expense of another (bullying or stealing, for
example)? How did you feel about your actions then? Thinking about it, how do
you feel about your actions now?
Continue this discussion with examples from history where one group has benefited at the expense of another, such as slavery, western expansion into North American, and so on.
Outline the Opportunity
Direct students to the topic At Loggerheads: The Canada-U.S. Softwood Lumber Dispute on the CBC Digital Archives website. Have students review the clips titled:
"Taxing Canada's Sovereignty?",
"The lumber industry's 'cozy game'",
"Province against province, mill against mill",
"A tale of two mills",
"Quebec mill closes its
doors", and
"Death of a lumber town"
Students will look for segments about groups that have suffered as a result of the softwood lumber dispute. Students can organize their information on the download sheet Softwood Lumber Dispute Costs.
Students should write a brief summary indicating the costs of the softwood lumber dispute.
Revisit and Reflect
Have students share their information and summaries. Ask:
Who has been harmed by the softwood lumber dispute?
Do you think an earlier resolution to the dispute might have changed things
For those groups? How?
What solutions do you think there might be for those groups?
What could Canada do? What could the provinces do?
Are there other groups who should be responsible for
addressing the costs of the dispute?
Encourage students to support their answers with details from the site.
Extension
Students can write a letter to the editor about the groups harmed by the softwood lumber dispute and suggest ways that Canada and the provinces can help the affected groups.