A Brief History of Canada

When most non-Canadians think of Canada, they think of snow, hockey, and free health care. But there’s a whole lot more that Canada stands for, and a whole lot more that defines Canada. Today Canada has 10 provinces and 3 territories. It is a multicultural, bilingual country home to three different nations: English-speaking, French-speaking, and the Aboriginals, and has increased its diversity by opening its arms to millions of immigrants from around the world. How did we get there?

This was a land inhabited by Aboriginal people known as the Inuits and Metis, long before British and French colonization. There were many Europeans reported to have set foot in what is now Canada since 985. However, the 16th century when European fleets began to make annual visits to the Eastern shores of Canada to cultivate the great fishing opportunities. Beaver fur in Canada became a valuable commodity and Europeans began looking into establishing settlements.

On August 5, 1583 Humphrey Gilbert, armed with letters from Queen Elizabeth I, formally took possession of Newfoundland in St. John's harbour on behalf of England. The French then began making similar colonization attempts. After several failed French colonization attempts, The French explorer Samuel de Champlain arrived in 1605 and established the first permanent Canadian settlements at Port Royal and Quebec City in 1608. Quebec City became the capital of New France; This illustrates Canada's importance.

As the French and British colonies grew in what is now Canada, the French and British began to wage war to gain dominance over fur trade. After many battles, the Seven Years War ended with France giving up all its territories in North America to the British in 1763. As for the French settles who still lived in Canada, predominantly around the Quebec area, the British gave them complete religious, social and political freedom. Once the British had total control over all colonies in North America, they began to raise taxes to establish their authority, which set the pretext for the American revolution.

When the American revolution began, the Canadian colonies remained British loyalists although they were sympathetic to the cause and hundreds of thousands of men from Canadian colonies joined the American army and fought for U.S independence. The U.S gained independence and the formal borders between the US and Canada were established in 1783.

In 1837, rebellions began in Canadian provinces. These rebellions were eventually crushed but led to the unification of what is today Ontario and Quebec into a single province called the Province of Canada by the British in 1840. In July 1st 1867, the province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick were united into a sovereign, self-governing state. Ontario and Quebec were split. This meant Canada originally had 4 provinces. The rest of the colonies remained under British rule. The first Prime Minister of Canada was John A MacDonald and he began expanding the country west and north, and in 1870 and 1871 and 1873, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edwards Islands joined Canada as provinces. In 1885, the Canadian transcontinental railroad united all the provinces from coast to coast, allowing trade and transportation to flourish. In 1905 Alberta and Saskatchewan were formed from the North West Territories and they become provinces of Canada. In 1949, Newfoundland became the 10th province to join Canada.

This is how we got to Canada as we know it today. 10 provinces. 3 territories. A country inhabited by three nations: British, French, and Aboriginals. Each had their own land and did not need to be part of Canada. They could have had their own independent countries. But they chose to be part of Canada. Nearly 20% of Canadians today were not born in Canada, coming from every country under the sun. Each bringing their own beliefs, cultures, and stories.

Why does that matter? Three different nations living within a border of the same country? This is a story not often told. What divides other countries: Languages, race, cultures, religions has not divided Canada despite a few times when it seemed like it would. It’s different from seeing blacks and latin Americans in US. Blacks and Latin Americans migrated to the US or were brought to the US. It’s different from EU where there still are borders and different states. Each country in the EU is still self-governing.

And Canada has been in existence for over 140 years. In that time, countless new countries have formed based on differences in languages, religions, race. But Canada has stood as an example to the world that it is possible for several nations to live within a single country, a single parliament, a single government. It is a high level of empathy that has allowed us to stay as a country, despite different nations within the country viewing the country very differently from one another. And beyond hockey and free health care, that example of empathy is what Canada has to offer to the world.