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Britain vs. America
At the time of
the war with France most of Britain's colonies in
North America were in what we now call the United
States. However, these thirteen colonies were angry
at the way Britain had been treating them, so in
1775 they began a war with Britain for their
independence. The Americans won the war and the
British were forced to recognize the United States
as its own country. Because of the war Britain lost
much of its land, and had a bad relationship with
the United States. The land left over was called
British North America. This would become Canada
almost 100 years later.
British North America
In the 1860s there were
many British colonies in what is now Canada: British
Columbia, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,
Prince Edward Island and the Province of Canada. At
this time the idea of all the colonies joining to
make a new country became popular. But what were the
reasons behind this move towards Confederation?
Why Confederation?
In the 1860s the
British colonies were facing many different kinds of
problems. One solution for all of these was for the
colonies to come together to form one country. These
are the problems that led to Confederation:
Political problems
The Province of Canada
contained the most people and was later made into
the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The government
of the Province of Canada did not run smoothly
because the English-speaking and French-speaking
halves had different ideas about how things should
be run. Leaders from both parts of the province
decided that joining the other colonies might help
solve their own political problems.
Economic problems
In order for their
economies to do well, the colonies needed to be able
to sell their goods to other markets. At this time
there were very few places that they could sell to.
One solution was to bring all the colonies together.
In this way they could more easily sell their goods
to each other.
Military problems
Since America had
fought Britain to gain its independence the
relationship between British North America and the
United States had never been stable. The
relationship became even worse when Britain
supported the South in the American Civil War. The
North won the war and was angry at Britain for
helping the South. Many Americans wanted to take
over all of what is now Canada.
Meanwhile, Britain
didn't want to have to pay for the cost of defending
its colonies. It decided to encourage the colonies
to join together, because the United States would be
less likely to attack Canada if it were a
self-governing country rather than separate colonies
of Britain. The fear of the United States helped to
strengthen the call for Confederation.
On The Road To Confederation
 For all of these
reasons the Province of Canada began to plan for
Confederation. Leaders from New Brunswick, Nova
Scotia and Prince Edward Island had already thought
about joining together in a Maritime union and were
planning a conference. The politicians from the
Province of Canada asked if they could come to the
meeting to propose a larger union of all the British
North American colonies. The Maritime colonies
agreed to let them attend, and all the leaders met
at Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island. This was
the first of the three conferences that led to
Confederation in 1867.
The Charlottetown
Conference, September 1864
The politicians from
the Province of Canada convinced the politicians
from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward
Island to consider a larger union. They agreed to
meet again to discuss Confederation. The next
conference was at Quebec City.
The Quebec Conference,
October 1864
During this
conference the leaders had to work out how the new
country would be run. The decisions they came to
were called the Quebec Resolutions. Although Prince
Edward Island and Newfoundland both took part, after
the conference they both decided not to join
Confederation at that time.
The London Conference,
December 1866-January 1867
This was the last
conference, and it took place in London, England.
Leaders from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the
Province of Canada had to take the rough draft of
the Quebec Resolutions and come up with a final
agreement. The document they created was called the
British North America Act. Once British
Parliament approved it, Confederation could go
ahead.
Confederation, July 1,
1867
On this date
Canada became a country with four provinces. New
Brunswick and Nova Scotia hardly changed, but the
Province of Canada was split into two new provinces:
Ontario and Quebec. A look at the map of Canada in
1867 will show a very different Canada from that of
today.
It would take
more than a century to add the other six provinces
and three territories that today make up Canada.
This site is the story of how each province and
territory came to be part of Canada.
People in the Background
When Canada entered
Confederation over a century ago some groups of
people were not given the chance to participate in
the talks or to have their opinions heard. Two
groups were especially important:
Native peoples
 The First Nations and
Inuit peoples have lived in North America for
thousands of years. However, by the time of
Confederation the European settlers had taken
control of much of the land. Treaties were made with
many First Nations to move them onto smaller areas
of land called reserves. The government tried to
make these people live like Europeans. For example,
they supported missionaries who took Native children
away to teach them the religion and lifestyle of
Europeans.
The idea was to
make Native people fit in with the Europeans that
surrounded them. Today we realize that one group
should not try to change the way of life of another,
but in the 1860s this was not seen to be a bad
thing. Not only did the politicians try to change
the life of these people, but they also did not
include them in negotiations for Confederation.
Native people had no say over the future of the land
that they had lived on for thousands of years.
Women
 At the time of
Confederation in 1867 women were not allowed to be
politicians. They were not even allowed to vote in
federal elections. It was not until 1918 that women
could vote in federal elections, and not until 1919
that women gained the right to be elected to the
House of Commons. At the time of Confederation women
did not have the power to express themselves in
politics.
Today Canada
has ten provinces and three territories. However,
back in 1867 when Canada first became a country it
had only four provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia,
Ontario and Quebec. After the first four provinces
joined together to form Canada, it took 132 years
before all the provinces and territories officially
joined Canada.
This part of the
Confederation exhibit gives the reasons each of
these provinces and territories entered
Confederation. They are listed in alphabetical
order. The number after each province or territory
shows the year it entered Confederation. Click on
the name to be taken to the story of that province
or territory.
Provinces and Territories
Alberta, 1905
British Columbia, 1871
Manitoba, 1870
New Brunswick, 1867
Newfoundland, 1949
Northwest Territories, 1870
Nova Scotia, 1867
Nunavut, 1999
Ontario, 1867
Prince Edward Island, 1873
Quebec, 1867
Saskatchewan, 1905
Yukon Territory, 1898
Source : http://www.collectionscanada.ca
( The originality of the contents are not violated ) |
