Civic responsibility (Social 10-2 Chapters 20-21)

Civic Responsibility – What Can We Do? Civic responsibility: feeling of duty towards your community e.g. environmentally responsible citizen recycles cans e.g. socially responsible citizen donating money to local charities

Business responsibility – do businesses have the responsibility beyond the need to make profits to improve the lives of all people? Go to page 335 and look at the case study on the Bay The business of business should not be about money, it should be about responsibility. It should be about public good, not private greed (Anita Roddick, founder of Body Shop)

Government responsibility Municipal governments are working together to “Act local, think global” by working with other governments around the world. Go to page 340 to see Canada’s International Responsibilities Do you agree that Canada has responsibilities in these areas.

Canada has the responsibility to: Meaning Canada will: (Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade) Protect Hold governments accountable for how they treat their people, and will intervene if necessary to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe Deny Prevent terrorists and irresponsible governments from acquiring weapons of mass destruction that could destroy millions of innocent people Respect Help build lives of freedom for all people, based on the fundamental human rights of all Build Make sure our economic assistance programs provide the tools that ordinary people need to pursue their own development The future Ensure sustainable development for future generations through better management of global public goods

What can you do as an individual citizen? Citizenship: who you are as a member of society holding a Canadian passport, obeying Canada’s laws, participating in democracy it also relates to your sense of identity and responsibility as a member of multiple communities (see diagram page 326) Some of the choices you have include: buying recycled paper for school, learning the language of your family joining organizations that promote global understanding participating in a political rally or protest

Dollar Voting What do you think about when you purchase something? – best price? Best service? Where the product is created? Does the business have a good human rights record? Dollar Voting – your daily purchases tell producers what your priorities are. If you BOYCOTT a product, the producer will know they need to change something in order to keep selling the product. see example page 355: IKEA “Low price, but not at any price”.

Protests/Petitions – you can encourage the government to create legislation or take action e.g. Apartheid in South Africa, Francophones fighting for language education rights in Alberta see chart of organizations page 352 need to be organized, the more people participating in a boycott or petition, the more effective it will be. Some organizations have already been created to help you, go online to see if there is already a boycott or protest page organized towards something you would like to see happen.

International Actions to End Apartheid