Category: Learning Canadian History

With the help from John A MacDonald, George Étienne Cartier and George Brown, Canada soon would be an official country. There were many political developments such as the Great Coalition, the Charlottetown Conference on September 1-9 1864, and the Quebec Conference held on October 10-27 1864 that lead to Confederation. There were many topics of debate some of which included regional representation, financial control and Federal/ Provincial powers. Every angle of the big change was fully discussed and thought about before being proposed to the British Rule. Finally, after hard work and dedication Queen Victoria signed the British North America Act on March 29, 1867. The Act came into effect on July 1, 1867. Happy birthday Canada! The four original provinces that were included in the confederation were Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. And since then, the other nine provinces and territories have officially joined this great country. Manitoba and Northwest Territories officially joined in 1870, with British Columbia joining them the following year. After that came Prince Edward Island in 1873. In 1898 Yukon joined with Alberta and Saskatchewan joining in 1905. It wasn’t until 1949 that Newfoundland became an official province. And last but not least, Nunavut joined in 1999. I found it fascinating to learn about how Canada came to be. It is really exciting to read about all the hard work that paid off. I am definitely a proud Canadian that enjoys hearing the stories about how our systems and country came to be!

After the victory of Britain, the government system began to develop. On October 7, 1763 King George III issued the Royal Proclamation. This replaced the old existing French laws with the laws of Britain. The boundaries of Quebec were also defined. King George III also acknowledged the interior region in the west as “Indian Territory”. There was also the Quebec Act of 1774. This act held many items that would define the government system even more, such as; guaranteed church taxation, legal recognition of the seigniorial system, reinforced French civil law, enlarged the boundaries of Quebec and also permitted Roman Catholics to partake in the government system. Steps like these allowed Canada to develop into a strong colony. The laws that were enforced provided stability to the people, and gave rules to follow. Many of the laws put in place back in 1763 and 1774 are still in affect in the Canadian government that we are apart of today. Previous to this lecture, I didn’t know much about the laws that were in effect back in the 1800s. I found all the work that was put into it was very necessary due to that fact that it was a new colony and everyone needed to follow the same lead. Next semester I have a Political Science course that is all about the Canadian Government. I am really looking forward to learning about the government system more in depth.

The ownership of Canada has been an issue since the first settlers came to Canada. It began with the Great Expulsion in 1754. It was a fight between the French and English in North America. The Acadians (the French) were refusing to sign an oath of allegiance for the British Crown. This triggered the British to capture all the Acadians and deport them. After that, the Seven Years’ War began in 1756. It was another war between Britain and France as well as their respective allies. The war was first declared in Europe and then made its way to Canada. Britain won the battle in 1763. Another battle that took place in hopes to win the great country of Canada was the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec in 1759. The British were trying to capture Quebec and make it apart of the British Empire. After only five days of battling, the British won. Even though there was a declared winner, the battling persisted on. Throughout these many battles, there were a numerous amount of death and tragedies. But it was the prices the people were willing to pay, in order to capture the great country of Canada.

Since the Indigenous people of Canada had to rely heavily on the land, they found many remedies to fight illness. On one of the slides in the lecture of week six, Tracy had gathered this information. I find it fascinating that they could make use of so many different herbs and natural ingredients to help fight off sickness. Today, we should take these remedies into consideration before we look for help from prescribed medication. Here are a few remedies that were posted in lecture:

• Cold

Mix pine gum, ¾ cups of whiskey and 1 cup of maple syrup

Take 1 spoonful 3 times a day

• Sore Stomach

Drink a tea made from plantain seeds or flaxseeds

• Cuts

Boil a marigold stalk in water

Apply as a compress

• Sore Throat

Boil 1 pint of salted water with 1 teaspoon of vinegar

Gargle

• Appendicitis

Boil 2 teaspoons of chimney soot with 3 tablespoons of water and 2 tablespoons of milk, sweeten and strain before drinking

 

Maybe next time you feel a sickness on its way, try one of these remedies and see if it works!

The Vikings, who were explorers from Scandinavia, made the first documented European visit to North America around 1000CE. Leif Eriksson and his crew wintered at L’Anse aux Meadows, located at the northern tip of Newfoundland. There is evidence of the crew’s early expeditions due to Viking stories called, Norse sagas. After the Vikings, the next European to make it to Canada was John Cabot in 1497. Europeans such as Chabot were motivated to explore new lands such as Canada because of demographic, political, technological, economic and religious reasons. There was a ton of room for new, exciting things to take place in this new land.

Many more travellers started to come to what would one day become Canada. Jacques Cartier made his first voyage in 1534. He placed a cross at the entrance of Gaspe Harbor to claim the land as his. As one could expect, the indigenous people of the area weren’t impressed with this gesture.

The London and Bristol Company established Cuper’s Cove Colony in 1610. They received a Royal Charter to help secure and make save the trade of fishing. John Guy was named the leader of Cuper’s Cove and was expected to lead the 39 new colonists into this new life over seas. This colony ran into many difficulties while trying to get settled. The Beothuk people did not like the new comers, making trading and the spreading of knowledge impossible.

As shown in this era, there were many different nations coming together. As historians, it is important to include as many stories and ideas as possible to get an even amount of information that isn’t bias.

 

Prior to the 1500’s, Canada consisted of Aboriginal groups of people consisting of 20-30 each. There were five groups; the Arctic Thule, the Northeastern Woodlands, the Great Plains, the Northwest Coast, and the Plateau peoples. Each of these groups having different cultures and living techniques, which were shared through creation stories. Canada was split into 5-7 cultural areas. The different Aboriginal groups share some cultural similarities and features such as religion, knowledge of the natural environment, established networks of trade, warfare and perspectives on gender & sexuality. When the Europeans first came to Canada, they looked for help from all the indigenous peoples as they had a very vast amount of knowledge on the land of Canada. The invasion of the Europeans came with great surprise to the aboriginals of Canada. There was no warning signs of them coming over seas to invade the land.

When learning about the first peoples of Canada, it is important to use a ethno-historical methodology. Since the indigenous peoples were the only people that experienced Canada before Europeans came, it is important to consider the their stories and information when making assumptions about this time. Culture was very important to the Aboriginal peoples, and they worked very hard to maintain it, even when the Europeans came and tried to change their way of life.