he meaning of the geographical designation "Canada" has changed dramatically since the American Revolution, when it was synonymous or nearly so with "Quebec." The Maritime provinces as we know them today — Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia — were Crown colonies in their own right, and did not become part of Canada until 1867 and 1873. In fact, until 1776 the terms "Canadian" and "Canadien" meant either the indigenous First Nations of present-day Eastern Canada or the descendants of the settlers of New France. The entry of some 10,000 United Empire Loyalists from the former thirteen American colonies in the late 1770s and early 1780s into the lands west of today's Quebec resulted in the creation of Upper Canada — that is, Canada on the upper reaches of the St. Lawrence River and beyond. Quebec, therefore, become Lower Canada, and would remain so until the Act of Union in 1841. Thus, when Thomas Jefferson asserted on 4 August 1812 that "The acquisition of Canada this year, as far the neighbourhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching," he was actually talking about only present-day Ontario and Quebec. Having beaten off the American invasion, these provinces were united in 1841 as Canada East and Canada West as a result of the 1837 Rebellion and the subsequent Durham Report (1839). The British government acceded to Canadian requests for the development of responsible government, giving equal seats for each group in the new legislature, despite the fact that French-speaking Canada East then had a population of 670,000, whereas English-speaking Canada West had a population of 480,000.
As Canadian settlers of both linguistic groups gradually settled the North-west (what we today call the Prairie provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta) and as British colonists travelled directly by ship to the Pacific coast, the meaning of "Canada" underwent a series of changes. First, in 1867, Confederation created an expanded Dominion from the main entities of British North America: the Maritimes, Quebec, and Ontario. The new capital shifted from Montreal to Ottawa under the terms of BNA: The British North America Act of 29 March 1867. Thanks in part to the introduction of railways and steamships, Manitoba was added on 15 July 1870; the two Pacific colonies became the Province of British Columbia on 20 July 1871; two years later, Prince Edward Islanders changed their minds and joined Confederation. Thus (for example), when American author Mark Twain embarked upon his second Canadian reading tour in 1895, he was not going to the Canada that Jefferson had referenced in 1812. A gold rush and rapid population growth north of British Columbia in 1898 resulted in the creation of the Yukon Territory (13 June). The last three provinces joined after the death of Queen Victoria on 22 January 1901: Alberta and Saskatchewan (1 September 1905); and Newfoundland-Labrador (31 March 1949). — Philip Allingham
Transatlantic Relations
- Dickens in Montreal
- Dickens and Montreal — What would have seen in May 1842?
- Charles Dickens at the Queen's Theatre, Montreal
- Dicken's third son, Francis (Frank) Jeffrey Dickens, in Canada
- Canada House in London
Political and Social History
- A Brief Timeline of Canadian Political History
- The Government of Canada
- Ottawa as Provincial Capital in 1860
- John Butler, Lieutenant-Colonel and leader of Butler's Rangers
- Canada's Indigenous Peoples
- Canada's Timber Industry
- Other sites for Canadian Politics and Government
Architecture of Canada
Montreal
- The Bonsecours Market in Montreal, with the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours (1771)
- The Chateau Ramezay (1705), 280 Notre-Dame Est, Montreal
- Another view of the Chateau Ramezay, Montreal
- Victoria Bridge, Montreal
Nova Scotia
- L'Église Sainte-Marie (1905), Church Point, Nova Scotia
- North Grand Pré Community Church (1861), Nova Scotia
Ottawa
Vancouver
Victoria
- Crystal Garden, Victoria, by F. M. Rattenbury
- The B. C. Provincial Legislature, Victoria, by F. M. Rattenbury
- Bank of Montreal, Victoria (now the Irish Times Pub), by F. M. Rattenbury
- The Empress Hotel, Victoria, by F. M. Rattenbury
- Merchant's Bank, Victoria, by F. M. Rattenbury
- Pacific Railway Steamship Terminal, Victoria, by F. M. Rattenbury
Sculpture in Canada
- Statue of Queen Victoria outside the B. C. Provincial Legislature, Victoria, by Albert Bruce-Joy
- The Cenotaph, Victoria, by Sydney and Vernon March
Canada and the Visual Arts in Britain
- Plaster relief, "Canada," designed by Walter Crane
- Canada, statue at the Mall Circus, by Alfred Drury
- Canada on the Dufferin Memorial, Belfast, by Frederick Pomeroy
- Monument to Sir John Alexander Macdonald, in St Paul's ("for nineteen years Premier of the Dominion of Canada”)
- The Captain Cook Memorial at Admiralty Arch (with the added inscription pointing out tht Cook "charted the shores of Newfoundland and traversed the ocean gates of Canada, both east and west)
- "Southwest" on the Nashwaaksis River, New Brunswick, in "Dr Acland, Ruskin, and the Pre-Raphaelites"
- Architectural sculpture on the Canadian Pacific Railroad offices, Trafalgar Square, including a steamship and locomotive
Bibliography
Allingham, Philip V. "Mark Twain in Vancouver, British Columbia: August, 1895." The Mark Twain Journal. (Fall 1990): 2-14.
Burnet, Ruth A. "Mark Twain in the Northwest, 1895." The Pacific Northwest Quarterly. Vol. 42, No. 3 (July 1951): 187-202.
Careless, James Maurice Stockford. "Province of Canada (1841-67)." The Canadian Encyclopedia. Posted 7 February. Last updated 21 March 2022. Web. 9 May 2023.
msomer10. "A Mere Matter of Marching." June 19, 1812 — US Declares War. 19 June 2012. Web. 9 May 2023.
Last modified 9 May 2023