History of Canada
The human history of Canada began about 15,000 years ago, when the aborigines of the area forged thriving communities in lush nature. But everything changed when at the end of the s. XV Europeans arrived and began to arrogate rights; this generated conflicts and ended up configuring a new and extensive nation. Today much of this picturesque heritage can be seen in more than 950 national historical sites ranging from forts to battlefields or famous houses.
The first people
The primitive settlers of Canada were probably Asian nomadic hunters who, chasing needy Caribou, Uuapiti and Bison, crossed the land bridge that linked Siberia and Alaska. When the Earth warmed up and the glaciers withdrew, those migrant peoples gradually expanded throughout the continent.
About 4,500 years ago, a second wave of migration from Siberia took the ancestors of the Inuit people to Canada. The newcomers, seeing that fridge full of delicious fish and seals, decided to stay. The Inuit primitives were part of the Dorset culture, named because their first remains were excavated in Cape Dorset, on the island of Baffin. Around 1000 A.D. there was a different Inuit culture, that of thule hunters and whalers from northern Alaska, which began to move eastward across the Canadian Arctic. The thule are the direct ancestors of the current Inuit.
At the end of the s. XV, when the first Europeans arrived, Aboriginal peoples were distributed in four main settlements throughout Canada: the Pacific, the Plains, the southern part of Ontario / San Lorenzo River and the northeastern forests.
The primitive settlers of Canada were probably Asian nomadic hunters who, chasing needy Caribou, Uuapiti and Bison, crossed the land bridge that linked Siberia and Alaska. When the Earth warmed up and the glaciers withdrew, those migrant peoples gradually expanded throughout the continent.
About 4,500 years ago, a second wave of migration from Siberia took the ancestors of the Inuit people to Canada. The newcomers, seeing that fridge full of delicious fish and seals, decided to stay. The Inuit primitives were part of the Dorset culture, named because their first remains were excavated in Cape Dorset, on the island of Baffin. Around 1000 A.D. there was a different Inuit culture, that of thule hunters and whalers from northern Alaska, which began to move eastward across the Canadian Arctic. The thule are the direct ancestors of the current Inuit.
At the end of the s. XV, when the first Europeans arrived, Aboriginal peoples were distributed in four main settlements throughout Canada: the Pacific, the Plains, the southern part of Ontario / San Lorenzo River and the northeastern forests.
The Vikings and European explorers
The famous Viking Leif Eriksson and his tribe of Scandinavian sailors were the first Europeans not only to reach the shores of Canada, but to step on North America. Around 1000 A.D. they surrounded the eastern coast of Canada by founding winter camps and stations to repair the ships and stock up, such as that of L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. The indigenous tribes did not receive them with open arms, and the Vikings, tired of so much hostility, returned to their land. During the next 300 or 400 years there were no more foreign incursions into the territory.
But things changed at the end of the s. XV. In 1492, with the support of the Spanish Crown, Christopher Columbus set out in search of a western sea route to Asia and ran into small islands in the Bahamas. Other European kings, impacted by such a "discovery", soon sponsored their own expeditions. In 1497, Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot), sailing under the British flag, reached further west, to Newfoundland and Cape Breton.
Cabot did not find the way to China, but cod, a highly coveted product in Europe. Soon, hundreds of ships crossed the waters between Europe and those new and fertile fishing grounds. Soon Basque whalers came from northern Spain and several of them settled in Red Bay (Labrador), which became the main world whaling port during the s. XVI.
King Francisco I of France looked at his neighbors, stroked his beard, snapped his fingers and ordered Jacques Cartier to appear before him. At that time, they not only sought the Northwest Passage but also gold, given the findings of the Spanish conquerors in Aztec and Inca territories. The king counted on finding similar riches in the icy north.
Upon arriving in Labrador, Cartier only found “stones and some horrible and steep rocks,” as he noted in his 1534 diary. But he continued exploring and soon landed on the Gaspé peninsula (Quebec), whose land he claimed for France. The Iroquois natives accepted Cartier until he kidnapped two sons of the chief and took them with him to Europe. He returned them a year later, when he climbed the San Lorenzo River towards Stadacona (present-day Quebec City) and Hochelaga (present-day Montreal). There he heard of a land full of gold and silver called Saguenay, which in 1541 motivated his third trip, but the mythical riches resisted him again.
The famous Viking Leif Eriksson and his tribe of Scandinavian sailors were the first Europeans not only to reach the shores of Canada, but to step on North America. Around 1000 A.D. they surrounded the eastern coast of Canada by founding winter camps and stations to repair the ships and stock up, such as that of L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland. The indigenous tribes did not receive them with open arms, and the Vikings, tired of so much hostility, returned to their land. During the next 300 or 400 years there were no more foreign incursions into the territory.
But things changed at the end of the s. XV. In 1492, with the support of the Spanish Crown, Christopher Columbus set out in search of a western sea route to Asia and ran into small islands in the Bahamas. Other European kings, impacted by such a "discovery", soon sponsored their own expeditions. In 1497, Giovanni Caboto (John Cabot), sailing under the British flag, reached further west, to Newfoundland and Cape Breton.
Cabot did not find the way to China, but cod, a highly coveted product in Europe. Soon, hundreds of ships crossed the waters between Europe and those new and fertile fishing grounds. Soon Basque whalers came from northern Spain and several of them settled in Red Bay (Labrador), which became the main world whaling port during the s. XVI.
King Francisco I of France looked at his neighbors, stroked his beard, snapped his fingers and ordered Jacques Cartier to appear before him. At that time, they not only sought the Northwest Passage but also gold, given the findings of the Spanish conquerors in Aztec and Inca territories. The king counted on finding similar riches in the icy north.
Upon arriving in Labrador, Cartier only found “stones and some horrible and steep rocks,” as he noted in his 1534 diary. But he continued exploring and soon landed on the Gaspé peninsula (Quebec), whose land he claimed for France. The Iroquois natives accepted Cartier until he kidnapped two sons of the chief and took them with him to Europe. He returned them a year later, when he climbed the San Lorenzo River towards Stadacona (present-day Quebec City) and Hochelaga (present-day Montreal). There he heard of a land full of gold and silver called Saguenay, which in 1541 motivated his third trip, but the mythical riches resisted him again.
The rise of the skins
Francisco I began to get tired of his distant colony not producing the desired goods. But his interest was renewed a few decades later when fur hats became fashionable. The important people wore one and, as fashion experts knew, there was no more refined chapeau than the beaver. Since beavers were scarce in the Old World, demand for overseas product was high.
When in 1588 the French Crown granted the first commercial monopoly in Canada, other merchants rushed to question that right. Thus began the struggle for control of the fur trade. Do not underestimate the economic importance of this company or its role in the development of Canadian history, as it was the main reason for European colonization, the origin of the struggle for hegemony between French and British, and the source of conflicts and discords between aboriginal groups.
To gain control of those distant lands, European personnel had to be brought first. In the summer of 1604, a group of French pioneers founded a provisional settlement on Île Ste-Croix (an islet on the river, on the current US border in Maine) and the following spring they moved to Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal ) in Nova Scotia. These locations, difficult to defend, were not good at controlling the fur trade with the interior. Going up the San Lorenzo River, the future settlers finally found a place that their boss, Samuel de Champlain, considered an ideal terrain: the place where Quebec City now sits. In 1608 "New France" came true.
Francisco I began to get tired of his distant colony not producing the desired goods. But his interest was renewed a few decades later when fur hats became fashionable. The important people wore one and, as fashion experts knew, there was no more refined chapeau than the beaver. Since beavers were scarce in the Old World, demand for overseas product was high.
When in 1588 the French Crown granted the first commercial monopoly in Canada, other merchants rushed to question that right. Thus began the struggle for control of the fur trade. Do not underestimate the economic importance of this company or its role in the development of Canadian history, as it was the main reason for European colonization, the origin of the struggle for hegemony between French and British, and the source of conflicts and discords between aboriginal groups.
To gain control of those distant lands, European personnel had to be brought first. In the summer of 1604, a group of French pioneers founded a provisional settlement on Île Ste-Croix (an islet on the river, on the current US border in Maine) and the following spring they moved to Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal ) in Nova Scotia. These locations, difficult to defend, were not good at controlling the fur trade with the interior. Going up the San Lorenzo River, the future settlers finally found a place that their boss, Samuel de Champlain, considered an ideal terrain: the place where Quebec City now sits. In 1608 "New France" came true.
French vs. English
The French enjoyed their luxurious fur monopoly for several decades, but in 1670 the British gave them a pulse when two disappointed French explorers, Radisson and Des Groseilliers, told them that the best area for the skins was north and west of the lake Superior, and its access was easy through Hudson Bay King Charles II immediately created the Hudson’s Bay Company and granted him a commercial monopoly over all lands whose rivers and streams flowed into the bay. This vast territory, called Rupert’s Land, comprised about 40% of present-day Canada, including Labrador, western Quebec, northwestern Ontario, Manitoba, much of Saskatchewan and Alberta, as well as an area of the Northwest Territories.
The English sulphured the French with such movements, and they continued to respond by settling inland. Both countries claimed land rights, but each aspired to dominate the entire region. They engaged in hostilities that were a reflection of the situation in Europe, where wars in the first half of the s. XVIII were devastating.
The critical point came with the Treaty of Utrecht, which ended the War of Queen Anne (1701-1713) overseas. Under their provisions, the French had to recognize British rights over Hudson Bay and Newfoundland, and cede all of Nova Scotia (then called Acadia), except the island of Cape Breton.
The conflict remained dormant for several decades until it was revived with an unusual force in 1754, when both countries clashed in the Seven Years' War. But the balance soon bent in favor of the British when they conquered the fortress of Luisburg, which allowed them to control the strategic entrance of the San Lorenzo River.
In 1759, the British besieged Quebec and climbed the cliffs to launch a surprise attack that defeated the stunned French. It was one of the most famous and bloody battles in Canada, in which the generals in command of both armies died. France ceded Canada to Britain by the Treaty of Paris (1763).
The French enjoyed their luxurious fur monopoly for several decades, but in 1670 the British gave them a pulse when two disappointed French explorers, Radisson and Des Groseilliers, told them that the best area for the skins was north and west of the lake Superior, and its access was easy through Hudson Bay King Charles II immediately created the Hudson’s Bay Company and granted him a commercial monopoly over all lands whose rivers and streams flowed into the bay. This vast territory, called Rupert’s Land, comprised about 40% of present-day Canada, including Labrador, western Quebec, northwestern Ontario, Manitoba, much of Saskatchewan and Alberta, as well as an area of the Northwest Territories.
The English sulphured the French with such movements, and they continued to respond by settling inland. Both countries claimed land rights, but each aspired to dominate the entire region. They engaged in hostilities that were a reflection of the situation in Europe, where wars in the first half of the s. XVIII were devastating.
The critical point came with the Treaty of Utrecht, which ended the War of Queen Anne (1701-1713) overseas. Under their provisions, the French had to recognize British rights over Hudson Bay and Newfoundland, and cede all of Nova Scotia (then called Acadia), except the island of Cape Breton.
The conflict remained dormant for several decades until it was revived with an unusual force in 1754, when both countries clashed in the Seven Years' War. But the balance soon bent in favor of the British when they conquered the fortress of Luisburg, which allowed them to control the strategic entrance of the San Lorenzo River.
In 1759, the British besieged Quebec and climbed the cliffs to launch a surprise attack that defeated the stunned French. It was one of the most famous and bloody battles in Canada, in which the generals in command of both armies died. France ceded Canada to Britain by the Treaty of Paris (1763).
The problems grow
The management of the newly acquired territory was a great challenge for the British. From the outset, they had to quell the uprisings of the aboriginal tribes, such as the attack by Chief Ottawa Pontiac on Detroit. The British Government decreed the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which prevented settlers from settling west of the Appalachians and regulating purchases of aboriginal land. Although full of good intentions, the proclamation was barely followed.
The French-Canadians were the next headache. Tensions arose when the new rulers imposed British law that severely limited the rights of Roman (French) Catholics, including the right to vote and to hold office. The British hoped that their discriminatory policy would cause a mass exodus of settlers, which would facilitate the work of Anglicanization. But the plan did not work: the impassive French remained in their thirteen.
As if the tribes and the French were no longer enough trouble, the southern American colonies began to rebel. The British governor Guy Carleton came to the wise conclusion that earning the political loyalty of the French colonists was better than getting used to drinking tea, and from there came the Quebec Act of 1774, which validated the right of French-Canadians to their religion, it allowed them to exercise political positions and restored the use of French civil law. Thus, during the American Revolution (1775-1783) the majority of French-Canadians refused to take up arms for the American cause, although not many were willing to defend the British.
After the revolution, the English-speaking population of Canada increased exponentially thanks to 50,000 emigrants from the newly independent US. Many of these settlers, called loyalists of the United Empire for their alleged loyalty to Britain, were more motivated by cheap land than by the love of the king and the Crown. Most ended up in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, while a smaller group settled on the north shore of Lake Ontario and in the Ottawa River Valley, where they formed the core of future Ontario. And about 8,000 moved to Quebec to create the first major Anglophone community in the Francophone bastion.
The management of the newly acquired territory was a great challenge for the British. From the outset, they had to quell the uprisings of the aboriginal tribes, such as the attack by Chief Ottawa Pontiac on Detroit. The British Government decreed the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which prevented settlers from settling west of the Appalachians and regulating purchases of aboriginal land. Although full of good intentions, the proclamation was barely followed.
The French-Canadians were the next headache. Tensions arose when the new rulers imposed British law that severely limited the rights of Roman (French) Catholics, including the right to vote and to hold office. The British hoped that their discriminatory policy would cause a mass exodus of settlers, which would facilitate the work of Anglicanization. But the plan did not work: the impassive French remained in their thirteen.
As if the tribes and the French were no longer enough trouble, the southern American colonies began to rebel. The British governor Guy Carleton came to the wise conclusion that earning the political loyalty of the French colonists was better than getting used to drinking tea, and from there came the Quebec Act of 1774, which validated the right of French-Canadians to their religion, it allowed them to exercise political positions and restored the use of French civil law. Thus, during the American Revolution (1775-1783) the majority of French-Canadians refused to take up arms for the American cause, although not many were willing to defend the British.
After the revolution, the English-speaking population of Canada increased exponentially thanks to 50,000 emigrants from the newly independent US. Many of these settlers, called loyalists of the United Empire for their alleged loyalty to Britain, were more motivated by cheap land than by the love of the king and the Crown. Most ended up in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, while a smaller group settled on the north shore of Lake Ontario and in the Ottawa River Valley, where they formed the core of future Ontario. And about 8,000 moved to Quebec to create the first major Anglophone community in the Francophone bastion.
A divided nation: Upper and Lower Canada
In part to satisfy the interests of loyalist settlers, the British Government passed the Constitutional Law of 1791 that divided the colony into Upper Canada (currently southern Ontario) and Lower Canada (current southern Quebec). Lower Canada retained French civil laws, but both provinces were governed by the British penal code.
The British Crown placed a governor in command of each colony, which appointed the members of its "cabinet" or Executive Council. The legislative branch was formed by a appointed Legislative Council and an elected Assembly that theoretically represented the interests of the settlers. Actually, the Assembly had little power, as the governor held the right of veto. It is not surprising that all this was a cause of friction and dislike, especially in Lower Canada, where an English governor and an English-dominated Council controlled a French majority Assembly.
The nepotism made the situation worse. Members of the British conservative merchant elite who dominated the Executive and Legislative councils showed little interest in Franco-Canadian problems. Known as Family Compact in Upper Canada and Château Clique in Lower Canada, among its ranks were John Molson and the founder of James McGill University. The influence of the group grew especially after the war of 1812, an unsuccessful attempt by the US to invade its northern neighbor.
In 1837, the frustration generated by these cystic elites reached a critical point. The leader of the Canadian Party, Louis-Joseph Papineau, and his counterpart from Upper Canada and leader of the Reform Party, William Lyon Mackenzie, drove open rebellions against the Government. Although both were soon suffocated, the incident showed the British that the status quo could no longer be maintained.
In part to satisfy the interests of loyalist settlers, the British Government passed the Constitutional Law of 1791 that divided the colony into Upper Canada (currently southern Ontario) and Lower Canada (current southern Quebec). Lower Canada retained French civil laws, but both provinces were governed by the British penal code.
The British Crown placed a governor in command of each colony, which appointed the members of its "cabinet" or Executive Council. The legislative branch was formed by a appointed Legislative Council and an elected Assembly that theoretically represented the interests of the settlers. Actually, the Assembly had little power, as the governor held the right of veto. It is not surprising that all this was a cause of friction and dislike, especially in Lower Canada, where an English governor and an English-dominated Council controlled a French majority Assembly.
The nepotism made the situation worse. Members of the British conservative merchant elite who dominated the Executive and Legislative councils showed little interest in Franco-Canadian problems. Known as Family Compact in Upper Canada and Château Clique in Lower Canada, among its ranks were John Molson and the founder of James McGill University. The influence of the group grew especially after the war of 1812, an unsuccessful attempt by the US to invade its northern neighbor.
In 1837, the frustration generated by these cystic elites reached a critical point. The leader of the Canadian Party, Louis-Joseph Papineau, and his counterpart from Upper Canada and leader of the Reform Party, William Lyon Mackenzie, drove open rebellions against the Government. Although both were soon suffocated, the incident showed the British that the status quo could no longer be maintained.
Union with reservations
The British sent John Lambton, Earl of Durham, to investigate the causes of the rebellions. Lambton noted that the underlying problem was ethnic tensions and described the French and the British as "two nations fighting within a single state." He earned the nickname "Jack the Radical" by stating that French culture and society were inferior and an obstacle to expansion and greatness; He believed that only by assimilating British laws, language and institutions would French nationalism end and a lasting peace would be achieved for the colonies. These ideas were collected in the Union Law of 1840.
The Upper and Lower Canada soon merged in the province of Canada, governed by a single legislative body: the new Parliament of Canada. Each of the former colonies had the same number of representatives, a fact that was not fair to Lower Canada (i.e., Quebec), whose population was much higher. The positive was that the new system of responsible government limited the powers of the governor and eradicated nepotism.
Although most Anglo-Canadians accepted the new system, the French were not convinced. Quite the contrary, the underlying objective of the union to destroy French culture, language and identity united Francophones even more. The provisions of the law left deep wounds that today have not been completely closed.
Thus, the province was reunited on a slippery terrain. The following decade was marked by political instability and by governments that followed each other quite quickly. Meanwhile, the US had become an economic power, while British North America was still an imprecise mosaic of independent colonies. The War of Secession (1861-1865) and the purchase of Alaska from Russia by the United States in 1867 raised fear of annexation. When it became clear that only a less unstable political system would avoid these problems, the movement towards the federal union gained strength.
The British sent John Lambton, Earl of Durham, to investigate the causes of the rebellions. Lambton noted that the underlying problem was ethnic tensions and described the French and the British as "two nations fighting within a single state." He earned the nickname "Jack the Radical" by stating that French culture and society were inferior and an obstacle to expansion and greatness; He believed that only by assimilating British laws, language and institutions would French nationalism end and a lasting peace would be achieved for the colonies. These ideas were collected in the Union Law of 1840.
The Upper and Lower Canada soon merged in the province of Canada, governed by a single legislative body: the new Parliament of Canada. Each of the former colonies had the same number of representatives, a fact that was not fair to Lower Canada (i.e., Quebec), whose population was much higher. The positive was that the new system of responsible government limited the powers of the governor and eradicated nepotism.
Although most Anglo-Canadians accepted the new system, the French were not convinced. Quite the contrary, the underlying objective of the union to destroy French culture, language and identity united Francophones even more. The provisions of the law left deep wounds that today have not been completely closed.
Thus, the province was reunited on a slippery terrain. The following decade was marked by political instability and by governments that followed each other quite quickly. Meanwhile, the US had become an economic power, while British North America was still an imprecise mosaic of independent colonies. The War of Secession (1861-1865) and the purchase of Alaska from Russia by the United States in 1867 raised fear of annexation. When it became clear that only a less unstable political system would avoid these problems, the movement towards the federal union gained strength.
Confederacy
In 1864, Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island or PEI) was the delivery room where modern Canada would see the light. The "Fathers of the Confederation" (group of representatives from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, Ontario and Quebec) met at the Province House of the city to develop the framework of a new nation. After two more meetings, Parliament passed the British North America Act of 1867, beginning the modern and autonomous state of Canada, initially called Dominion of Canada. The day the law became official, on July 1, the Canadian national holiday is celebrated; it was called Domain Day until 1982, when it was renamed Canada Day.
In 1864, Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island or PEI) was the delivery room where modern Canada would see the light. The "Fathers of the Confederation" (group of representatives from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, Ontario and Quebec) met at the Province House of the city to develop the framework of a new nation. After two more meetings, Parliament passed the British North America Act of 1867, beginning the modern and autonomous state of Canada, initially called Dominion of Canada. The day the law became official, on July 1, the Canadian national holiday is celebrated; it was called Domain Day until 1982, when it was renamed Canada Day.
The conquest of the west
The first task of the Domain was to incorporate the remaining lands and colonies of the Confederation. Under the mandate of the Prime Minister, John A. Mac Donald, the Government purchased in 1869 from the Hudson’s Bay Company the vast territory of Rupert’s Land for the ridiculous amount of £ 300,000 (about $ 11.5 million today). These lands that are now called Northwest Territories (NWT) were very sparsely populated, there were mostly aboriginal people from the plains and several thousands of métis, a racial mixture of cree, ojibwe or saulteaux and merchants of Franco-Canadian or Scottish skins, whose main language It was french. Its largest settlement was the Red River Colony of Fort Garry (now Winnipeg).
The Canadian Government was quick to confront the Metis for land use rights; hence the métis constituted a provisional Government led by the charismatic Louis Riel. In November 1869, Riel seized Upper Fort Garry and forced Ottawa to negotiate. But when his delegation was already on its way, in an outburst Riel executed a Canadian prisoner held in the fort. Although the murder caused outrage in Canada, the Government was so interested in absorbing the west that it accepted almost all of Riel's demands, including those of protecting the language and religion of the Métis. Thus, in July 1870, the then small province of Manitoba left the Northwest Territories to join the Domain. Macdonald sent troops in search of Riel, but he managed to flee to the US and in 1875 he was imposed a five-year exile.
British Columbia (BC), created in 1866 by the merger of the colonies of New Caledonia and Vancouver Island, was the next frontier. The discovery of gold in the Fraser River in 1858 and in the Cariboo region in 1862 caused a large influx of settlers to mining fever cities, such as Williams Lake and Barkerville. But when the gold mines were exhausted, British Columbia sank into poverty. In 1871 he joined the Domain in exchange for the Canadian Government to assume all its debt and promise to connect it to the east by a transcontinental railroad within 10 years.
The construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway was one of the most extraordinary chapters in Canadian history. Macdonald considered that the railroad would be crucial in the unification of the country and would stimulate immigration, business and manufacturing. It was an expensive company, made even more difficult by the steep terrain. To attract investors, the Government offered them important benefits, such as extensive land concessions in western Canada.
To bring law and order to the "wild west," the Government created in 1873 the Northwest Mounted Police (NWMP), later converted into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The nicknames mounties are still the Canadian national police. Despite its effectiveness, the NWMP could not avoid problems arising in the prairies, where the native peoples of the plains soon questioned their situation.
Meanwhile, many métis had moved to Saskatchewan to settle in Batoche. As in Manitoba, they soon clashed with government inspectors on land-related issues. In 1884, after their repeated appeals to Ottawa were ignored, they convinced Louis Riel to return from exile to defend his cause. When he was rejected, Riel responded in the only way he knew: forming a provisional government and leading the Métis to revolt. Riel had the backing of the Cree, but times had changed: with the railroad almost over, the government army arrived in a matter of days. Riel surrendered in May and that same year he was hanged for treason.
The first task of the Domain was to incorporate the remaining lands and colonies of the Confederation. Under the mandate of the Prime Minister, John A. Mac Donald, the Government purchased in 1869 from the Hudson’s Bay Company the vast territory of Rupert’s Land for the ridiculous amount of £ 300,000 (about $ 11.5 million today). These lands that are now called Northwest Territories (NWT) were very sparsely populated, there were mostly aboriginal people from the plains and several thousands of métis, a racial mixture of cree, ojibwe or saulteaux and merchants of Franco-Canadian or Scottish skins, whose main language It was french. Its largest settlement was the Red River Colony of Fort Garry (now Winnipeg).
The Canadian Government was quick to confront the Metis for land use rights; hence the métis constituted a provisional Government led by the charismatic Louis Riel. In November 1869, Riel seized Upper Fort Garry and forced Ottawa to negotiate. But when his delegation was already on its way, in an outburst Riel executed a Canadian prisoner held in the fort. Although the murder caused outrage in Canada, the Government was so interested in absorbing the west that it accepted almost all of Riel's demands, including those of protecting the language and religion of the Métis. Thus, in July 1870, the then small province of Manitoba left the Northwest Territories to join the Domain. Macdonald sent troops in search of Riel, but he managed to flee to the US and in 1875 he was imposed a five-year exile.
British Columbia (BC), created in 1866 by the merger of the colonies of New Caledonia and Vancouver Island, was the next frontier. The discovery of gold in the Fraser River in 1858 and in the Cariboo region in 1862 caused a large influx of settlers to mining fever cities, such as Williams Lake and Barkerville. But when the gold mines were exhausted, British Columbia sank into poverty. In 1871 he joined the Domain in exchange for the Canadian Government to assume all its debt and promise to connect it to the east by a transcontinental railroad within 10 years.
The construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway was one of the most extraordinary chapters in Canadian history. Macdonald considered that the railroad would be crucial in the unification of the country and would stimulate immigration, business and manufacturing. It was an expensive company, made even more difficult by the steep terrain. To attract investors, the Government offered them important benefits, such as extensive land concessions in western Canada.
To bring law and order to the "wild west," the Government created in 1873 the Northwest Mounted Police (NWMP), later converted into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The nicknames mounties are still the Canadian national police. Despite its effectiveness, the NWMP could not avoid problems arising in the prairies, where the native peoples of the plains soon questioned their situation.
Meanwhile, many métis had moved to Saskatchewan to settle in Batoche. As in Manitoba, they soon clashed with government inspectors on land-related issues. In 1884, after their repeated appeals to Ottawa were ignored, they convinced Louis Riel to return from exile to defend his cause. When he was rejected, Riel responded in the only way he knew: forming a provisional government and leading the Métis to revolt. Riel had the backing of the Cree, but times had changed: with the railroad almost over, the government army arrived in a matter of days. Riel surrendered in May and that same year he was hanged for treason.
Releasing ties
Canada entered optimistically in the s. XX. Industrialization was in full swing, gold had been found in the Yukon and Canadian resources, from wheat to wood, were increasingly in demand. In addition, the new railroad had opened the floodgates to an immigration torrent.
Between 1885 and 1914 some 4.5 million people arrived in Canada. Among them there were numerous foreign groups that came to work in the meadows. A climate of optimism reigned and Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier declared: “The nineteenth century was the century of the United States. I think we can say that Canada will be the protagonist of xx. This new confidence put the country on the path of independence, especially when World War I broke out.
As a member of the British Empire, Canada was automatically involved in the conflict. In the early years of the war, more than 300,000 volunteers marched to the European battlefields, but as the war went on the enlistment stagnated. With the intention of replacing the decimated military troops, in 1917 the Government presented a mandatory recruitment project. It was a very unpopular measure, especially among French-Canadians. Thousands of Quebecers took to the streets in protest: the problem left Canada divided and Canadians full of distrust of the Government.
When the guns finally fell silent in 1918, most Canadians were fed up of fighting for Britain in distant wars. Under the Government of William Lyon Mackenzie King, an eccentric man who communicated with the spirits and worshiped his dead mother, Canada began to claim its independence. Mackenzie made it very clear that Britain could no longer automatically resort to the Canadian army, began signing agreements without the consent of the British and sent a Canadian ambassador to Washington. Such forcefulness resulted in the Statute of Westminster, approved by the British Parliament in 1931, which formalized the independence of Canada and other Commonwealth countries, although Britain retained the right to approve amendments to its constitutions.
Canada entered optimistically in the s. XX. Industrialization was in full swing, gold had been found in the Yukon and Canadian resources, from wheat to wood, were increasingly in demand. In addition, the new railroad had opened the floodgates to an immigration torrent.
Between 1885 and 1914 some 4.5 million people arrived in Canada. Among them there were numerous foreign groups that came to work in the meadows. A climate of optimism reigned and Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier declared: “The nineteenth century was the century of the United States. I think we can say that Canada will be the protagonist of xx. This new confidence put the country on the path of independence, especially when World War I broke out.
As a member of the British Empire, Canada was automatically involved in the conflict. In the early years of the war, more than 300,000 volunteers marched to the European battlefields, but as the war went on the enlistment stagnated. With the intention of replacing the decimated military troops, in 1917 the Government presented a mandatory recruitment project. It was a very unpopular measure, especially among French-Canadians. Thousands of Quebecers took to the streets in protest: the problem left Canada divided and Canadians full of distrust of the Government.
When the guns finally fell silent in 1918, most Canadians were fed up of fighting for Britain in distant wars. Under the Government of William Lyon Mackenzie King, an eccentric man who communicated with the spirits and worshiped his dead mother, Canada began to claim its independence. Mackenzie made it very clear that Britain could no longer automatically resort to the Canadian army, began signing agreements without the consent of the British and sent a Canadian ambassador to Washington. Such forcefulness resulted in the Statute of Westminster, approved by the British Parliament in 1931, which formalized the independence of Canada and other Commonwealth countries, although Britain retained the right to approve amendments to its constitutions.
This right remained in force for a century and was not eliminated until the Canada Act of 1982, ratified by Queen Elizabeth II on April 17 at Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Today, Canada is a constitutional monarchy with a Parliament composed of a designated upper house or Senate, and an elected or Common lower house. The British monarch remains the head of state, although his role is testimonial and does not undermine Canadian sovereignty. In Canada, the monarchy representative is a designated governor general.
Canada today
The post-World War II period brought another wave of economic expansion and immigration from Europe.
Newfoundland ended up joining Canada in 1949. Joey Smallwood, the politician who convinced the island of accession, argued that this would lead to economic prosperity and when he became prime minister of Newfoundland he promoted a citizen relocation program. People who lived in small isolated fishing cores were encouraged to move inland with schools, health and other services more economically. Another method was to eliminate ferry services; thus the villages were held incommunicado because there were no roads.
The only province that lagged during the boom of the 1950s was Quebec. He had remained a quarter of a century in the hands of the ultraconservative Maurice Duplessis and his Union Nationale party, with the support of the Catholic Church and several businessmen. It did not begin to catch up until the “Quiet Revolution” of the sixties, when the public sector expanded, invested in public education and hydroelectric plants were nationalized. Even so, progress was not fast enough for radical nationalists, for whom the only way to guarantee the rights of Francophones was independence. Quebec has spent subsequent years flirting with separatism.
In 1960, Aboriginal peoples in Canada obtained Canadian nationality and in the following decades, issues related to land rights and discrimination surfaced. In 1990, the frustration of the natives reached a critical point with the Oka crisis that confronted the Government and a group of Mohawk activists near Montreal. The conflict was triggered by an attribution of land, when the population of Oka projected the expansion of a golf course on lands considered sacred to the Mohawks. This resulted in a confrontation that lasted 78 days and in which a policeman died. The case shocked the country.
After Oka, a Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples issued a report that recommended that the relationship between the Government and indigenous peoples be fully reviewed. In 1998, the Ministry of Indigenous and Northern Affairs issued a Declaration of Reconciliation accepting responsibility for the injustices committed to aboriginal peoples. In 1999, the Government resolved the greatest demand for land by creating the new territory of Nunavut, which delivered to the Inuit who had lived for a long time in the northern region. Other more recent disputes have focused on the change of name of emblematic places such as Mount Douglas, near Victoria (BC).
In 1985, Canada became the first country in the world to pass a national multicultural law. Today, more than 20% of the Canadian population was born abroad. British Columbia has a long history of welcoming Japanese, Chinese and South Asian immigrants. Prairie provinces have traditionally been the destination of a large number of Ukrainians, and Ontario has a large Caribbean and Russian population, in addition to hosting 60% of Muslims.
The new millennium has behaved well with Canada. The loonie took off in 2003 thanks to oil, diamonds and other natural resources, and tolerance is going smoothly with the legalization of therapeutic marijuana and gay marriage. The country showed the world its lush wealth by successfully organizing the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.%20Gecko%2F20100101%20Firefox%2F71.0&aac=&if=1&uid=1576313253&cid=1&v=441)
The post-World War II period brought another wave of economic expansion and immigration from Europe.
Newfoundland ended up joining Canada in 1949. Joey Smallwood, the politician who convinced the island of accession, argued that this would lead to economic prosperity and when he became prime minister of Newfoundland he promoted a citizen relocation program. People who lived in small isolated fishing cores were encouraged to move inland with schools, health and other services more economically. Another method was to eliminate ferry services; thus the villages were held incommunicado because there were no roads.
The only province that lagged during the boom of the 1950s was Quebec. He had remained a quarter of a century in the hands of the ultraconservative Maurice Duplessis and his Union Nationale party, with the support of the Catholic Church and several businessmen. It did not begin to catch up until the “Quiet Revolution” of the sixties, when the public sector expanded, invested in public education and hydroelectric plants were nationalized. Even so, progress was not fast enough for radical nationalists, for whom the only way to guarantee the rights of Francophones was independence. Quebec has spent subsequent years flirting with separatism.
In 1960, Aboriginal peoples in Canada obtained Canadian nationality and in the following decades, issues related to land rights and discrimination surfaced. In 1990, the frustration of the natives reached a critical point with the Oka crisis that confronted the Government and a group of Mohawk activists near Montreal. The conflict was triggered by an attribution of land, when the population of Oka projected the expansion of a golf course on lands considered sacred to the Mohawks. This resulted in a confrontation that lasted 78 days and in which a policeman died. The case shocked the country.
After Oka, a Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples issued a report that recommended that the relationship between the Government and indigenous peoples be fully reviewed. In 1998, the Ministry of Indigenous and Northern Affairs issued a Declaration of Reconciliation accepting responsibility for the injustices committed to aboriginal peoples. In 1999, the Government resolved the greatest demand for land by creating the new territory of Nunavut, which delivered to the Inuit who had lived for a long time in the northern region. Other more recent disputes have focused on the change of name of emblematic places such as Mount Douglas, near Victoria (BC).
In 1985, Canada became the first country in the world to pass a national multicultural law. Today, more than 20% of the Canadian population was born abroad. British Columbia has a long history of welcoming Japanese, Chinese and South Asian immigrants. Prairie provinces have traditionally been the destination of a large number of Ukrainians, and Ontario has a large Caribbean and Russian population, in addition to hosting 60% of Muslims.
The new millennium has behaved well with Canada. The loonie took off in 2003 thanks to oil, diamonds and other natural resources, and tolerance is going smoothly with the legalization of therapeutic marijuana and gay marriage. The country showed the world its lush wealth by successfully organizing the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
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