The Most Important Parts of Canadian History

Recently in PLP our class did a unit on the most important parts of Canadian history. We learned about everything from colonization and imperialism in early Canada to the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Our unit started off with learning about the initial exploration and settlement of both the French and British in Canada. Canada started off with very small colonies and a bustling fur trade between the europeans and the First Nations people’s. After that we learned about the 7 year war between the French and the British over who got to own the land of Canada which the British won. When the British won the French and the First Nations people were belittled upon. When more settlements started arising in the province of Canada tens of thousands of Europeans and Americans immigrants in the late 1700s to early to mid 1800s moved to Canada which at the time was called New France. There was a problem with peopl coming to Canada. Mostly men were there and they needed women. Many women volunteered to come and they were called  Fille du Roi. Here are two projects I did on life in New France. The first is an Explain Everything  I did on Jean Talon and the second is a Comic Life I did on Fille du Roi’s. 

Canada divided itself into two parts, upper and lower Canada. Upper Canada was full of people mostly from England with British customs and Lower Canada mostly had the French and First Nations people. There were also the Maritime provinces in east of Canada. The colonies united because of the threat of forces from America taking over Canada and more self sufficient colonies. The problems Canada faced could only be resolved through uniting as one with both Canada’s and the maritimes.

In Canada there were people called the Métis who were part European (mostly French) and part First Nations. They were very discriminated against and were not given rights. A lot of the Métis lived in red river valley, which was the site for ongoing conflict between the government and the Métis. Their land was taken by Canada from them making their families dependent on government funds and resources causing many rebellions. The red river rebellion ended with the government owning the land and dividing it up badly and the Métis living on it. 

The next important event in Canadian history was the cariboo gold rush in 1857. The gold rush brought over 30,000 people from all over the world into BC. A lot of people came from California because there was a gold rush there not long before. Because the mining towns were small they could charge extreme prices for food and equipment which really helped the economy. They also built a wagon road that went to the mines so people would be able to get gold more easily. Here is a character card I made of what someone might be like in the Cariboo Gold Rush.  BC put a lot of money into that road and when the gold rush ended the economy went from boom to bust causing a dept of over 1 million dollars. BC had to do something to get their economy back and relieve their debt by joining the confederation of Canada. This lead to in my opinion the most important event in Canadian history. 

When joining the confederation of Canada BC was promised to have the transcontinental Railway known as the Canadian Pacific Railway from coast to coast in only 10 years. The railway would start in new Westminster in BC and go from coast to coast. Some of the people that worked on it were from the praies but it was built mostly by workers from china that needed a job and a place to live in Canada. Here is a poster I made trying to recruit workers from the praies.

 They were paid a mere $1 a day and were not paid if they were suddenly injured. Many people died in the building of the railway but it brought more people of different races to Canada and helped make it more diverse. The railway also benefited the economy tremendously bringing more resources to BC and all along the prairies, relieving BC of the debt they owned and giving people jobs who lost their money and earning during bust of the caribou gold rush. The railroad helped transport goods and resources from one side of the country to the other and made it easier to travel across the country. It made it easier for them to transport food without it spoiling. The rcmp were able to get to where they needed to go faster so the crime rates went down. Without the railway Canada might not be as united as it is now and there may have been many more wars. Canada is the way it is today because of the railroad. Sofia and I made a Kahoot about the CPR and you can do it by going to Kahoot.com, making an account, and searching for Canadian Pacific Railway Hisory Quiz.