June 10

Greater Vancouver History Tour

  1. Kingsway, connects New Westminster to Vancouver.
  2. Gastown, gathering spot for mill workers and sailors.
  3. Port Moody, they wanted the CPR to pass through port moody, but they decided not to do that.
  4. End of CPR, Vancouver is the railway terminus.
  5. Fort Langley, July 27, 1827 marks the date of the beginning of Greater Vancouver, and the Fort was going to be built a few days later.
  6. New West, to ensure Britain’s control of the new colony they settled in Sapperton, which is the area we know as New Westminster.
  7. North Rd, is the boundary between Burnaby and Coquitlam.
  8. Hastings Mill, is a mill in Gastown
  9. Hamilton, corner of Hamilton and Hastings streets mark the starting place of the Vancouver Townsite.
  10. Stanley Park, Malcolm Maclean declared this 1000 acres of land as a park.
June 9

British Columbia and Confederation

  1. Since the end of the Gold Rush the population and economy of British Columbia has been declining.
  2. They did not want to pay the huge debts accumulated by Governor Douglas and the colony. Also the British government felt they could not protect the colony being so far away because of the prohibitive costs.
  3. The nearest settlement was miles away and BC was divided from the rest of Canada by the rocky mountains. The mountains alsomade transportation and communication extremely difficult.  Because B.C. developed lumber and fishing industries, joining Canada was seen as being counter-productive, as industries would be competing against one another instead of complementing one another.
  4. They thought joining joining with BC would help American expansion. They wanted to build a British Empire in North America. They eventually joined promising to build the Transcontinental Railway.
May 26

The Northwest Rebellion

What are the causes of the Northwest Rebellion? (for each side)

It was caused by the Metis’ and Aboriginals’ fears about their land changing too quickly, and the White settlers of the West.

Summarize the battle of Duck Lake. (think CCC)

Lief Crozier and and 100 NWMP and citizen volunteers went over to Duck Lake to negotiate with Metis and Aboriginal rebels, the NWMP fired shots at the Metis and Aboriginals beginning the Battle of Duck Lake. The remaining NWMP and citizens fled back to Prince Albert in defeat.

How did Canada respond to the Battle of Duck Lake?

3,000 soldiers were sent by the government of Ottawa to incomplete CPR West, the 3,000 soldiers united with more troops, creating an army of 5,000 soldiers, which included Frederick Middleton.

What happened at Frog Lake? (think CCC)

Big Bear lost control of his own angry group, on April 1, and they took some Metis prisoner. Even Big Bear’s own 2 sons wanted revenge against the Canadian government. The next day they killed Thomas Quinn a federal Indian agent and 7 other people.

What happened at the Battle of Fish Creek? (think CCC)

General Middleton an 900 of his troop went to Batoche on April 23rd, while the rest of his troops went of to Swift Current. Metis wanted to fight but they couldn’t decide on if they wanted to defend their land or ambush them in Tourond’s Coulee. Reil and Dumont argued about this until coming to a decision of ambushing the Canadian troops. When Middleton’s men arrived at the ravine the rebels opened fire on them, Dumont’s men were winning the battle. Middleton an dhis men was forced to flee to the West Bank. The commanders of both sides decided to end the battle and the Battle of Fish Creek was won by the rebels.

What happened at Battleford (CCC)

May 1st, Colonel Otter takes his men West of Battleford, were they previously were. The Cree and Assiniboine confronted them, the Aboriginal forces had an advantage over the land, outnumbering Otter’s troops, after long hours of fighting eachother, Otter retreated his men, while the rebels reeived another victory.

How was the CPR significant to this rebellion?

Lots of troops used to unfinished railway to get around and aid in the attack of the rebels.

What happened at the Battle of Batoche? (think CCC)

May 9th, Middleman set off to Batoche to by ferry, but the Metis sabotaged the ferry by lowering the cable rendering it unusable to the Canadian forces. After that Middleman and his troops marched down to Batoche and attacked the Metis multiple times, losing each battle. Metis tired and low on ammunition gave up.

Why did the Metis lose the Battle of Batoche and why did the overall rebellion fail?

Canadian forces launched so many attacks that the Metis were forced to use up all of their ammunition, and after losing most of their men they were forced to give up and admit defeat.

How did Riel’s lawyers defend him?

Lawyers defended Riel with the argument that his religion made him unaware of his acts, the jury did not believe this however because of the wide spectrum of vocabulary he used to defend himself, he was sentenced to be hung for treason the few weeks that followed.

What happened to Gabriel Dumont, Louis Riel, Big Bear and Poundmaker?

Dumont returned to Canada after granted amnesty, Reil was hung for treason, Big Bear on Poundmaker were sentenced to 7 years in jail.

May 25

Guiding Questions about the CPR

-Why did MacDonald develop the National Policy?

To have a platform to convince Canadians on, about the need for a transcontinental railway.

-List and explain each of the three parts of the National Policy. In each case, state why MacDonald thought it was important for the future of Canada.

A system of protective tariffs; this is important so businesses can make a profit off of sales easier.

Immigration to the West; he discouraged the development of manufacturing in the West so that farmer would remain in market for the industrial east.

The Canadian Pacific Railway; the CPR would help ship goods across Canada and in and to Asia.

-Who did MacDonald get to invest in the CPR and what were their backgrounds?

George Stephen the President of the Bank of Montreal, Donald Smith of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and James J. Hill.

-What did MacDonald promise the Syndicate?

$25 million in cash, a land grant of 25 million acres, and a monopoly west of Lake Superior for 20 years.

-In order to get the benefits from the Government, what did the Syndicate have to do?

Complete the railway within 10 years.

-What did the Syndicate do immediately upon being given the railway contract and why?

They changed the planned route of the railway, because the northern Prairies was seen as good farm land.

-Why was William Van Horne hired as the new manager of the CPR in 1881?

Because the building of the railway was not progressing fast enough.

-Describe the achievements of Van Horne’s management.

He sped up the building of the railway and he built up to 1600km in only 2 years.

-What problem did the railway face in 1883 and what was the solution?

The government payed by section completion, so they weren’t making any money, soon they were going to run out of funds.

-Where did the CPR enter into BC?

-In 1867, why do you think the coast of BC required fewer days to get to from Ottawa than the interior of BC?

May 20

Residential School Survivor Story Analysis

UN Convention on Genocide:

Article 2

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent

to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;

Carole Dawson: “Like I say, unfortunately many of the people I was in school with have died. Many of them have died tragic deaths. A lot of them have been murdered. Some of them through alcohol and drugs have killed themselves. There aren’t too many people that I went to school with that survive.”

(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

Grant Severight: “I loved my grandparents. I would have stayed in the bush with them rather than being put in a Residential School. I remember missing them and the dislocation I felt, the disconnection I felt to my family. Eventually that whole dislocation and disconnection kind of built walls in me that took me years to deconstruct again. The feeling of inferiority I felt —”

“ In Marieval there was sexual abuse. I experienced some sexual abuse but it was from older boys, not from the staff.” “He didn’t injure me or anything but he used to fondle me and that kind of stuff. But he learned it from a supervisor. He used to tell me. He learnt that off Brother so-and-so. George did pass away after he left school, but he was the guy who used to do that kind of stuff.” “t throughout time I come to believe it because Father Sharon (ph.) spent a lot of time with that lady. That’s where my sexual abuse happened was in St. Philip’s. Q. From the older boys? A. No. From the music teacher.”

“And then they had a guy by the name of Rocky (something). He was a supervisor. He was convicted not of sexual assault but he was convicted of physical assault on the boys. Q. What kind of things did he do? A. He burnt them with cigarettes. He whipped them. He used to set up sweat lodges and just burn the boys while they were in there.”

Carole Dawson: “Probably the abuse that happened there. It’s not only my own abuse. I saw the abuse of other students. That was very compelling for me to see young girls getting taken out of their dorms at odd hours; eleven in the evening and midnight, and to hear them whimpering and crying and then find them in the bathroom later. I didn’t understand then about sexual abuse. It wasn’t explained to us by our parents or our Elders, or these people that operated the schools. But I knew there was something wrong.”

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical

destruction in whole or in part;

Grant Severight explaining how one school was better than the other, and what kind of things they got there that he didn’t in his old school: “I remember getting cookies and a glass of milk. I mean, it was the real milk that tasted good. The other stuff we had was always powdered stuff. I remember, man, was this ever different. And the meals were different. I remember having corn flakes, boiled eggs, toast, and I remember at dinner time we would get hot dogs and bags of chips and hamburgers, and a full course meal at supper time, just completely different.” “And I remember the boys were given access to guitars. We could play little guitars. They had bikes there, too, that we had to share. Man, I really hit the big time here. It was a completely different world.” “One of the things that stands out for me is I was constantly being punished. I was being either whipped or made to wash toilets because I physically attacked supervisors who beat the children, for instance, with radiator brushes. My cousin, Bob Joseph, who is one of the Residential School guys in BC, his wife is my cousin, her and I were always getting punished because we were always trying to defend the little children.”

(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

//

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

//

May 12

Canada’s treatment of the Metis after the creation of Manitoba

After Manitoba was created, Metis though they were going to be able to choose their own land, and their children’s lands. After five years of waiting to choose their lands, they instead got scrips. Metis were often taken advantage of and given nothing.  The children got land that had no access to water, and was located far from their families. The Metis were tired of waiting for land that they were not given and being taken advantage of, so they sold their scrips for far less than they were worth and moved to North West Territories. Harsh winters in the NWT forced the Metis before hunt before the Bison season, breaking the St. Laurent Laws. The hunt captain apprehended the offenders. Lawrence Clarke didn’t have the Metis best interests in mind, he felt like Europeans were far more superior than the Metis. The hunt captain was arrested and the original offenders were pardoned, and the St. Lawrence Laws were rendered useless by the Metis who did not care the laws. The creation of the Transcontinental Railway brought too many hunters, and this decreased the huntable Bison population. This created and economic failure.

Canada’s treatment of the Metis was unfair, and unprofessional, there was no justifiable reason to treat the Metis this way.