IV. From the confederation of 1867

TO THE GROUP OF SEVEN.

In the second half of the 19^th century, Canada began showing its economic potential. Agriculture, mining, forestry, fishing and manufacturing, stimulated by large investments from other countries, increased in scope. A major event was the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885 which connected British Columbia with the eastern provinces. Besides linking the country from sea to sea the Canadian Pacific opened up the Prairies. There are a variety of reasons which explain the exodus to the west. However, two major factors contributed to this development: economic depression in the eastern part of Canada which started in the early 1870s, and the massive immigration campaign launched by the federal government.

Once the railway was finished in the mid-1880s Canada was a united political body. The federal government launched a massive immigration campaign offering free land, a new life, a golden future.

Immigration was a prime factor in the new prosperity. People came to Canada – and stayed. When gold was discovered in the Klondike in 1897, thousands struggled father west through the rugged mountains of northern British Columbia to seek their fortunes. It was this western rush of immigrants that compelled the creation of the two new western provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1905.

The tens of thousands of immigrants that arrived in the West came from varying backgrounds. They came from diverse countries – Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy and the USA – as well as from Eastern and Central Canada, but the were seeking one thing in common: they were seeking to build a new and, they hoped, a better life in the Canadian west. For still others, like the Mennonites, Hutterites, and Doukhobors, religious persecution was the motivating force: they hoped that in a new homeland they could worship in peace and live free from outside interference. The Slavs and the Jews from Galicia faced persecution from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the latter were subject to

discrimination in tsarist Russia. Asians came to work on the railways or simply to seek a better way of life.

A populated west made the national dream of the Fathers of Confederation a reality.

Most of all, Canada received the advantage from the fact, that by the turn of the century, the USA’s west was essentially settled. When the best land, especially the well-watered land in the American west, was gone, the Canadian West became The last best West.

The waves of settlers changed the landscape drastically. The Native population which had hunted buffalo across the grassy plains for centuries was displaced, and the buffalo themselves were hunted almost to extinction. The grasslands were quickly cultivated and replaced by vast fields of wheat and other grains.

In the first decade of the 20^th century, Canada welcomed more immigrants than ever before in its history. The population leaped from 5,400,000 in 1901 to 7,200.000 in 1911.

Important mineral resources were discovered in several parts of the country which boosted the development of the economy. Canada was fast becoming the bread- basket of the world. Cheap hydroelectric power stimulated the growth of industry in Ontario and elsewhere. The twentieth century belongs to Canada announced Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the first French Canadian prime minister and one of her great politicians.

But then the skies clouded over. The First World War struck the nation hard. In August 1914, Canada, as a Dominion of Great Britain and part of the Empire, automatically went to war when Great Britain declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. But at that times Canada was poorly equipped to participate in the war. Her army numbered only 3,000. Nevertheless, during the war Canada with a population of only 8 million, sent over 600,000 men to fight on the battlefields of Europe. Over 60,000, or one in ten, never returned home.

However, the war helped breed a new Canadian nationalism. When peace came in 1918, Canada insisted on signing the peace treaties itself and becoming a member of the League of Nations. This development was another indication of nationhood. In the interwar years the course of Canadian development changed. The long-serving Canadian prime-minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King was a nationalist, who believed that Canada was an independent North American nation only loosely tied to Britain. As a result of his activities, first in the Statute of Westminster (1931) and gradual development of the Commonwealth of Nations with Canada winning the right to sign treaties on its own and becoming a completely self-governing dominion. Later, even the name dominion was dropped.

During the 1920s the Canadian economy continued to expand. However, the great world-wide economic depression that followed in1929 severely affected national prosperity. It took the Second World War to restore Canada to prosperity again. When World War II began in 1939, Canada – on its own – entered the war. With the war won, Canadians turned their attention to the development of their nation and to independent and constructive participation in world affairs, national objectives that continue to this day. The country also played a major role in working out the postwar trading world and in creating the United Nations in 1945, Canada and its diplomats played a crucial role in creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. Canada even sent troops to Europe in peacetime and participated in a variety of peacekeeping operations around the world. It was the so-called golden age of Canadian diplomacy.

The decline of Britain’s influence became still more obvious in April 1982 when Queen Elizabeth II visited Canada to give formal consent to the Canadians having complete control of their own Constitution. However, despite enjoying complete independence many Canadians have a sense of attachment to the Mother Country.

The growing national assertiveness of Canada was seen in the adoption of its flag in 1965.

Nowadays, Canada’s stature in the world stands high. By estimates she has won the reputation of a country where the population enjoys the highest ratings in the quality of life. She belongs to the prestigious G-7 Club, which includes the seven most advanced countries of the contemporary world.

THE PEOPLE OF CANADA

According to the most recent population statistics, Canada had a population of about 30 million in 1998. Although Canada has a national population density of about 3 persons per square kilometer, this figure is rather misleading, for nearly all Canadians live within approximately 250 kilometers of the border with the United States. Even in this area there are many uninhabited pockets The Yukon, Nunavut and the Northern Territories have a population of less than 70,000 persons. Eastern Canada is by far the most heavily populated part of the country. Ontario and Quebec together have nearly two-thirds of the nation’s population. About 10 per cent of all Canadians live in the Atlantic Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland; 17 per cent live in the Prairie Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta; and 9 per cent in British Columbia.