Free Resources for Canadian Secondary School Teachers
Six flexible, evidence-based lessons for grades 9–12. Help your students understand homelessness in their communities through real perspectives, critical dialogue, and hands-on activities.
Homelessness is a growing reality in Canadian communities, and students are already aware of it. This curriculum gives teachers the tools to turn that awareness into understanding, empathy, and civic action.
Each lesson comes with a hook activity, a documentary clip, discussion guides, knowledge activities, and a cumulative activity. Everything you need, structured and ready to go.
Lessons scale from 40 to 120 minutes, making it easy to fit a single period or expand into a multi-day unit. Pick the activities that work for your class and leave the rest.
Mapped to Ontario Curriculum Objectives across Civics, Social Sciences, English, Media Studies, Family Studies, and more. Use one lesson or weave several into your existing units.
Piloted with over 200 Ontario high school students before publication. This isn't theory — it's been refined based on real classroom feedback from teachers and students alike.
Includes a teacher FAQ document with thoughtful answers to the difficult questions students often raise when discussing homelessness, so you can feel confident navigating sensitive moments.
Built by academic researchers and people with lived experience of homelessness, grounded in current Canadian research rather than stereotypes or assumptions.
Every lesson follows the same five-part structure — but you decide how much to use. Teach the whole lesson or pick the pieces that fit your time and goals.
These lessons are designed for flexibility at every level. Use all six lessons as a complete unit, or pick just one or two that align with your current course — each lesson stands on its own. Within each lesson, you choose which of the five components to include based on your time and goals.
There's no single right way to use this curriculum. Whether you have one period or six weeks, there's a version of Creating Dialogue that fits.
A note on Lesson 1 — Introduction to Homelessness: While all lessons are designed to be used independently, teachers who have piloted this curriculum find that starting with this foundational lesson sets students up for richer engagement with the lessons that follow. If you're planning to use more than one lesson, we recommend beginning here.
Each lesson can be taught on its own or as part of a sequence.
Explores homelessness in Canada by defining what it is, identifying who experiences it, and examining its main causes. Students build foundational knowledge through a study guide and an interactive Housing Jeopardy game.
Introduces brokered dialogue as a method for people with different perspectives to have respectful conversations about challenging social issues. Students explore this responsible media format and practise it in the classroom.
Examines the stigma surrounding homelessness, exploring how negative stereotypes and judgments affect people who experience it and shape broader public attitudes. Students are challenged to question assumptions and consider the human impact of stigma.
Explores the day-to-day realities faced by people experiencing homelessness, highlighting barriers to finding safe and stable housing. Students create resources to combat misinformation and plan a safe day for a specific community member.
Examines how homelessness affects different populations in distinct ways, focusing on Indigenous peoples, youth, 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals, Black and racialized communities, and women and gender minorities. Students design a specialized shelter for a specific population.
Discusses different approaches to addressing homelessness, emphasizing that no single answer exists while encouraging students to explore possibilities. Students pitch their own proposals for tackling the homelessness crisis in a Build a Better Future activity.
Access all six lessons and supporting materials for free, or use the Ontario Curriculum Finder to see where these lessons fit your Ontario Curriculum Objectives.