Question Period Note: Citizenship Study Guide

Work continues to update the citizenship study guide.

• In response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 93, we have been hard at work crafting a new Citizenship Guide that reflects a more inclusive history and account of Canada.
• Central to our work is ensuring that newcomers and Canadians understand the history, vitality and reality of Indigenous Peoples and their integral role in this country’s past, present and future.
• The content of the new citizenship study guide is currently being finalized and a launch date for the new guide has not yet been determined.

• The current citizenship study guide, Discover Canada, was released in November 2009, with a minor revision in 2012. It replaced the 1995 A Look at Canada publication.

• Updates to the current guide are needed to:
• respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions Call to Action #93 to better reflect the perspectives and history of Indigenous Peoples in Canada;
• showcase Canada’s diversity and commitment to official languages;
• present the social evolution of civic rights and freedoms (e.g. LGBTQ2+, women, and persons with disabilities); and,
• enhance knowledge acquisition by providing additional learning supports for learners with varying needs.

• The Department has engaged a wide range of perspectives to produce a text that is reflective of Canadians and accurately informs newcomers about our history, laws and the responsibilities of citizens.

• The draft text has evolved over a few years of extensive engagement with over 95 stakeholders from academia, settlement service providers, interest groups and communities, National Indigenous Organizations, regional Indigenous Women’s Organizations, and key citizenship partners such as the Institute for Canadian Citizenship and Historica Canada.

• A launch date for the new guide has not yet been determined.

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