Confederation and Unification of Canada

• Unit 1 addresses the creation of Canada from 1850-1890, inquiring into how successful Confederation was at unifying Canada

How Successful Was Confederation at Unifying Canada?

• In July 1867, some British North American colonies united, forming the Dominion of Canada
• Confederation is the term for this union
• During the 1800s and early 1900s, other colonies and territories joined Confederation
• Unifying different colonies and territories was challenging due to their unique needs and concerns
• Canada Day is celebrated every July 1st, with communities holding ceremonies, parades, concerts, and events
• Parliament Hill in Ottawa marks Canada Day with a light show and fireworks

Unit 1: 1850-1890 Timeline

• 1850: The United States passes the Fugitive Slave Act, causing Black people to migrate to British North America via the Underground Railroad
• 1867: Confederation occurs, uniting three colonies to form the Dominion of Canada
• 1869: The Métis establish a provisional government, led by Louis Riel
• 1870: The federal government passes the Manitoba Act
• 1875: Jubilee Riots between Protestants and Catholics in Toronto
• 1877: Sir John A. Macdonald introduces his national policy
• 1878: The Blackfoot Treaty becomes Treaty 7 of the Numbered Treaties
• 1885: The Battle of Batoche occurs between government troops and the Métis
• 1890: Manitoba passes the Public Schools Act

Population and Migration

• In 1871, the estimated population of Canada was 3,736,904
• Approximately 30,000 to 40,000 Black people migrated to British North America via the Underground Railroad
• From 1881 to 1884, over 17,000 Chinese people migrated to Canada to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway
• 30,000 workers took 4.5 years to build 3200 km of railway track

Unit 1 Challenge: Editorial

• The challenge is to write an editorial assessing the success of Confederation in unifying Canada
• An editorial is an opinion-based article supported by evidence, focusing on a specific group affected by Confederation
• Important considerations include:
• Purpose: define the editorial's focus: people, events, and consequences
• Historical Thinking: analyze the causes and consequences of Confederation and its effects
• Research: gather information and evidence from various sources
• Perspective: examine different groups' perspectives
• Conclusions: assess the success of Confederation in unifying a chosen group

Chapter 1: Life in British North America: 1850-1864

• Chapter 1 explores life in British North America from 1850-1864, focusing on the changes occurring and their effects on people of different classes and cultures

Learning Goals

• Explain how British North America in the mid-1800s comprised diverse territories and colonies
• Analyze the opportunities and challenges for people living in these regions
• Evaluate the most significant issues for the people in these regions
• Create and analyze flow maps to understand trade between different regions

Overview of Change

• The mid-1800s brought significant changes to British North America due to new technologies which altered production and distribution methods
• Steamships and railways improved the efficiency of goods and people transport, while factories increased product output
• Population increases in cities resulted from people migrating away from the countyside, and immigration from other countries
• More resources were required to feed growing populaces of cities and supply new industries
• Indigenous people were further displaced by settlers and government policies
• A circa 1850 painting titled View of Quebec by Benjamin Beaufoy, displays Quebec City viewed from the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, showing people of different social classes and First Nations people, also various ships and boats

The Atlantic Colonies

• In 1850, British North America consisted of separate, British-controlled colonies and territories, including the Atlantic colonies: Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia
• Canada East (Québec) and Canada West (Ontario) were colonies farther inland
• The Hudson's Bay Company governed the Northwest region and New Caledonia
• The establishment of these colonies and territories on Aboriginal lands often resulted in the displacement of their inhabitants
• Differences existed among the Atlantic colonies, such as Newfoundland's fisheries, Prince Edward Island's agriculture, and Nova Scotia's shipping and coal mines
• Forestry and shipbuilding were vital to the Atlantic colonies' economy, especially in New Brunswick

Building Industries and Fortunes

• Industry thrived in the Atlantic colonies during the mid-1800s, offering opportunities for working-class and middle-class people
• Merchants, shipbuilders, and businesspeople often achieved success, creating a wealthy upper class
• Joseph Salter, a New Brunswick businessman and politician, was mayor of Moncton and had one of the largest emplyers of the Atlantic colonies through his shipbuilding company
• When demand for his ships declined in 1859, Salter switched to mining, first in New Brunswick and then in Nova Scotia
• A monument depicting Salter was erected in Moncton in 1990

Producing Goods, Farming, and Fishing

• Ports in the Atlantic colonies were bustling with business in the mid-1800s
• Lumber, iron, and coal industries in New Brunswick benefited from shipbuilding
• The Marco Polo ship made a record-breaking trip to Australia in 1852
• In Prince Edward Island, only about one-third of farmers owned their land causing violent conflict when tentant tentants could not pay
• Newfoundland's fishing families were often in debt to wealthy merchants who controlled the fishing industry

Changing Trade Relations

• Most goods produced by the Atlantic colonies were sent to Britain, the United States, the West Indies, and Latin America in the first half of the 1800s
• The Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 allowed free trade of agricultural products and natural resources between British North America and the United States
• The American Civil War in 1861 increased demand for agricultural products and natural resources from the Atlantic colonies
• In 1865, the United States ended the Reciprocity Treaty, taxing goods from British North America.

Flow Maps

• A flow map uses arrows to show the movement of people or goods
• The arrows indicate direction and quantity of movement.

Working-Class Children

• Most children, especially from wealthy families, had to work from an early age to help their families in the 1800s
• Child labor in the 1800s was both harder and more precarious than the child labor of today
• While Great Britain had laws to protect children in dangerous jobs such as mining, the British North American colonies did not
• Work for girls in New Brunswick fishing communities involved cleaning and preparing catches
• Martin Butler childhood involved working and contributing to his family income
• They made shingles for roofs when they could not find anything jobs in the lumber industry anymore
• It was when Martin was 11, he was sent to another family as a household servant
• At 18, he lost his right arm in a piece of machinery, but survived and became a poet and printer

First Nations Loss of Territory

• The Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, and Passamaquoddy First Nations had signed Peace and Friendship Treaties with the British government, which guaranteed rights to hunt, fish, and maintain a livelihood.
• Despite this, the government did little to protect the small territories reserved for the First Nations
• Colonists would benefit from development, yet jobs were not offered to members of the First Nations, so local First Nations people tried to make a living via their skills- harvesting maple syrup, berries and other produce to sell to the colonists
• Mi'kmaq Chief Noel Briot petitioned to stop the sale of land and believed sale of land would result in extreme poverty

Canada East

• A primarily French-speaking population, called Canadiens, made up Canada East, largely descendants of the early French settlers of New France
• English businessmen dominated this regions economy
• Despite a period of prosperity for businesspeople, the working people earned low wages and did not share in this prosperity
• The bishop of Montréal built a cathedral in the heart of the English-speaking area of the city

Seigneurs and Land Ownership

• Wealthy landowners known as seigneurs leased out smaller land plots to people.
• When farming couldn't support families, men worked in the lumber industry.
• Over time this resulted in the exploitation of workers due to the competition for jobs
• Canadien migration of the debts causing them to move to cities in search of work

Québec Women in the Workforce

• Women have always contributed to the economy, but were usually unpaid in the past
• Canadiens who could not sustain themselves on farms turned to work in Canadian industries in the 1800's with women finding work in the clothing industry sewing garments.
• Women were paid much less than men for doing to the same work
• They were also employed in laundries, private homes, and mines
• Many women were attracted to profession of teaching
• The Catholic Church
• What was life like for Canadien farmers who were unable to pay their debts?
• Where did some Canadien farmers move in search of land and work?
• When did families start leaving their farms?
• Why did Canadien farmers not turn to the government for aid?

The Development of French Nationalism

• Upper and Lower Canada united in 1840 forming the Province of Canada, but English politicians dominated, wanting the French to assimilate, so French nationalism was an effort by Canadien leaders to create a national identity and protect French language, religion, and culture
• Some governors favoured abandoning assimilation, and Catholic bishops and priests travelled to countries and rural communities around North America, publicly talking about the importance of the French language
• With new income, church invested the Church's wealth in railways, mining, and lumber, founding the Laval University, which further increased the Church's influence in Canadien society
• In the mid-1800s, the growing French-speaking Canadien middle class embraced literature and arts
• This brought a reminder to Canadien people that they had a history and the culture long before

How Was Canada West Changing?

• During the first half of the 1800s, tens of thousands of British immigrants arrived every year in Canada West, now called Ontario
• The population change was from isolated to a lively mix of settlements which made it an interesting place to live.

Transportation and the Railway System

• Ships had been the means to transport cargo and crops until about the 1850s, when they began using railway transit, which was much faster
• This lead to increased amounts of farming and settling along the Erie and Ontario lakes

Relationship Between Rural Communities, Towns, and Cities

• Towns and cities such as Toronto and Brantford became centers of commerce due to Railway Transit coming right through as did service to rural populations
• All fertile land stretching through Lake Ontario and Lake Erie would soon be farmed

New Opportunities

• The railway's economic growth produced new prospects for Western Canada immigrants
• Thornton Blackburn and his family, who had fled slavery, were able to start their own business in Canada West with the new oppourtunites

Growth and Changes in Population

• Canada West's population tripped between 1840 and 1860, going up to nearly one-and-a-half million with the arrivals of British immigrants and Black American
• Railroad construction and industries provided jobs for the new immigrants, causing rising amount of social tensions
• Tensions also rose between Irish Catholics and Irish Protestatns which resulted in religious societies forming in various communities

The Underground Railroad

• The Underground Railroad led to a network of people helping and secreting away slaves to a free life in Canada's West, and 30,000-40,000 people fled to British North America along it
• Many of those would form societies, schools, and communities, and Mary Ann Shadd start abolitionists papers
• Harriet Tubman worked as a conductor on the Underground Railroad

Farming and Industry

• The railroad encouraged farming and industry with the use of new technologies, like people getting farming loans from banks
• By 1861 there were 31 factories producing equipment, and over time they improved and were able to make great advances in farming technologies

Archeologist at Work

• Clues for the underground railroad can be found by unearthing artifacts as done by Karolyn Smardz Frost
• These reveal long lost secrets about the daily lives of those who came to Canada to freedom and liberty.

Impact of Farming on First Nations

• In the mid 1980's, some First Nations started farming more, like the Mississauga of the Credit River who had some success. But, new immigrants came in and developed the lands and the government just would not sell them the lands back
• Many protested but were never recognized for all of their hard work and achievements

How Northwest and Pacific Coast changed

• In the mid-1800s, Britain wanted to claim land in the Northwest and on the Pacific Coast, while in the Eastern territory, the population of First Nations greatly outwitted the Europeans
• The Métis, descendants of French and British traders and First Nations people, were present in these regions as well

Population

• The Red River Settlement was made up different cultures and religious backgrounds which included the Métis
• Fertile soil in the East caused more population to find new opportunities

Settling of the Red River area

• With Western Canada set with Métis, others began making their mark and Louis Goulet began documenting the changes coming in

Coast Colonization of Pacific

• Land out West was discovered, and Vancouver Island became a British colony in 1849 with James Douglas being the governor
• Douglas tried to keep the peace to settlers and the various other First Nations colonies, as well as to offer areas to the indiginous folk

Smallpox

• Population increase, railway transportation, and new forms of medicine, the people moved to settle down and start better lives. Epidemics, like smallpox, started spreading more rampantly
• This took a heavy toll on the First Nations communities

Historical Perspective

• Historians try to interpret what people from the past did to understand there points of views
• Sometimes, you have to interpret what some actions from long ago mean to us, or people today

Focus on Smallpox Epidemic in British Columbia, 1862

• Contagious diseases, like smallpox spread rapidly, with very dangerous results on communities that were in the B.C territory Some sources claim
• there were first reporters in Victoria, a hospital was setup, and several vaccinations
• other perspectives claim blankets were sold and infected to cause rapid sickness

Impact of Fraser River Gold Rush on First Nations

• Before 1858, gold was discovered on the waters of British Columbia which caused Governor Jamed Douglas to quickly declare it a British colony , as people moved from everywhere from around the entire world
• The thousands of miners and their companies that had formed disrupted the nature and the waters the First Nations were fishing in

A Colony of many cultures

• Diverse immigrants came mainly came from the United States, which including all types of people, religions, and ethnicities
• Over time tensions rose due to the Chinese people, with all of the hard jobs they took.