A Railway from Sea to Sea PDF

20 Your Canadian Citizenship Study Guide Members of the train crew pose with a westbound Pacific Express, at the first crossing of the Illecillewaet River near Glacier, B.C., 1886 A Railway from Sea to Sea British Columbia joined Canada in 1871 after Ottawa promised to build a railway to the West Co...

20 Your Canadian Citizenship Study Guide Members of the train crew pose with a westbound Pacific Express, at the first crossing of the Illecillewaet River near Glacier, B.C., 1886 A Railway from Sea to Sea British Columbia joined Canada in 1871 after Ottawa promised to build a railway to the West Coast. On November 7, 1885, a powerful symbol of unity was completed when Donald Smith (Lord Strathcona), the Scottish-born director of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), drove the last spike. The project was financed by British and American investors and built by both European and Chinese labour. Afterwards the Chinese were subject to discrimination, including the Head Tax, a race-based entry fee. The Government of Canada apologized in 2006 for this discriminatory policy. After many years of heroic work, the CPR’s “ribbons of steel” fulfilled a national dream. Chinese workers’ camp on the CPR, Kamloops, B.C., 1886 Moving westward Canada’s economy grew and became more industrialized during the economic boom of the 1890s and early 1900s. One million British and one million Americans immigrated to Canada at this time. Sir Wilfrid Laurier became the first FrenchCanadian prime minister since Confederation and encouraged immigration to the West. His portrait is on the $5 bill. The railway made it possible for immigrants, including 170,000 Ukrainians, 115,000 Poles and tens of thousands from Germany, France, Norway and Sweden to settle in the West before 1914 and develop a thriving agricultural sector.