Gough Barry M. Historical Dictionary of Canada

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420 • VAN HORNE, WILLIAM CORNELIUS

expire, in any event, on 30 May 1859, at which time the crown would

resume title and compensate HBC for its expenses and investment.

The Queen Charlotte Islands, or Haida Gwai, where gold was dis-

covered, were annexed to Vancouver Island in 1853 to prevent U.S.

annexation. The Colony of British Columbia was created in 1858. In

1866, the United Colony of British Columbia was established, with

the colonial capital at Victoria.

VAN HORNE, WILLIAM CORNELIUS (1843–1915). An engineer

and railway builder, the American-born Van Horne was the driving

force behind Canada’s first transcontinental railway, the Canadian

Pacific Railway. He was appointed general manager in 1882, hav-

ing previously been general superintendent of the Milwaukee Road.

Van Horne made the Canadian national dream a reality. He is said

to have remarked that the building of the railway would have made

a Canadian out of the German Kaiser. He had a powerful influence

on the history of Vancouver, the name of which he suggested so as

to attract British tourists. His family mansion in Montréal was torn

down despite heritage concerns. His large summer estate, Coven-

haven, near St. Andrews, New Brunswick, is a Canadian vestige of

the Gilded Age.

VANIER, GEORGES-PHILEAS (1888–1967). Educated at Univer-

sité Laval, Vanier joined the Royal 22E Regiment in 1915 and served

in France, where he lost a leg. He won both the Military Cross and

the Distinguished Service Order. Vanier was a brilliant soldier and

leader. He was also a superb diplomat. He joined the Department

of External Affairs and served in London during World War II

as Canadian minister to the French government. He was appointed

governor general of Canada in 1959. He died in office and was me-

morialized in the regimental crypt of the Québec Citadel.

VAUDREUIL, MARQUIS DE (1698–1778). Pierre de Rigaud de

Vaudreuil de Caraynial, Marquis de Vaudreuil, an officer in the co-

lonial regulars and last governor general of New France, was born

in Québec. An architect of France’s Louisiana colony, he held the

expansive view that Illinois was vital to the progress of New France.

He also was largely responsible for the prosperity of Louisiana. He

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VICTORIA • 421

became governor general of New France in 1755. His effective strat-

egy but insufficient material resources could not check British mili-

tary might by land and sea. He quarreled with General Montcalm. To

save lives and property, Vaudreuil negotiated the surrender of Mon-

tréal with British general Jeffrey Amherst, delivering up Montréal

to the British on 8 September 1760. This act invited the displeasure

of the king and his ministers. Vaudreuil took the blame for the loss

of New France but was exonerated by tribunal for what happened in

the affaire du Canada. He retired to the Latin quarter of Paris and

died there. Highly strung and complex, he exhibited great strength of

character in saving Canadians from pointless death and destruction,

surrendering his native soil to the conquering enemy.

VERSAILLES, TREATY OF. Imposed on Germany by the Allies

in 1919, the Treaty of Versailles brought to a close World War I.

Germany was obliged to give up its colonies, pay reparations, accept

a war guilt clause, and surrender all its U-boats. The great powers as-

sembled at Paris feared the multiplication of British votes, so Canada

signed the treaty under the heading of the British Empire. Canada

did not then have full autonomy in the Commonwealth of Nations,

a subsequent and quick development. All the same, Canada was

awarded status as a member state of the League of Nations.

VICTORIA. The city of Victoria, British Columbia, was founded by

the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) on 14 March 1843, as a trading

post and fort. Anticipating that under the Oregon Treaty, then be-

ing drawn up, the 49th parallel would be chosen as the international

boundary line, the HBC moved its fort from Vancouver on the Co-

lumbia River to the southern end of Vancouver Island, to what be-

came Victoria. For a short time, it was known locally as Fort Albert,

but by resolution passed by the Council of the Northern Department

of the Company meeting at Fort Garry on 10 June 1843, it was of-

ficially named Fort Victoria after the queen.

The name Victoria was adopted at the time the town site was

laid out in 1852. Victoria was incorporated as a city on 2 August

1862. Thomas Harris was elected by acclamation as Victoria’s first

mayor on 16 August 1862. The city grew remarkably in the late 19th

century, mainly as a hub of marine activities and governmental and

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422 • VIMY MEMORIAL

administrative headquarters for a burgeoning provincial, coastal,

and trans-Pacific economy. It became an important seat of learning.

Many municipalities, including Esquimalt, Saanich, Oak Bay, and

Langford, constitute the Capital Regional District. The population of

the Capital Regional District of Victoria in 2010 was 370,000.

VIMY MEMORIAL. On the site of “Hill 145” and designed by Ca-

nadian architect and sculptor Walter Seymour Allward, the Vimy

Memorial in France marks the location of the Battle of Vimy Ridge

and stands as a tribute to those who risked or gave their lives for the

sake of Canada’s armed effort during World War I. The monument

took 11 years and $1.5 million to build. It rests on a huge bed of

concrete, reinforced with steel. The nearby ground is pockmarked

with shell holes from the artillery bombardment before the taking

of the ridge. The towering pylons and 20 sculptured figures are of

limestone. The largest figure is a saddened woman who represents

Canada, a young nation mourning her fallen sons. Twin white py-

lons, one bearing maple leaves, the other the fleur-de-lis of France,

symbolize the sacrifices of both countries. The property was deeded

to Canada by a grateful Republic of France. Carved on the walls are

the names of 11,285 Canadians who were killed in France and whose

final resting place is unknown. More than 7,000 Canadians are buried

in 30 war cemeteries within a 16-kilometer radius of the Vimy Me-

morial. The memorial is also a commemorative park, administered by

the Government of Canada. The park surrounding the memorial has

been planted with Canadian trees and shrubs, and trenches have been

restored. It is altogether a remarkable tribute to the Canadian Corps

and the difficulties it faced. The site and memorial received heritage

conservancy and renovation and were rededicated on the 90th an-

niversary of the battle.

VIMY RIDGE, BATTLE OF. Located in northeastern France on the

road from Lens to Arras, the 14-kilometer-long Vimy Ridge was the

site of a significant Canadian victory as well as significant losses

during World War I. The ridge had been held by the German army

from fall 1914, forming a salient in the Allied lines. It enabled the

Germans to keep watch over Allied movement for miles around.

Between 1914 and 1917, several attempts were made by French and

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VINLAND • 423

British troops to take the ridge; each time they failed and casualties

were heavy.

In early 1917, the Canadian Corps was sent to Vimy. Under the

leadership of corps commander Lt. Gen. Julian Byng, an assault of

the ridge was prepared. All four Canadian divisions were to be used

in the assault. On 9 April 1917, Easter Monday, the battle opened

with a massive creeping barrage. The Canadian strategy was to fight

a classic set-piece battle, with heavy reliance on artillery. The Ca-

nadian counterbattery, which used sound locators, was effective in

silencing the German guns. Under heavy artillery cover, the infantry

progressed rapidly to the ridge. The Canadians succeeded in captur-

ing and holding the greater part of the ridge on the first day of the

assault. By midafternoon, the Canadians had taken the ridge. They

did so at great cost. Three days later, the Canadians held the ridge

against German counterattack. The Canadian Corps lost 3,598 killed

and 7,004 wounded.

The events at Vimy in 1917 have become iconic in Canadian na-

tional history. The taking of Vimy Ridge was considered Canada’s

greatest military victory of World War I. It was also the biggest vic-

tory by the Allies to that point in the war. It has been said many times

that Canada came of age at Vimy. See also CANADIAN ARMY;

CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE; VIMY MEMORIAL.

VINLAND. Early Scandinavian explorers gave the name Vinland to

a region on the eastern coast of North America. Many historians

believe that Norse Vikings visited this coastal area almost 500 years

before Christopher Columbus sailed to America in 1492. Some

historians believe Vinland was probably in the region of Cape Cod,

but others believe it was Newfoundland. In 1961, an archaeologist

found the remains of a Viking settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows,

near St. Luaire, Newfoundland.

Norse sagas tell of the explorers’ voyages. These tales describe

a fertile land with a mild climate. The Norse called the region Vin-

land—also spelled Vineland or Wineland—because of the grapes

that grew there, but it also was a fine land of meadows. The sagas

tell that Leif Ericson, son of Eric the Red, wintered in Vinland about

1000 CE. Some historians believe the Norse had to abandon Vin-

land because they could not defend their settlements against hostile

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424 • WALSH, JAMES MORROW

native peoples. Others hold that disease, shortage of food, and ter-

rible winters forced their withdrawal.

– W –

WALSH, JAMES MORROW (1843–1905). Born in Prescott, On-

tario, Walsh joined the militia and fought in the Fenian Raid of

1866. In 1873, he became an inspector in the newly formed North

West Mounted Police (Royal Canadian Mounted Police). He

served with the force until 1883 and was famous for his handling of

Sitting Bull, the Lakota Sioux chief, who crossed the border from

the United States after defeating Gen. George Custer at the Battle

of the Little Big Horn. In 1883, Walsh resigned and established the

Dominion Coke, Coal, and Transportation Company. Fourteen years

later, the discovery of gold in the Klondike brought him back to the

North West Mounted Police. He became the first commissioner of

the Yukon in 1897. He retired the following year and died at Brock-

ville, Ontario. See also YUKON TERRITORY.

WAR ARTISTS. Under the aegis of the Canadian War Records Office

of the Canadian Army during World War I, Lord Beaverbrook es-

tablished the Canadian War Memorials Fund, Canada’s first official

war art program. It produced canvases, works on paper, and sculp-

tures. More than 60 artists of various nationalities were involved.

The resulting 600 plus works depicted mainly human aspects of

war’s devastation against environmental degradation. The works

were shown to the public after the war. The artists had seen the dark

side of war. Among the artists whose status was elevated in conse-

quence of the program were F. W. Varley and A. Y. Jackson. The

Group of Seven and its followers attained visibility by the program,

which gave its members national status and international acclaim.

Art acquired an important place in the interwar period by this rise in

cultural attention. In 1943, during World War II, Canada instituted

a war artists scheme. Only Canadians were employed this time. The

scenes depicted were war in North Africa, Kiska in Alaska, the North

Atlantic, and Britain and Europe. The paintings were exhibited dur-

ing wartime. Lawren Harris, Alex Colville, and Charles F. Comfort

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WAR OF 1812 • 425

were prominent Canadian artists of this war. No program existed

during the Korean Conflict. However, in 1967 the Canadian Armed

Forces Civilian Artists Program was established by the Department

of National Defense. It has since sent civilian artists to Vietnam,

Europe, the Middle East, and Afghanistan.

WAR MEASURES ACT (1914). This legislation enacted during

World War I gave the Privy Council in Ottawa extraordinary pow-

ers under Section 91 of the British North America Act (Constitution

Act of 1867), including full economic controls for nationalization

of the economy, war production, and transportation. It also gave the

government executive powers to deal with potential enemies of the

state and put in a means of internment. Invoked in 1945, during

World War II, it was also employed in 1970 during the October

Crisis. The legislation was subsequently modified. See also UKRAI-

NIANS.

WAR OF 1812. This conflict between the United States and Great

Britain involved Nova Scotia, Lower Canada, Upper Canada,

and many tribes of Indians. War was declared by the United States

for two reasons: maritime rights and control of the Old Northwest,

the latter bearing heavily on Canadian history. American politicians

were opposed to the commercial ambitions of the empire in the St.

Lawrence region south of the boundary. Loyalist claims for compen-

sation were not being paid by the United States, and consequently

Great Britain kept control of the southwestern posts until Jay’s

Treaty of 1794. This agreement ceded the posts to the Americans but

permitted Canadian commerce south of the line. The Indians in such

areas as the Wabash Valley, who had nothing to say in these matters,

tried to keep up the Canadian trade and to resist the encroachment of

American settlers. The Battle of Tippecanoe (1811) in which Tecum-

seh, his brother “The Prophet,” and others fought for the Shawnee

cause marked the decline of the Canadian-Indian trading alliance and

the rise of American military influence in the Indiana Territory.

American politicians then looked for a permanent solution to the

interrelated questions of Canadian trade with such tribes as the Shaw-

nee and of land control in the Midwest. The Americans also objected

to British treatment of American ships, commerce, and seamen and

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426 • WAR OF 1812

British political activities in Florida and Texas. The result was that

expansionists sought a military campaign that would strengthen their

position in relation to Great Britain. Why not invade Canada, they

argued, expel the British from the continent, and make the United

States safe, peaceful, and secure?

In deciding to send an army to invade Canada in 1812, the U.S.

Congress underestimated both British power in North America and

Great Britain’s determination not to abandon its North American

colonies to the Americans. Congress believed that the Ontario Penin-

sula, so heavily populated with American settlers, would be an easy

conquest, or as Thomas Jefferson put it, “a mere matter of marching.”

To Canadians and Americans alike, the War of 1812 was a re-

newal of an old encounter, and most theaters of war were familiar

ones for generals determining strategy: the Atlantic Seaboard, the

Great Lakes, and Louisiana. In the Atlantic, despite the early frigate

victories that left the American public with feelings of success, the

British navy acquired command of the sea and by 1813 had enforced

a blockade of the coast from Boston to New Orleans. Now the British

could press their advantage, and in 1813 they gave convoy support

to a North West Company expedition to secure the far western fur

trade at the mouth of the Columbia River, where Americans had

been since 1811.

The coastal blockade meant that the Americans would have to at-

tack the British at inland points, and they determined to undertake a

three-pronged, simultaneous attack on Canada. By the Champlain-

Richelieu access, by the Niagara Peninsula, and by Detroit, the

American army was to attack and then march on Montréal and Qué-

bec. But the British and Canadians enjoyed a high degree of success

on the battlefield. Control of the lakes was sometimes in doubt. The

Battle of Lake Erie, in 1813, for example, gave the United States

ascendancy on that lake, but never total control of the Ontario Penin-

sula. Imperial forces conquered Michilimackinac in 1812 and kept it

for the duration. The brilliant feats of Gen. Isaac Brock at the battle

of Queenston Heights had other parallels along the Canadian border.

The ill-trained, badly led American forces suffered some embarrass-

ing defeats. Only at New Orleans, where 10,000 British veterans of

European campaigns led by Edward Pakenham were repulsed by

Andrew Jackson’s forces in January 1815, did Americans enjoy a

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WAR OF 1812 • 427

splendid victory. Even so, in the irony of circumstances, the battle

occurred 15 days after the terms of peace had been agreed to.

The War of 1812 had important repercussions to the native na-

tions and Indian tribes. In the Treaty of Ghent, the British had a

section inserted, Article IX, to prevent the Americans from punish-

ing the tribes for allegiance to George III. The natives were to have

territorial and other rights of the pre-war period returned to them.

This had no significance in Canadian territories, for there were no

hostile aboriginal war-related land ownership conflicts and no hostile

aboriginal nations. The policy of “pacification” existed solely south

of the Canadian border. Article IX became a deadletter to the United

States; the British took no measures to obtain enforcement of it. By

peace treaty or by forced measures, the Americans pacified the tribes

who fought against them, often as British allies, and by the early

1830s the Old Northwest, as the Americans called it, witnessed no

Indian resistance.

The Treaty of Ghent restored the cross-border trading rights of

aboriginal people confirmed under Jay’s Treaty of 1794. The War

of 1812 confirmed the divided relationships between the Six Nations

(the Iroquois Confederacy and Tuscarora) living across the interna-

tional border. The Grand River council fire and the Buffalo Creek,

New York, fire remained separate entities, chiefly because of bitter-

ness evoked by the war and because they lived under the suzerainty

of two different white powers, or governments.

Administration of aboriginal affairs passed from the British War

Department to the Indian Department of Upper Canada. To thank the

natives at the close of the conflict, the Indian Department called the

tribes to councils. For instance, at Burlington Heights, April 1815,

the Grand River people and those of the western nations then living

in the Niagara area met with Col. William Claus, crown agent, to

facilitate peace, maintain friendship, and receive gifts. He read Ar-

ticle IX to them. He said that pensions would be paid to widows and

families of those who fell in the war and solicited help to chiefs in

looking after these people. He also advised that clothing and provi-

sions were forthcoming.

An Onondaga chief, Sir Johns, replied: “At the commencement

of the troubles, we who live at the Grand River tho’ a small people,

our Doors were open to your news, and putting confidence in the

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428 • WAR OF 1812

Great Spirit we did not hesitate to take up the Tomahawk—You are

perfectly well acquainted with our conduct during the War—We

consider ourselves of one Heart with the King and we joined him

willingly.” The Iroquois and other chiefs expressed disappointment

that an independent aboriginal homeland had not been created for the

western tribes. From this point derives the “sell-out” theory.

The Iroquois also had to make peace among themselves. The Iro-

quois of Grand River, Upper Canada, and of New York met at Fort

George, Upper Canada, 31 August–1 September 1815, to negotiate

peace between the two and between the king and the Iroquois in New

York. They exchanged wampum belts to end hostilities and demon-

strate the removal of ill will from their hearts. They buried meta-

phorically “the Tomahawk to the depth of a pine tree under ground.”

The groups returned home bearing British presents, gestures of the

king’s good will.

The war begun for control of North America ended in the main-

tenance of the status quo ante bellum. The peace failed to resolve

the maritime rights question or make a western boundary. But it did

allow that a joint commission would resolve several issues, including

the boundary from the St. Croix River to the Lake of the Woods, the

question of British navigation of the Mississippi River, and American

rights to fish. Subsequently, the Convention of 1818 provided for

a boundary along the 49th parallel from the Lake of the Woods to

the Rocky Mountains. The New Brunswick-Maine boundary con-

troversy was not considered, but that of Oregon was discussed, and

there joint control agreed on. On the fisheries question, the Ameri-

cans were barred from the inshore fisheries of the British colonies.

This had been the second U.S. invasion of Canada, the first being

that of 1775. Canadians did not view the War of 1812 as an exercise

in frustration or an unsuccessful military venture. They regarded it

as a great victory for themselves and for the British Empire. More

important, the war colored their basic outlook toward the American

republic. It helped shape their national identity. Loyalists became

Canadians. Heavy fighting occurred on the Niagara Peninsula, Lake

Champlain, and Upper Canada.

During the conflict, there were many exchanges of prisoners of

war and other detainees, most 21–23 years of age. One prison, at

Melville Island, had 1,200 prisoners crowded into an area less than a

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WELFARE • 429

kilometer square. Many died of typhoid, dysentery, and other com-

municable diseases; the dead were wrapped in shrouds and rowed

across to Deadman’s Island and buried in unmarked graves. In May

2005, a monument was dedicated to 195 U.S. POWs who died in the

prison camp during the War of 1812. See also SECORD, LAURA.

WASHINGTON, TREATY OF. At the negotiations for the Anglo-

American Treaty of Washington (1871), Canada was represented

by its premier, Sir John A. Macdonald, as a member of the British

negotiators. Under the treaty, arbitration was set for the Alabama

Claims and for the San Juan Islands boundary. Numerous fishing and

navigation provisions were part of the treaty significant to Canadian-

American joint use of water and fish resources. See also SAN JUAN

BOUNDARY DISPUTE.

WELFARE. The history of welfare in Canada is a microcosm of

Canadian social development of the modern era since 1900. To a

certain degree, British concepts of welfare and social planning are

reflected in the Canadian experience. But such a history is best ex-

plained through the various programs developed to deal with poverty,

destitution, unemployment, and homelessness. In official circles, the

term social assistance is preferred, instead of welfare. To the general

public, however, welfare is the term widely known and used. Canada

may be termed a welfare state in the sense that in an industrial capi-

talist society, the state employs legislative and administrative mea-

sures to modify the play of market forces. Minimum income, provi-

sions for reduction of economic insecurity resulting from sickness,

old age, unemployment, and provision to all members of society of a

range of social services all exist. Canada became a welfare state after

the passage of social welfare reforms in the 1960s.

Canada, however, has a long record of private sector assistance

and volunteer aid societies. The churches of Canada were the source

of welfare in pre-industrial Canada. The rise of capitalism, indus-

trialism, and the working classes led to larger urban centers, where

poverty was observable and in numbers demanding attention. English

social welfare practices came to Canada with immigration, and self-

help groups and collectives were the means of welfare before state

intervention. Philanthropy by individuals, churches, and societies

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