Description:
In the picture there is a train with 3 carts atttached. The first one, the engine, carries a British Flag and over it a Canadian Flag. The cart behind it has a man on it who says: „ The CPR is finished, we are heading west now.“ The second cart has to people on it, one with a HBC on his shirt and the other one with NWC on his shirt. They are doing a handshake and both say: „ We financed this whole project!“ The third cart has a man with NWMP on his shirt, he is shouting: „ No Americans!“ Next to the train there is a man running who carries an american flag. Behind the train there is a cage being dragged that has no wheels. Inside it there is a person on field falling over with a pickaxe in his hand. Behinf him there is a person with a bottle in his hand, who is also stumbling. On top of that cage there is another box with a sign that says: „Residential School.“ Inside that box there is a person sitting on a chair in front of a desk and another person bending over. Behind the person bending over there is someone standing up with a stick in his hand.
Documenting:
The train represents the CPR and also the government of Canada at that time, wiht John A. Macdonald, who had the idea to build the CPR, the HBC and the NWC who paid most of the CPR and behind them there is a police man, from the NWMP to be exact. The cage includes Metis and Aboriginals who were dragged behind, regardless of their rights or opinion. The Metis was just farming, but John A. Macdonald and his train (the government) ran by and dragged the Metis with them. The drunk person is an Aboriginal. Aboriginals were a part of the development of Western Canada because their alcohol addiction caused some new laws to be enforced. They are both in a cage because they had to go with the government and did not have a choice. The person running next to the train is an american who sis trying to get on the train and trade whiskey, but the Police Man keeps him from jumping onto the train. In the residential school, the box on top, the person sitting at the desk and the person bending over are Aboriginal children and the perosn standing up is a teacher and supervisor. He is using the stick in his hand to beat or maybe even abuse the child bending over, that is what happened in the Residential Schools. The engine cart, with the Canadian flag above the British flag, shows the very beginning incident, where Canada purchased Rupert´s land from Britain.
Interpretation
John A. Macdonald and the government dragged the Metis and Aboriginals with them, but they didn´t hurt them. That makes the picture almost neutral, but it still pictures the conditions that the Metis and Aboriginal were in as really bad. The only time the government acted unfair was when they started Resdential Schools, because there human rights were not maintained. The other parts of Canada´s development were fair, because the Metis could have also tried to take control over at least parts of the country, but they didn´t, so the government took over their rights, but they still got land to use, even though they didn´t own it. All in all this cartoon shows how Metis and Aboriginals were forced to go with the government and didn´t have a chance to choose what they wanted, but also that the Canadian government, lead by John A. Macdonald was making ist way west and was succesful doing that.
