Canadian History and Government

Settlement and Development of Canada The story of the colonization or settlement of Canada can merely be touched on here. The first colonists were French. They settled mainly in Acadia (now Nova Scotia) and along the St. Lawrence, though they established trading-posts as far west aE the Illinois River and the Great Plains. By the end of the French rule in Canada their numbers had grown to more than 60,000; and during the first years of the British rule it looked as though Canada were destined to become predominantly French.

What gave Canada an English-speak ing population was the American Rev olution. As a result of the Revolution, about 25,000 "United Empire Loyalists" were driven from their old homes, and forced to take refuge in the wilds of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Up per Canada. This immigration was supplemented later by successive waves of immigration both from the British Isles and the United States; and, despite the fact that the original French popula tion multiplied with exceeding rapidity, it was eventually outnumbered by the English-speaking elements. Not only the Maritime Provinces and Ontario (Upper Canada), but the Western Prov inces have been settled mainly by people of English-speaking stock. A colony of Scotch Highlanders was founded in what is now Manitoba as early as 1812; and Vancouver Island, on the Pacific coast, was erected into a crown colony before the middle of the 19th century. The settlement of the greater part of the Canadian West, however, has been a much more recent matter. It has been only within the last half-century, since the building of the first transcontinental railway and the adoption of a vigorous immigration policy by the Canadian government, that the vacant spaces of the West have begun to fill up.

The political history of the Canadian people, in which French, English, and other elements have thus been mingled, has been full of interest. Though the French and the English in Canada have had occasional sharp disagreements, there are few countries in which peoples so different in language, religion, and tradi tions have, on the whole, gotten along so well together.

And it is a remarkable fact that there is in existence in Canada today a strong national feeling—a feeling not English-Canadian, or French-Canadian, but all Canadian.

There are few countries, moreover, whose annals present a more remarkable illustration of the growth of self-government. Not only during the period of

French rule, but even under the first 30 years of British rule, Canada was governed in an arbitrary and despotic manner by officials sent out from the mother country. The inhabitants had no voice in the control of their own affairs. When, however, at the close of the American Revolution the United Empire Loyalists —people who had been accustomed in the American colonies to a fairly advanced type of democratic government—flocked into Canada, a change became necessary; and in 1791 the Canadians, both English and French, were given popular assemblies composed of elected representatives. These assemblies, unfor tunately, were granted such small powers that they became the centers of a violent reform agitation; and in 1837 the reformers, both in Upper and Lower Canada, broke out in armed rebellion.

The upshot of this rebellion was that British states men came to see that, so far at any rate as the domestic affairs of Canada were concerned, Canadians had to be allowed to govern themselves. Shortly afterwards, therefore, Canada was granted what is known as "responsible government"—that is to say, Canada became mistress in her own house. Almost immediately she began to adopt a distinctly inde pendent attitude even toward the mother country.

In 1859 she set up a tariff barrier against British goods.

In 1862 Great Britain began to withdraw her troops from Canadian soil, and Canada began to take over the burden of her own defense. In 1908 Canada went so far as to assert her right to exclude from her ports immigrants from the British Isles. At the close of the World War it was announced that she was to have an ambassador of her own at the capital of the United States. There are still, it is true, a few limita tions to the complete independence of the Canadian people; but these are purely nominal. For all prac tical purposes Canada is now as free as any country on the face of the earth.

Establishment of the Dominion Government This development has been partly the result of another movement in Canadian history—the move ment toward confederation or national unity. Up to 1867 the British provinces in North America were separated and disunited; but in that year Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Canada East (Quebec), and Canada West (Ontario) agreed to unite in a con federation to be known as the Dominion of Canada.