There is a Department of External Affairs which has charge of all imperial and inter-Dominion correspondence. The Dominion Bureau of Statistics was established in 1919.
The Provinces each have a separate parliament and an administration, with a lieutenant-governor appointed, by the Governor-General as the executive. They have full power to regulate their own local affairs and disposition of their revenues, provided they do not inter fere with the action and policy of the central administration. The Northwest Territories are governed by a commis sioner and a council of four. The Ter ritory of Yukon is governed by a chief executive officer and an executive coun cil of 10 members, elected by the people.
Population.— The population of the Provinces in 1911, with the estimated population in 1918, are as follows: Alberta (1911) 374,663, (1918) 540,000; British Columbia (1911) 392,480, (1918) 400,000; Manitoba (1911) 461,630, (1918) 560,000; New Brunswick (1911) 351,889, (1918) 365,000; Nova Scotia (1911) 492,338, (1918) 510,000; Ontario (1911) 2,523,274, (1918) 2,799,000; Prince Ed ward Island (1911) 98,728, (1918) 100,000; Quebec (1911) 2,003,232, ac cording to municipal statistics (1918) 2,432,251; Saskatchewan (1911) 402,431, (1918) 647,875; Yukon (1911) 8,512, (1918) 10,000; Northwest Territories (1911) 18,481, (1918) 20,000.
The largest cities are Montreal, esti mated population (1918), 700,000; To ronto (1919), 499,278; Winnipeg, about 265,000; Quebec (1919), about 120,000; Ottawa (1919), 107,800; Victoria, about 65,000; St. John, about 63,000; and Hali fax, about 62,000.
Immigration.—Following the close of the World War, legislation was passed restricting immigration and providing for strict selective tests for those coming into the country. The total number of immigrants in 1919 was 56,982. Of this, 9,194 were British, 40,715 from the United States, and 7,073 from other countries. The total immigration repre sented 53 nationalities. The total immi gration from July, 1900, to March 31, 1919, amounted to 3,311,498. Of this, 1,118,946 were British, 1,268,793 Ameri can, and 853,039 from the continent of Europe.
Indians. — The Indian population in 1917-1918 was 105,998. These Indians had land under cultivation of 82,421 acres, with products that were valued at $2,834,149. There were 339 Indian schools, including 58 boarding and 78 industrial schools. In these were a total enrollment of 12.413. Out of 15,000 In dians of military age over 3,500 enlisted and served in the war.
History.—In 1534 Jacques Cartier, a French navigator, entering the St. Law rence on the festival of the saint of that title, took nominal possession of North America in the name of his king, Francis I. In 1608 Quebec was founded by De Champlain; in 1623 he built Fort St. Louis, from which stronghold France ruled for 150 years a vast region extend ing E. to Acadia (now Nova Scotia), W. to Lake Superior, and ultimately down the Mississippi as far as Florida and Louisiana. The Recollet and Jesuit mis sionaries traversed the country in all di rections, and underwent incredible hard ships in their zeal for the conversion of the Indians. These fearless priests were
the pioneers of civilization in the Far West, and to La Salle is due the discov ery of the Mississippi valley. In 1670 Charles II. granted the Hudson's Bay Company the perpetual exclusive right of trading in territory watered by all the streams flowing into Hudson Bay. Garrisoned forts were raised at suitable points, and the bitter enmity between the French and the English traders fre quently led to bloody struggles, in which sometimes the Indians also took a part The most warlike native tribe was that of the Iroquois, who were persistent ene mies of the French, while the peaceful Hurons were steady allies. Meanwhile, the wars on the American continent fol lowed the course of the wars in Europe, until the long struggle between France and England for the supremacy in Amer ica came to a close on the "Plains of Abraham" in 1759, when General Wolfe defeated Montcalm. Peace was con cluded between Great Britain and France, 1763, when Canada was formally ceded to England, and Louisiana to Spain. In the same year a small portion of the recently acquired territory was by royal proclamation organized under English laws. In 1774 the new province was ex tended by parliamentary enactment, and that under French laws, down the Ohio to its confluence with the Mississippi, and up the latter stream to its source. Finally, Canada receded to its present limits in 1783, giving up to the American repub lic at the close of the Revolutionary War, the sites of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michi gan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. In 1791 Canada was divided under separate leg islatures into two sections, the E. retain ing French institutions, and the W. re ceiving those of England; and these sec tions, again, after political discontent had in each ripened into armed insur rection, were reunited for legislative purposes in 1841. In 1867 Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick were united as the Dominion of Canada, and in 1870 the Hudson's Bay Company's territory was divided into Manitoba and the Northwest Territories and united to the Dominion. British Columbia entered the Union in 1871, and Prince Edward Island in 1873. In 1870 and in 1885 there were outbreaks of half breeds under Louis Riel. In 1893 a court of arbitration concerning the Bering Sea seal fisheries met in Ottawa, and in the same year Canadians were awarded 2,126 prizes at the Columbian Exposition at Chicago. The Sault Ste. Marie canal was opened Sept. 10, 1895, and in 1896 the boundaries of Quebec were extended to the shores of Hudson Bay, adding 118, 450 square miles to its area. A new tariff was adopted in 1897, giving a pref erence to English goods. The gold dis coveries of the Klondike in 1897 led to great improvement in the transportation service between Yukon and the rest of the Dominion.