EDT:CATION. There is no centralized system of education for the whole Dominion, each prov ince being left to control its own educational matters. For a fuller statement, therefore, the reader is referred to the articles on the differ ent provinces. In all provinces the schools are free, and in most provinces attendance is eom pulsory. Local trustees are elected to look after the separate schools, but a careful supervision is exercised by the provincial superintendent and his council. Especially noteworthy is the thorough and comprehensive school system of Ontario. In provinces where Catholics have a strong representation ( Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba), the denominational problem has been the most important one that has confronted the educational system, and in the case of _Mani toba it has been of a rather grievous nature. In Quebec there is a complete cleavage between the two sects, extending even to the council of public instruction, which is divided into Catholic. and Protestant committees, the former committee being composed of Roman Cathodic bishops. In Ontario the educational council is not divided, but either sect, under certain conditions. can es tablish separate schools. In Manitoba there are no separate schools, but religious instruction may be given to those pupils whose parents may demand it. The expense of the schools is met by Government grants and local taxation, the latter covering more than two-thirds of the ex penditure for all the provinces, but differing greatly from province to province. There are a large number of universities and classical col leges. including Dalhousie, Nova Scotia (founded 1820) ; Montreal (1821) New Brunswick, Fred ericton (1828) ; University of Toronto, Ontario 11828) Queen's College, Kingston, Ont. (1841) ; Laval University, Quehee (1852) ; University of Manitoba (1877) : and the Royal Military Col lege, Kingston, Ont. (1874). The principal scien tific societies are the Royal Society of Canada; Natural history Society of Montreal; Cana dian Institute. Toronto; Nova Scotia Institute; Natural History Institute, New Brunswick; Sci entific and Historical Society, Winnipeg: and Society of Natural ]History, Victoria, with a fine local museum.
IllsTonv. It is probable that lijarni Herjulf son (q.v.), a Norseman, sighted the coast of Can ada, opposite Greenland. in 986. and that Leif Ericson sailed along a considerable part of the eastern coast in 1000. John Cabot (q.v.) in 1497 reached the shores of the New World in the neighborhood of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. It is upon this voyage that England snbsequentiv based her claim. in part. to the whole of North America. For the most part, however, the ter ritory included within the present Dominion, ex eluding the former Northwest Territories and the Hudson Bay country, was explored and first settled by the French. Basque and Breton fish ermen began to visit the cod-banks of New foundland as early as 1504; Denis of llontleur and Aubert of Dieppe explored the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in 1506 and 1508, respectively; the Baron de Li-ry made an unsuccessful attempt to settle Sable "Island in 1518; and in 1524 Veraz zano, under the direction of Francis 1., sailed along the coast of North America from the thirty-fourth to the fiftieth parallel of mirth latitude. In 1534 .Jacques ('artier (q.v.) en tered the Saint Lawrence and at Gaspj took for mal possession of the country in the name of the King of France; and on a second voyage, in 1535,36, he ascended the river as far as Hoehelaga (Montreal), wintered at Stadaeone (Quebec), and, while passing up the stream, en tered the present harbor of Sainte-Genevieve, and gave it the name Saint Lawrence, which was afterwards extended to the gulf and the river. Jean Francois de la Roque, Sieur de
Poberval (q.v.), with the assistance of Cartier, made an abortive attempt to establish a col ony at ('ape Rouge in 1541-43. The Marquis de la Roche received a commission from the King as lieutenant-general of Canada, and in 1598, having bargained to colonize New France. es tablished a short-lived settlement on Sable Island ; and in the year Pontgravr. and Chauvin established an equally short-lived settlement at the mouth of the Saguenay. fn 1603 Champlain made the first of his voyages to Canada. and his name is inseparably eon ne•ted with the history of New France frown that date until the time of his death, in 1635. (See CHAMPLAIN, SAMUEL 11•.) in 1604 he assisted Pierre du Guast, Sienr de Monts, in bringing out a colony which first settled on Dochet. Island, in the Saint Croix, and in the following year was moved to the site of the present An napolis in Acadia or Nova Scotia (q.v.). This colony, however, was broken up temporarily by the English under Samuel Arpin, in 1613, and the first permanent settlement in Canada was made at Quebec in 1608 by Champlain. who within the next few years discovered lakes Champlain (1609), Huron (1615). and Erie (1615), established a temporary settlement at .Montreal (1611), and by taking part with the Hurons and Algonquins. the original inhabit ants of Canada. against the Five Nations, in 1609 and 1615, committed France to a policy which was to be of the greatest significance in the history of New France, arousing, as it did, the enmity of the powerful Iroquois, who united first with the Dutch and then with the English, and frequently thwarted the French in their schemes of expansion and conquest. In addition to making numerous inroads upon the settlements of the French themselves, they in time virtually annihilated the who had allied them selves to France. "'-'hey ruined." says Parkman, "the trade which was the life-blood of New France; they stopped the current of her arteries and made all her early years a and a ter ror." The French governors repeatedly attempted to overcome the Confederacy, and at times seemed on the point of meeting with success ; but in spite of severe reverses and of the occasional destruc tion of their towns, the Iroquois continued to stand as a. barrier to French encroachments and as a protection to the English colonists, though, largely as a result of the vigorous policy of Frontenac (q.v.), the ablest. of the French gov ernors after Champlain, their aggressions and inroads virtually ceased in the beginning of the Eighteenth Century. In 1625 several Jesuits ar rived at Quebec, and for almost half a century thereafter the order had a preponderating in fluence over secular as well as religious affairs, insomuch that during the early period of its his tory New France was in many respects essen tially a mission. The affairs of the colony having been grossly mismanaged in the first two decades. P,ichelieu, in 1627. organized the Com pany of New France, better known as the 'Com pany of the Hundred Assoeiates'—a corporation which, under the quasi-supervision of the Crown, virtually ruled the whole of New France until 1663, besides exercising a monopoly over the immensely valuable fur trade. In 1642 Mon treal was permanently founded by a company of religious enthusiasts headed by the Sienr de Mai sonneuve, :Hill in 1659 Lava lontmoreney the titular bishop. by papal appointment. of Fetnea in Arabia, was placed at the head of the Catholic! Church in New Frame, in which capacity he had a powerful influence for many years over civil as well as ecclesiastical affairs.