Scott W. See. The History of Canada. Second Edition

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The two larger powers agreed to a resolution for the Alabama

claims, and the Americans received fishing rights off the Canadian

coast and the permanent use of the St. Lawrence River. Macdonald,

smarting from being rebuffed by British colleagues, returned to

Ottawa with some tariff concessions by the Americans and the

Canadian right to use three Alaskan rivers. Canadians learned a

bitter lesson at the Treaty of Washington: the British would readily

subordinate Canadian interests for broader concerns. At the same

time, the Canadians were beginning to achieve American recogni-

tion, and the seeds of an international policy—perhaps independent

of British imperial interests—were beginning to grow.

Late Nineteenth-Century Canada:

A Nation of Contrasts

Canada in the late nineteenth century was still primarily a rural place,

dominated by the extraction and processing of raw materials as it had

been since the early colonial era. Yet it was undergoing rapid change.

Its urban areas grew, assisted by railroad development, improved

communications, and technological advancements. Immigrants and

people from outlying settlements sought employment in the cities.

Montreal and Toronto expanded their influence, while small towns

such as Winnipeg, Vancouver, and Calgary saw their populations

mushroom. In a land of many contrasts, great social and economic

distances separated men and women, native-born and immigrants,

Amerindians and whites, francophones and anglophones, Protestants

and Roman Catholics, and workers and owners. With power still

clutched firmly in the hands of relatively few elites, primarily those of

English, Scots, and French-Canadian extraction, Canada survived the

post-Confederation era to face the twentieth century.

Still part of the powerful British Empire, and sharing its only

boundary with an expansive neighbor that was on the verge of

becoming a global leader, Canada’s experiences illuminated its

European roots as well as its North American orientation. The second

half of the nineteenth century, the era of Confederation and territorial

expansion, whetted a national appetite for further growth and

triggered debates on Canada’s international position. Issues crowded

110 Late Nineteenth-Century Canada: A Nation of Contrasts

the political and social landscapes, including the dividing line

between federal and provincial responsibilities, education and

language privileges, and the rights of women, workers, Amerindians,

ethnic minorities, and immigrants. The approximately five million

Canadians of the late 1890s looked forward to the next century.

Perhaps, as their prime minister suggested, it would belong to them.

Late Nineteenth-Century Canada: A Nation of Contrasts 111

Chapter 6

A New Century

(1890s–1929)

Canada’s Century?

Canada experienced tremendous change as it made the transition to

the twentieth century. A greatly expanded nation after Confedera-

tion, it reached across the continent by the turn of the century. Its

dominant political party had crafted the National Policy to protect its

industry, build a transcontinental railway, and bring immigrants to

the West. While the first two points of the National Policy were

achieved, the last remained an essentially unfulfilled promise by the

1890s. Ever mindful of the burgeoning United States, which was

becoming an industrial powerhouse, Canada sought to protect itself

and compete as industrial capitalism became the favored economic

model for the Western world. As a dominion, and thus technically

lacking in the machinery needed to pursue a distinctive foreign policy,

Canada struggled to navigate Britain’s imperial schemes in Africa

and Asia.

Domestically, political and social issues were underscored by

contentious questions of linguistic and cultural duality. Although

Quebec had joined Confederation, profound strains between franco-

phones and anglophones dominated federal politics in the era. They

shaped discussions of western development, education, immigration,

Canada’s Century? 113

Multigenerational group of immigrants taken shortly after their arrival in Quebec, around 1911.

Source: Library and Archives Canada / Topley Studio Fonds / PA-010270

and British imperialism. Beset by a host of challenges, many Canadians

nonetheless looked to the future with optimism. Prime Minister

Wilfrid Laurier, whose administration bridged the two centuries,

captured that spirit when he observed that the new century was to

belong to Canada. With the tools of governance firmly in place and

the expansive interior appearing ripe for development, Canada

seemed poised to become a power. As it struggled with domestic

tensions, the horrible drama of World War I, and the mixed blessing

of postwar development, Canada in the period from the 1890s to the

1920s incrementally moved away from its European roots to favor a

NorthAmericanorientation.

Conservatives and Liberals

The Conservative plans for a National Policy remained in force

during the 1870s and 1880s. Armed with constitutional tools

including the right to disallow provincial statutes and the retention

of residual powers, John A. Macdonald’s government attempted to

maintain federal supremacy. Yet the balance of power was tilting

dramatically in favor of the provinces due in part to the British Privy

Council, effectively the final arbiter in contentious court cases. In a

series of decisions during the 1880s and 1890s, ranging from the

control of liquor licenses to provincial boundary disputes, the Privy

Council decided in favor of the provinces. These decisions effectively

eroded the federal government’s residual powers.

Also plaguing the Conservatives were two issues that strained the

fragile bonds between anglophones and francophones. The Jesuits’

Estates Act controversy pitted the pro-Catholic Quebec government

against fervent Protestants in the Equal Rights Association. The 1888

statute provided financial compensation to Jesuits for property that

had been confiscated in the eighteenth century. Macdonald’srefusal

to disallow the controversial act angered Protestants and Ontario

Conservatives, who considered his actions a capitulation to franco-

phone Catholics. An even more contentious controversy swirled

around the Manitoba government’s decision in 1890 to alter the

Manitoba Act by making publicly funded schools nondenominational

and abolishing French as an official language. Provincial rights

Conservatives and Liberals 115

advocates supported the changes, while francophones and Catholics

protested and implored the federal government to overturn the

legislation. Macdonald died in 1891, and his four Conservative

successors struggled ineffectively to solve what had become a national

problem. John Abbott, Macdonald’s immediate successor, resigned in

1892 due to poor health. Nova Scotia’s John Thompson died two years

later on a diplomatic mission to Britain. Mackenzie Bowell became

prime minister, but he was unable to inspire even his colleagues. Bowell

acceded leadership in 1896 to Dr. Charles Tupper, a Father of

Confederation, who faced defeat within the year to the Liberals.

Wilfrid Laurier, the new prime minister, had capitalized on the

raging Manitoba schools question during the campaign of 1896 by

promising a “sunny way” out of the dilemma. Unfortunately, the

issue’s tortured passage through various courts offered no clear

guidelines. A lawyer by training, Laurier nonetheless brokered a

compromise that kept the tax-based secular schools but allowed

religious training at the end of the school day if a certain number of

Roman Catholic students were enrolled. Similarly, provisions were

included for some non-English training in French or other foreign

languages. Few on either side of the debate were particularly pleased

with the solution, but it clearly illustrated Laurier’snegotiating

skills. Denominational schools and language rights would continue

to dominate both provincial and federal politics into the next

century.

The Liberals embraced economic and social ideals that theoreti-

cally ran counter to the Conservatives’; nonetheless, Laurier’s

administration essentially adopted and modestly altered the princi-

ples of the National Policy. The new government faced a host of

concerns, including domestic divisions, immigration and territorial

expansion, international trade, and mounting British and American

imperialism. Although it periodically sought a reciprocal trade

agreement with the United States, Laurier’s administration continued

to protect growing Canadian businesses by instituting a scaled

structure that essentially matched the tariffs of its trading partners.

The Liberals also strengthened east-west linkages and prairie

agricultural development by supporting the construction of two

additional transcontinental railroads. The Canadian Northern

Railway, chartered in 1899 with generous support of land and

government subsidies, built a line that swept northward in the

116 Conservatives and Liberals

prairies and British Columbia and then terminated in Vancouver. The

Grand Trunk Pacific, constructed by 1914, connected eastern lines at

Winnipeg to Prince Rupert, British Columbia. These lines soon ran

into severe financial difficulties. Still, for a time they boosted the

economy and provided thousands of jobs for laborers. Thus,

Laurier’s Liberals reinforced two of the three elements of Macdon-

ald’s National Policy. The third component, improved immigration

to populate the West, faltered under Conservative leadership.

Perhaps ironically, this part of the plan succeeded spectacularly

during Laurier’s years in office.

Immig ration and Western Expansion

The nationalistic plan to create a generation of new Canadians

merged with the need to exploit the agricultural potential of the

prairies. Modest immigration occurred in the post-Confederation

era—for example, about 15,000 Chinese arrived to work on the

Canadian Pacific Railway—yet a grand migration eluded the

National Policy’s proponents. Several factors combined to facilitate

the fantastic influx that increased Canada’s population in the early

twentieth century. Recovery from an international depression in the

late 1890s, the expansion of railroads and steamship lines, and

improvements in farm machinery and crop strains made Canada an

attractive destination for immigrants. Events outside the country also

shaped the movement of peoples. Political, religious, and economic

pressures, particularly in Eastern and Southern Europe, induced

millions to leave their homelands. Canada capitalized on the dramatic

announcement in the United States that its frontier was essentially

closed for further settlement. Finally, populating the West became a

priority of Laurier’s government. Clifford Sifton, the interior minister,

accepted the main responsibility for the endeavor. Aggressive

advertising in Europe and the United States, touting the prairies as

the “last best West,” fancifully portrayed Canada as a flawless land

of opportunity. As Sifton famously observed, he wanted hardy

European “peasants in sheepskin coats” so that they would be

prepared to endure the rigors of life on the land (see “Sifton’s

Rationale for Immigration” in the Documents section).

Immigration and Western Expansion 117

From 1896 to 1914 more than one million immigrants came to

Canada’s West. At the same time, Canadians migrated to the United

States in large numbers, including tens of thousands of Quebecers

who moved to New England in search of employment. Although

many settled in cities, the bulk of the migrants from Europe and the

United States rode the newly constructed rails to the West. Immigrants

came from Britain, seeking economic opportunity while still secure in

the empire’s fold. Scandinavians, Germans, Russians, and Eastern

Europeans arrived. All left indelible imprints of their culture, language,

and architecture. Ukrainians, for example, constructed bloc settle-

ments and Orthodox Catholic churches with distinctive onion-domed

spires. Religious groups included European Mennonites, American

Mormons, and the fiercely independent Russian Doukhobors. As a

reflection of population growth, the provinces of Saskatchewan and

Alberta entered the dominion in 1905. Echoing Manitoba’s saga, a

controversy over the nature of education and control of resources and

public lands engendered bitter feelings. Nonetheless, by the eve of

World War I, the Canadian prairies had become home to a tremendous

variety of immigrants and two new provinces.

On many levels, this government-assisted migration was a phe-

nomenal success. Immigrants provided muscle for industry and

agriculture. They raised families, built communities, worshiped the

religions of their forebears, established newspapers in their native

languages, and attempted to keep elements of their culture intact.

Over time, they also adopted and helped to fashion a Canadian

outlook. This mosaic of peoples would later become one of the

celebrated features of Canadian identity. Yet many Canadians viewed

the rapid influx of non-English speaking peoples as a threat; they

preferred Protestant immigrants from Northern and Western Europe.

Nativist organizations, opposed to foreign influences, emerged in the

late nineteenth century. The government instituted a head tax in 1885

to curtail Chinese immigrants. With the advent of a new minister of

the interior in 1905, the government introduced more restrictive

policies toward immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe and

limited the rights of Native peoples. In 1907 a riot broke out in

Vancouver between Asiatic Exclusion League members and Japanese

and Chinese residents. Concerned Canadians increasingly counted on

strict laws to block certain immigrants and the educational system to

play a key role in assimilation.

118 Immigration and Western Expansion

Canada and the British Empire

Britain rapidly abandoned its ambivalence toward colonies in the late

nineteenth century, thereby touching off a spirited debate among

Canadians about their country’s role in the empire. In competition

with other industrial and military powers, Britain aggressively sought

possessions in Asia, the Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.

Canadian groups, consisting primarily of educated and professional

anglophones, formed to support British imperial endeavors. The

Imperial Federation League, for example, championed Canada’s

connection to the empire after 1884. A substantial number of

politicians, including members of Parliament, joined these organiza-

tions. Although the empire had its tireless proponents, imperialism

drew sharp criticism from other Canadians. One of the most eloquent

empire opponents was Henri Bourassa, a member of Parliament from

Quebec and editor of Le Devoir, an influential French-language

newspaper. Bourassa and his supporters maintained that Canadians

should not assist in the subjugation of Asian and African peoples. The

heated debate between imperialists and anti-imperialists framed a

larger question of Canada’s future. Bourassa’s Canada was North

American in focus, and francophone rights were seen as analogous to

those of other oppressed peoples in the world. Conversely, pro-

imperialists defined Canadian nationalism through the dominion’s

connections to the empire. The popular professor and author Stephen

Leacock, for example, argued that Canadians would be strengthened

in both cultural and defensive dimensions by maintaining close

relations with their counterparts in the empire.

A conflict that bridged the two centuries, the South African War

(also known as the Boer War) illuminated the sharp domestic divide

over the nature of Canada’s commitment to imperial expansion.

British designs to establish an extended African empire had already

involved Canadians. Several hundred volunteers had been sent in the

mid-1880s in a failed attempt to rescue the swashbuckling General

“Chinese” Gordon, who was under siege in the Sudan. Later in South

Africa, British attempts to shift the entrenched Dutch Protestant

settlers known as Boers from their small homelands in the Orange

Free State and the Transvaal touched off a brutal war that lasted from

1899 to 1902. These Boers used effective raiding tactics that stymied

Canada and the British Empire 119