Political cartoon

Description: My cartoon is placed on a playground. There is a residential school off to the side that has jail bars surrounding it. Inside of the school there is a nun and a aboriginal student doing work. Outside the school their is a boy playing with a train set he is saying “look it’s heading west like John A Macdonald wants!” The train is going around the tracks but there seems to be a barrier blocking the train this is the NWMP. Their are two kids doing Rock Paper Scissors. One boy won and is thinking “HAHA, I won no more juice boxes allowed” the juice boxes representing pemmican. Their is a sold sign and a boy pointing to is saying “look guys I bought the play ground!!!” The boy representing John A Macdonald and the playground is Ruperts land. John A Macdonald’s other hand is reached out behind his back and a boy is giving John A Macdonald money and he is thinking I hope no one finds out. This boy would be representing Hugh Alan. Their are two boys fighting, they both are wearing Canadian shirts. This would be representing the HBC and NWC fighting. Their is a slide with a missing piece in it and a Metis going down it. This would be representing the broken treaties. Their is a Aboriginal boy swinging on the swing thinking about the new province Manitoba. Their is a bow and arrow laying beside the aboriginal kid swinging representing the North West Rebellion.

Document: The CPR was a train that was built to connect Canada to British Columbia. CPR stands for Canadian Pacific Railway. John A. Macdonald wanted this train to expand west through the prairies and into British Columbia. People started moving to where the railway was going to run in anticipation of it being built. They did this because they thought it would improve trade. William Van Horne was hired to speed up the process of the train. In 1883 the railroad fund was running out so George and Donald had contributed personal money in order to finish the project but that still wasn’t enough. When the Canadian government passed a bill that gave the railroad 22.5 million dollars they were able to finish the project. I represent the CPR in my picture by the train set one of the kids is playing with. The NWMP where in place to stop the alcohol trade because the aboriginals were addicted and it was ruining their lives. The aboriginals started making trades that were unreasonable just in order to feed their addiction to the whiskey. The NWMPs job was to keep the Americans out of Canada west to stop the trading that was going on. This is why I drew a road block on the train set, representing the NWMP stopping the trade.The HBC was controlled from London where the NWC was controlled by Montreal. It was easier for the NWC to be managed since their management was not far away. Where London was so far it took a while for things to be taken care of. NWC was more popular by the people to trade with because they were open in trading alcohols. The HBC and NWC were always competing to be the best and that is why I drew them as two Canadian kids fighting.The Metis preferred to trade with the NWC because of how much better their management was and the NWC encouraged the First Nations to marry where the HBC did not want the aboriginal women getting married. The Metis were also forced to go to residential school. This was represented by the boy sitting learning in the school.The battle of Seven oaks started because of the Pemican proclamation. This battle included theHBC and NWC. The pemmican was banned at the end of this battle. I represented this by showing two boys playing Rock Paper Scissors and the boy who won saying there’s going to be no more juice boxes, with the juice boxes representing the pemmican. The purchase of Rupert’s land was purchased by John A Macdonald in hopes of expanding Canada West. The Sold sign is representing the purchase of Rupert’s land and and the guy pointing to the sign is sop posed to be John A. Macdonald.Pacific Scandal was when Hugh Alan gave John A Macdonald money in order to win the election, in return John A. Macdonald had to do CPR. I represented this by having Hugh Alan slip some money into John A Macdonald’s hand.National Policy was when people found out about this scandal John A Macdonald was forced to resign this was represented by Hugh Alan thinking “I hope no one finds out”. Treaties where when the aboriginals agreed to share their land in exchange for some specific rights. Some of the rights include the right to hunt or fish. This also meant they could not drink alcohol. The treaties where broken because they were not fare to the aboriginals. This is why I drew a broken slide with a aboriginal kid trying to go down it but can’t because it is broken. Residential schools were where aboriginal and Metis were forced to attend. The kids at these schools were treated very cruelly. They were starved, beat, and some were even raped. I represented this by the student in the residential school looking very sad that he is trapped in a school while everyone played outside. I also drew bars around the school representing how they felt trapped in this horrible place. For the red river rebellion I drew a aboriginal boy swinging on the swing thing about Manitoba which was the city that was signed off when the Metis won the red river rebellion. The North west rebellion is represented by the bow and arrow laying on the ground. During the North west rebellion happened when the aboriginals were hunting all the Buffalo that they started to become extinct. People started getting mad and the rebellion started. This is why I have a bow and arrow representing the North West Rebellion.

Interpret: This cartoon proves how unfair the aboriginals and Metis were treated. I think that the government was unfair to the people of Canada and this caused a lot of problems they then had to overcome.
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Guiding questions p 197-201

1) Why did MacDonald develop the National Policy? He developed the National Policy because he needed a political platform to convince all Canadians of his ideas.

2)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, increased immigration, and the CPR. The protective tariffs was when the taxes would be raised from 15% to 17.5-35%. MacDonald did this because he wanted Canadians to buy less goods from America and instead buy more in Canada to benefit the Canadas economy. The CPR was the third part of the National Policy and MacDonald thought that it was important to build it because they would then have a quick way to transfer the army Also, it would help with the trading of goods within Canada and for people to travel across Canada efficiently.

3) Who did MacDonald get to invest in the CPR and what were their backgrounds? George Stephen, president of the Bank of Montreal, Donald Smith of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and James J. Hill. they had invested $100 000 to  St. Paul and Pacific Railway. Within four years, they had made a profit of $17 million.

4) What did MacDonald promise the Syndicate? Macdonald offered  $25 million in cash, a land grant of 25 million acres, and a monopoly west of Lake Superior for 20 years.

5) In order to get the benefits from the Government, what did the Syndicate have to do? CPR Syndicate was to complete the railway in 10 years.

6) What did the Syndicate do immediately upon being given the railway contract and why? the CPR Syndicate changed the planned route of the railway. Because the northern Prairies was good farmland, land speculators moved into the area. The Syndicate wanted to be in charge of the big project and the land the railway would cross. To do this they had to move the line 300 km south where there were no speculators. Now the CPR was in charge of  the location of railway stations and towns.

7) Why was William Van Horne hired as the new manager of the CPR in 1881? The Syndicate needed a new general manager for the railway, they need someone with drive and high energy so William Van Horne seemed like the right person.

8) Describe the achievements of Van Horne’s management. Van Horne’s arrival quickly energized the CPR – Van Hornoe brought drive and energy that made him work harder on his construction. He was able to have 800 km laid in 1882 and another 800 km the following year. With Van Horne in charge, the CPR could complete the railway in the 10 years given.

9) What problem did the railway face in 1883 and what was the solution? The company was running out of money, The thing costing the most money and most difficult to build had no yet be built in British Columbia. George Stephen and Donald Smith each pledged their entire personal fortunes to provide cash for construction that still wasent enough. The Canadian government passed a bill that provided another $22.5 million for the railway. Van Horne began cutting expenses, but they still needed more money. By the end of 1884,the CPR was almost out of money.

10) Where did the CPR enter into BC? Because of the CPR money troubles, the railway entering BC had to go through the Kicking Horse Pass which was further to the south instead of the Yellowhead Pass.

11) In 1867, why do you think the coast of BC required fewer days to get to from Ottawa than the interior of BC? I think that it required less time because you were able to go all the way around North America by sea which was still quicker than traveling over land.

Residential schools

a) Killing members of the group

“many of the people I was in school with have died”,  “A lot of them have been murdered.” – Carol Dawson

This shows a lot of people were murdered for their culture and life style.
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group

” I saw the abuse of other students” – Carol Dawson

Lots of girls and boys were abused in a variety of ways which effected lots in a mental way.

(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

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

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

“At that time I believe the Native kids weren’t allowed to go to the public school system, so that’s when they sent us off to the Residential School.”

Canada was separating the groups of the First Nations people and the other kids in Canada.

Sale of Ruperts Land

Belongs to the Metis Belongs to the HBC/Britain/Canada

– they believed that if they cleared and farmed the land, they owned it

– the Metis settled there first

– they took time to attend their land

– 80% of the population is Metis

– The HBC relied on the locals and Metis for employment

– The Metis Collected the furs And made the pemmican for trade

– The HBC didn’t talk to the Metis before making deals to sell it.

 

-The King of England gave them a charter, which meant they got trading monopoly over ruperts land.

– HBC ruled the trade in Ruperts land because of the charter that was placed.

– Employers of the HBC were considered owners of the land, after they had farmed or lived on it for three or more years.

– Canada purchesed the land from the HBC

– They had a good system That increased the amount of money coming in and the items that they are trading.

1) The Metis did have the right to complain about the sail of Ruperts land. It was the Metis land to start with. They collected all the fur and made the pemmican for the HBC, meaning that they did most of the work. They also lived on this land so it was very unfair that the Europeans were able to take it without the consent of the Metis. 80% of the population were Metis which mean the other 20% had control over selling Ruperts land when the majority didn’t want to sell it. The HBC relied of the local Metis for employment, which the Metis were happy to help out with but when it was there turn to do something for the Metis they failed to even consider the opinions of the Metis. I think it was unfair for the Metis not to have control over the land just because of some charter that the King of England gave to the HBC. Overall the Metis were left out of a very important decision that they should have had a word in so I think they have the right to complain.

If I was in the Metis position I would feel very used. The Metis put a lot of work in to make the HBC happy and for the HBC to go behind the backs of the Metis I would feel very betrayed. I would do similar to what the Metis did and complain a lot about what had happened.

A modern day analogy to this would be = I bought a new shirt that was nice, I would only wear it on special occasions, but my friend loved it so she would borrow it every once and a while, as time went on she started wearing it more and more until one day it wasn’t to small for her so she decided to sell it to her neighbor without telling me. The next day I see her neighbour and find out what she has done and now I am very angry at her.

 

The Battle of seven Oaks

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The Battle of Seven Oaks started because of the Governor of the Selrik Colony who created a law where pemmican was to not be shared with people out of their colony this was called pemmican proclamation. He then created another law stating that running Buffalo was illegal, this stopped the aboriginals from receiving food, clothing, and income. The Metis didn’t like how he was messing with their life. The Metis threatened to burn crops and houses down in anger, they also threatened to steal animals and the colony’s agricultural tools. The Battle between HBC and the Metis only ended up lasting 15 minutes. The HBC wanted to drive the remaining men out of the red rivers area. After this battle colonists left the colony and Metis and the English speaking individuals became very distant. The Metis also became a allied group with values and economy.

Causes – Selkirk invited colonist to settle between Metis and NWC trade routes.
Selkirk settlers couldn’t grow enough food.
Selkirk colonist depended on pemmican trade with Metis.
Miles McDonald of the Hudson Bay company created a law called the pemmican proclamation. This law banned the selling and trading of pemmican and running of the buffaloes. These two things was the main source of income, food, and clothing for the metis and aboriginal people.
HBC were expanding their trade into the territory of the NWC
The scottish arrived after suffering from cold, inadequate clothing and transportation and hunger.
NWC and Metis start attacking

Components – NWC captured HBC’s pemmican boats, stole their pemmican, and took over their fort hoping that this will starve the selkirk settlers.
15 minute battle
NWC stealing pemmican
Grant transporting the stolen HBC pemmican
Robert Semple rides out with 21 men to intercept Cuthbert Grant
Grant had 65 people with him.
Cuthbert Grant and the Metis win – Semple is killed

Consequences- Colonist left the colony putting an end to the first british agricultural settlement
Men from the NWC were arrested and massacred by Selkirk.
Selkirk takes over NWC forts and arrests workers
Metis now believe the British are a danger to their way of life
Buffalo hunting and permanent agriculture agriculture cannot co-exist

In the picture above it I think the prospective is that the Metis are attacking the settlers for taking over there land.