Canada

Canada

RELATED LINKS:
World History and Trivia

PAGE CONTENTS:
Introduction
A Timeline History of Canada
A History of Canada, Part 2
A History of Canada, Part 3
Canadian Elections
More About Canada

Canada and the United States share the world's longest common border and a trade relationship the size of, well, Canada, which is the world's second largest nation by area (after Russia). So what should we all know about the place?

Despite Canada's geographic size and economic importance, too few people can tell you even the basics about the place. So, let's first size the vast country up by the numbers and put it squarely on all our mental maps.

Michael Himmick

A Timeline History of Canada
England or France?
1497 - A Venetian named Giovanni Caboto (a.k.a. "John Cabot") leads an English expedition to the lands and seas around what would soon come to be called "Newfoundland." Since he sails under the "banners and ensigns" of King Henry VII, Cabot's explorations first plant England's flag in Canada. No immediate colonization follows, but fishing fleets from across Europe do--to catch cod in the Grand Banks.

1534 - France makes its first Canadian claim, with three expeditions to the north under Jacques Cartier. He explores eastern Canada, sails up the St. Lawrence River, and climbs a hill that he dubs "Mont Real," from which "Montreal" derives. In his account of his explorations, Cartier calls the whole area "Canada." He had heard the Iroquois refer to their "kanata," meaning village, and thought that was the name of the place.

1583 - Granted a charter by England's Queen Elizabeth I to seek out and settle "heathen lands not actually possessed of any Christian prince or people," Sir Humphrey Gilbert officially asserts England's claim to Newfoundland and its fishing waters. Permanent English settlers begin to arrive in 1610, even as France contests England's claim.

1608 - Samuel de Champlain establishes the first permanent French settlement in Canada, on the St Lawrence River, at the strategic location of Quebec. There, where the river narrows, French cannons could control access. Champlain remains in charge of Quebec and the surrounding territory of "New France" until his death in 1635. New France's primary business: fur--the acquisition of beaver pelts to export home.

1663 - Louis XIV assumes royal control of New France, and shapes its government after that of a French province. More troops, and more settlers, soon arrive, but New France never quite grows like the 13 English colonies to the south.

1670 - Challenging France's claims in Canada's north and west, England's Charles II charters the Hudson's Bay Company. The charter grants the company a monopoly on the fur trade (and effective ownership of all the land) in the entire region drained by rivers flowing into Hudson Bay.

1713 - As part of an end to war in Europe and the colonies, France cedes the Acadian Peninsula south of Newfoundland to Great Britain. Britain renames it Nova Scotia. France also recognizes Britain's claim to Newfoundland and the rights granted to the Hudson's Bay Company in the north and west.

1755 - Great Britain, at war with France once again, expels thousands of French-speaking Acadians from Nova Scotia, when they refuse to take an oath of loyalty to the British crown. Some of the transported Acadians eventually settle in Louisiana, where "Acadian" is transformed into "Cajun."

1759 - The British besiege the city of Quebec. Finally, on a plain outside the city's western walls, British and French forces meet in battle. Both generals are killed, but the British troops triumph. Quebec, the capital of New France, falls.

1763 - At war's end, France officially cedes New France to Great Britain. Britain renames the entire colony Quebec. For better or for worse, Canada's fortunes from 1763 on would be tied to Great Britain and its empire, and not to France.

--Michael Himick

History of Canada, Part 2

When last we left Canada it was 1763, and France had officially ceded its Canadian colonies to Great Britain, after Britain had besieged, and conquered, Quebec. Great Britain, and not France, was to be master of the vast land north of the Thirteen Colonies.

But that left the British with a dilemma: how to govern the French-speaking population of Quebec with the law of the British Empire? The question needed answering fast, because those Thirteen Colonies were speeding toward republican revolution, and they had their own ideas about Canada.

One Nation?
1774 - The British Parliament passes the Quebec Act, in an attempt to secure the loyalty of Quebec's 70,000 French inhabitants. The act guarantees freedom of religion for Roman Catholics and restores French civil law for private matters. It also permits Quebec's governor to rule without any elected assembly and extends Quebec's boundaries to the Ohio Valley. Many in the 13 colonies to the south are enraged.

1775 - American forces attack British strongholds in Quebec, capturing Montreal and besieging the capital. Despite entreaties from both sides--to join the revolution or help raise the defense--Quebec's French inhabitants remain neutral. British reinforcements soon drive the Americans back and dash their hope of wresting Canada from British control.

1776 - Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution begin to arrive in Canada. Before the revolution ends, more than 40,000 people from the 13 rebelling colonies settle in Nova Scotia and Quebec, solidifying Canada's place in the empire. In 1784, Great Britain creates the province of New Brunswick, north of Maine, specifically for the loyalist emigres.

1791 - To accommodate the loyalists who settled in Quebec, the British Parliament passes the Constitution Act of 1791. The act divides Quebec into Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) and Upper Canada (present-day Ontario) and allows for elected assemblies in each. With the arrival of the loyalists, English speakers predominate in Upper Canada, and that province quickly adopts English civil law.

1811 - Scots lord Thomas Douglas secures the land for Canada's first non-native western settlement: the Red River Colony on the Canadian prairie, around today's Winnipeg. The first settlers arrive the following year. In time, many start looking to the west for land, but the Hudson's Bay Company's vast ownership of "Rupert's Land" stands in the way.

1812 - American forces invade Canada again, during the War of 1812. A military proclamation promises Canadians they "will be emancipated from tyranny and oppression and restored to the dignified station of freedom." But most Canadians, suspicious of American expansion, prefer the status quo. British and Canadian forces keep Canada in the empire.

1841 - The British Parliament makes Lower Canada and Upper Canada into one province, Canada, but no one's happy with the union. French speakers fear assimilation, while English speakers soon say they're underrepresented in Canada's government. The result: political deadlock. Eventually, local leaders from many provinces start talking about how to form a bigger and better union of all British North America.

1849 - Working with the Hudson's Bay Company, the British colonial office creates a colony on Canada's west coast, at Vancouver Island. Within a decade, in 1858, gold is discovered in the nearby Fraser River Valley, and prospectors pour in. So British authorities establish a mainland colony, too: British Columbia. The two colonies merge in 1866.

1867 - Responding to negotiations among the colonies of Canada, the British Parliament passes the British North America Act, creating a national confederation of four eastern provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario. On July 1, 1867, this new Dominion of Canada comes into being and Canada's colonial era comes to an end. But with much of British North America not in this Canada, and many powers still located in London, Canada has work to do.

--Michael Himick

History of Canada, Part 3

We've seen France cede its Canadian colonies to Britain, after the British had besieged, and conquered, Quebec. We've seen the British defend their colonies against American revolutionary attacks. And we've seen some of those colonies unite as the Dominion of Canada, with four provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario.

After chapter 1 and chapter 2 of our timeline of Canadian history, we'll see Canada stretch itself from sea to sea, build up the country, and assume its place among the nations of the world. And we'll come full circle, right back to the question of chapter 1: who will own Quebec?

Sea to Sea
1870 - The new federal government of Canada buys the vast land holdings of the Hudson's Bay Company and renames them the Northwest Territories. The same year, the Red River Colony founded around Winnipeg becomes the Canadian confederation's fifth province, under the name Manitoba.

1871 - British Columbia becomes the confederation's sixth province, after federal officials promise to build a
transcontinental railway connecting the Atlantic to the Pacific in just one decade. Crews drive the last spike on that railway, the Canadian Pacific, in 1885.

1873 - Prince Edward Island, just north of Nova Scotia, becomes Canada's seventh province. After adding three provinces in just six years, the federal government turns its attention to building up the far-flung, but sparsely populated, nation. Fewer than 4 million people call Canada home.

1880 - British officials transfer control of the Canadian arctic archipelago to Canada's federal government. With the exception of Newfoundland, which remains a British colony, Canada reaches its modern boundaries, stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Arctic Ocean.

1905 - Canada's Parliament carves two new provinces out of the Northwest Territories: Alberta and Saskatchewan. The federal government has been encouraging immigration to this "last, best west," practically offering free land to those willing to farm it. Now there are enough people for provinces.

1912 - Canada's Parliament radically expands the boundaries of Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba, giving them control of lands formerly in the Northwest Territories. The once-vast territories are now completely north of the 60th parallel. Canada's nine provinces control the land below that.

1931 - The British Parliament passes the Statute of Westminster, ending its supremacy over Canada's Parliament and giving Canada, for the first time, control over its foreign policy. Previously, British officials managed foreign policy for the entire empire, keeping Canada in a quasi-colonial state.

1949 - Newfoundland, one of the oldest British colonies in North America, becomes Canada's tenth province. The same year, Canada helps found NATO and begins to establish defense links with the United States. Canada's international focus starts to shift from the British to the Americans.

1980 - A separatist government in the province of Quebec holds a referendum on whether Quebec should seek independence from Canada. Sixty percent say no. Canadians, after decades of building their confederation up, must now wonder what happens if a province wants out.

1982 - Working with Canada's government, the British Parliament passes the Canada Act, eliminating the last vestiges of Canada's quasi-colonial status and allowing Canada to amend its own constitution. The act includes a Constitution Act and Charter of Rights and Freedoms passed by Canada's Parliament to immediately update Canada's constitution and guarantee the rights of its citizens.

1995 - Quebec holds another referendum on whether it should seek independence from Canada. Quebec's voters say no again, but this time, by only the slimmest of margins: 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent. Quebec remains part of Canada, but the issue remains unresolved. Canada's English and French origins, way back in the 16th century, still complicate Canada's politics as much as they enrich its heritage.

--Michael Himick

Canadian Elections

How do Canadians elect their prime minister anyway?

Suppose you're Canada's prime minister. One of the perks of the job is that--unlike a U.S. president, whose term is set in constitutional stone--you can call an early election. It's a key feature of most parliamentary systems.

Of course, you're no dummy, so if you call an early election, you'll call it at a time when your party is doing well in the polls. And compared to American campaigns, your campaign will be blessedly short. The vote will likely happen just about a month after you've officially called the election.

The government of Canada has two legislative bodies: the House of Commons and the Senate. The House of Commons has almost all of the power, and the general election determines who gets the seats in that house. The members of the much-less-powerful Senate are not elected. They're appointed to the office.

Unlike Americans, Canadian voters don't vote specifically for their chief executive (not even via an electoral college). Instead, they simply vote to elect members of Parliament (MPs) to represent 308 constituencies (or "ridings") in Canada's 13 provinces and territories--much the way Americans vote for their representatives in Congress.

As prime minister, you're the head of both the government and your political party, but you're almost always an MP who represents a particular constituency, too. Generally, for you to keep your job as prime minister, your constituents have to re-elect you as their MP during the general election. Luckily, folks back home like you. If they don't, your party can switch you over to a "safe" constituency where folks do like you.

Just winning your own re-election isn't enough, though. To retain control of the government, your party also has to win a larger number of seats in Parliament than any other party. If it doesn't, you'll have to move out of the prime minister's house in Ottawa to make room for a new chief executive--though you'll still be a member of Parliament if the constituents you represent re-elect you.

If your party wins, the governor-general of Canada will ask you--as leader of the winning party--to become prime minister. The governor-general is Queen Elizabeth II's representative in Canada. But that's just a formality. Though the British monarch is still Canada's official head of state, you're the one who gets to appoint a cabinet of senior ministers and who heads up the new government.

With your cabinet in place, you'll get to run the government until the next scheduled election, which in Canada, must now come in October every four years. Of course, that's not true if you choose to call elections early--or if you suffer a vote of no confidence in Parliament. A vote of no confidence triggers a general election whether you want one or not. But then, who wouldn't have confidence in you?

--Jeffery Vail

More About Canada
Canadian Geography
3.9 million - Canada's total area, in square miles (10 million sq km). That makes it just about one Florida bigger than the United States. It also makes it the second largest country in the world. Only Russia spans more land than Canada.

1 - Number of countries that border Canada. It's just the United States. In fact, Canada and the United States share the longest international border in the world. Including the frontier between Canada and Alaska, it's more than 5,500 miles (8,800 km) long.

3 - Number of oceans that border Canada. Canada may only border one country, but it touches three oceans: the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Arctic. The Canadian arctic archipelago, composed of more than 36,500 islands north of mainland Canada, extends deep into the Arctic Circle.

Canadian Confederation
10 - Number of provinces in the Canadian confederation. In Canada's federal system of government, the 10 provinces have more power than U.S. states. Canadians often group the provinces this way. In the east, on the Atlantic coast, lie the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and the 3 "maritime" provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Down the St. Lawrence Seaway lie French-speaking Quebec and populous Ontario. Inland are the "prairie" provinces: Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. And in the west, on the Pacific coast, lies British Columbia.

3 - Number of Canadian territories. Canada's territories--the Yukon Territory, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut--have fewer powers than the provinces. They're also all north of the 60th parallel and largely covered by arctic permafrost and ice. The territory of Nunavut was created most recently, in 1999, as a homeland for the Inuit peoples. Nunavut means "our land" in the language of the Inuit.

--Michael Himick

91326 (Northridge Weather Forecast, CA)

To post your opinion regarding this page, please click on

A POINT OF VIEW, and post your opinion in my Forum.