State of the Nation Canada at the Turn of the Century

Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier

Well respected politician, aware of what his country needed

French-Canaadian

Master of compromise

Had a vision for what he wanted Canada to become

Laurier’s VisionCanada, a HUGE landmass, needed a big population to

farm, build and developIn order to link Canada and move people and products, a

railway was neededCanada was a divided nation between the French and

English speaking people. An understanding needed to be reached

Canada, still very attached to its mother country needed to break these bonds, create a relationship with the United States and prepare to join the international stage.

ImmigrationRaw materials and natural resources such as

pulp and paper, fishing, farming and mining were plentiful, but Canada needed people to reap the benefits from it

Laurier appointed Clifford Sifton to be the Minister of the Interior

His job was to bring immigrants into Canada

He did two things:1. Identify “desirable” countries in which to

advertise2. Flood those countries with pamphlets,

posters and advertisements of free land

Push and Pull FactorsPush Factors:

War torn homelandForced military enlistmentNo land available or too costlyReligious, ethnic or cultural discrimination or

persecution

Pull Factors:Free landNo military conscriptionFreedom of language, religion and cultureNew farming techniques and technologies

Clifford Sifton

Established an “Open Door Policy” on immigration

In theory this meant all were welcome to come to Canada to start a new life. But Sifton specifically targeted Britain, the US, Scandinavia, the Ukraine, Germany and Austria

The majority of these immigrants settled in English speaking parts of the country.

This scared the French speaking population because it threatened the survival of the French language and culture

French NationalismQuebec was feeling threatened because:

All business was conducted in EnglishImmigrants were being encouraged to learn

English and not FrenchIndustrialization was against the French Canadian

way of life because they were farmersHenri Bourassa was the leader of the Nationalisme

which focused on preserving French Canadian culture and way of life

Uniting CanadaCanada was very fragmented because of its sheer size

Laurier knew if he wanted to build a successful country, he had to unite it geographically

The Canadian Pacific Railways was begun to link British Columbia with New Brunswick

Chinese and Italian labourers were brought over to do this hard work, but were not encouraged to stay

An unfair head tax was placed on Chinese immigrants wishing to stay that increased over time

Canadian Pacific RailwayThe railway was important because

It created new industries such as manufacturing

New cities sprung up across the country It allowed trade within Canada

Status of Women

Laurier’s vision for Canada had not accounted for women, and few were prepared for how determined some Canadian women would be

At the turn of the century, women’s rights were almost nonexistent.

They were considered the property of the husband or father, stayed at home, and did not have the right to vote or hold office

Women such as Emily Murphy, Henrietta Edwards and Nellie McClung crusaded through meetings, speeches, rallies and Women’s Groups Organizations in order to win their rights

Canadian and International RelationsBefore 1900 Canada had very close ties with Great

Britain, and its foreign policy was controlled by Britain

As Canada continued to grow, it started to want some more independence

The US was geographically closer, increasing in power and a better trading partner

Three main issues arose that challenged Canada’s relationship with the world around it:

The Boer War In 1806 Britain had taken over land in South

Africa, this was contested by the Boers who lived there

Diamonds were discovered in the area, causing the war to escalate

Britain expected Canada to send troops as it had been a loyal colony, but this caused conflict in Canada British Canadians: wanted to help the Motherland French Canadians: not our war Laurier: Compromise – he sent a voluntary force of

1000 soldiers that became Britain’s responsibility

In the end, 7300 Canadian soldiers and nurses took part in the 3 year war

The Alaskan Boundary Dispute In 1825 a poorly worded treaty created a vague boundary

between Canada and Alaska

For a long time no one was concerned, but then gold was discovered in the Alaskan panhandle and the boundary became very important

The issue was to be settled in court – 3 American judges, 2 Canadian judges and 1 British judge were to decide on the boundary line

The British judge sided with the Americans much to Canada’s dismay. Reasons cited are: Americans were pushy American relations were important to the British British might have still been upset over Boer War involvement

The Naval CrisisBritain and Germany were the two strongest countries

in Europe and both wanted powerful military

Britain had invented a ship called the Dreadnought- the most advanced battleship

In 1909 British spies discovered Germany was building four of its own Dreadnoughts

Britain wanted to compete and build more ships, but wanted money from its dominions English Canadians wanted to support French Canadians didn’t want to support

Naval Service Bill: Canada would build a small navy of its own that could be placed under British control