LESSON 4: FOUR YEARS, FOUR COLONIES
Between 1870 and 1873, three new provinces and one new territory joined the Dominion of Canada. Two of these new provinces had already rejected the idea of Confederation a few years previously. What happened to create this rapid addition of new provinces?
Manitoba, 1870
- Following the Red River Rebellion, the Dominion of Canada passed the Manitoba Act
- Manitoba was so small that it was nicknamed the "postage-stamp province". It was nowhere near as large as modern day Manitoba, instead confined to the area around Red River
- English and French were the two official languages (as the Métis List of Rights had requested)
- There were separate Catholic and Protestant schools, but the right to English or French-language education was not guaranteed
- The federal government controlled the lands and resources
North-West Territories, 1870
- The North-Western Territory was already in existence, but belonged to Britain until 1870
- The region, now owned by Canada, was combined with Rupert's Land to create a new territory directly controlled by Ottawa (no local government)
- In 1886 NWT was finally given seats in the federal government, allowing the territory to vote on Canadian matters
British Columbia, 1871
- As we know, BC had rejected the idea of Confederation during earlier talks
- In 1858, when gold was discovered, the population began to grow quickly, mostly with US immigrants who were more easily able to travel up the coast into the gold-rich regions
- Some people thought that BC would be able to develop more quickly with support from the United States, and in many ways this made sense (remember, it was sandwiched between Washington and Alaska)
- Other people thought it was important to maintain their traditional British roots
- MacDonald wanted Canada to span "from sea to sea", so he made a reckless promise to the BC people - he said that within 10 years (by 1881), Canada would have a transcontinental railway connecting British Columbia to the rest of the country. This would come back to haunt him
Prince Edward Island, 1873
- PEI was another province that had rejected Confederation, even after hosting the Charlottetown Conference. It soon realized that this was a mistake
- Trade had improved for the other Maritimes provinces who had joined, and PEI wasn't able to benefit from this
- PEI had also tried to build a railway across the island, which was not the best plan - they ended up incurring huge costs they could not afford
- So MacDonald made a deal - the federal government would take over the colony's debts, and in return PEI would join Canada. Why do you think the government was willing to make this deal?