MediaSmarts Tags - Visible Minorities

Level(s): Grades 10 - 12

Author: This unit was created by Roger Bird as part of a Media Education course taught by John Pungente at the Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba, 1992.

Overview

Level: Grades 9-12

Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Overview

According to the Act, Canadian broadcasting should “serve the needs and interests, and reflect the circumstances and aspirations, of Canadian men, women and children, including equal rights, linguistic duality and the multicultural and multiracial nature of Canadian society, and the special place of Aboriginals within that society.” The Act specifies that media employment practices should reflect Canada’s diversity.

Level: Grade 9-12

Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Duration: 2 to 2 ½ hours

Overview

Minelle Mahtani of the University of Toronto agrees: “Ethnic minorities in Canada do not see themselves mirrored in the media, and this perpetuates feelings of rejection, trivialises their contributions, and devalues their role as citizens in their nations” [1]. Since the media grants legitimacy to certain populations by including them and treating them respectfully, fair and equal representation is critical for building a healthy multicultural society.

Level: Grades 9-12

Duration: 1-2 hours

Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts

Overview

Spotting these stereotypes is often difficult for children; to them, the tomahawk-wielding Indian or the Asian karate expert is a familiar, easily-understood and often funny character. So how do you help children understand these images for what they are – oversimplified, generalizations?

Here are some tips:

Teachers who include media literacy in their classrooms often face issues that don’t arise in other subjects. Nothing illustrates this better than the issue of diversity in media. It’s not unreasonable for teachers to see the topic as a can of worms and be concerned about offending students and their parents – not to mention worrying about what the students themselves might say. At the same time, it’s a topic that is simply too important to be ignored: what we see in media hugely influences how we see others, ourselves and the world.

Video game playing is nearly universal among children and teens: more than 80 per cent of Canadians ages 6 to 17 say they play games regularly. [2] As the audience for games grows, however, children make up a smaller part of that audience, and more and more of the most popular games are rated "M" (intended for adults 17 years or older).