Canada at the Turn of the Century 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 Vision Canada, a HUGE landmass, needed a big population to farm, build and develop In order to link Canada and move people and products, a railway was needed Canada 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.

Immigration Raw 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 advertise 2. Flood those countries with pamphlets, posters and advertisements of free land

Push and Pull Factors Push Factors: Pull Factors: War torn homeland Forced military enlistment No land available or too costly Religious, ethnic or cultural discrimination or persecution Pull Factors: Free land No military conscription Freedom of language, religion and culture New 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 Nationalism Quebec was feeling threatened because: All business was conducted in English Immigrants were being encouraged to learn English and not French Industrialization was against the French Canadian way of life because they were farmers Henri Bourassa was the leader of the Nationalisme which focused on preserving French Canadian culture and way of life

Uniting Canada Canada 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 Railway The 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 Relations Before 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 Crisis Britain 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