CHAPTER 04
Expanding Canada
The map gets bigger. The problems do too.
START HERE · ORIENTATION MAP
Canada, 1867: four provinces in the east
NOT A PRIMARY SOURCE
SECTION 1
Canada Moves West
Canada exists. Now look at how small it is.
In 1867, Canada contained four provinces: Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.
Compare that country with modern Canada. Most of the modern map is missing. No Canadian Manitoba. No Saskatchewan. No Alberta. No British Columbia. No Canadian North stretching to the Arctic Ocean.
The new country was concentrated in the east. Canadian politicians almost immediately began looking west.
RUPERT’S LAND
Between Ontario and the Rocky Mountains stretched an enormous territory associated with the Hudson’s Bay Company. Much of it was known as Rupert’s Land.
The company had operated across this enormous region for generations. But be careful with the map.
Indigenous nations already lived throughout these territories. Métis communities had developed across the northwest. People hunted. Farmed. Traded. Travelled. Governed themselves. Built families and communities.
Canada was not expanding into empty space. Canada was extending its state authority into existing homelands.
WHY DID CANADA WANT THE WEST?
Canadian leaders imagined agricultural settlement expanding west.
The west contained resources and potential markets.
American settlement and influence had been spreading rapidly across the continent.
A Canada extending toward the Pacific could become a continental country.
Those were Canadian goals. People already living in the region did not automatically share them.
YOUR TURN
Why did western expansion appeal to Canadian leaders?
THE TRANSFER
Canada negotiated with Britain and the Hudson’s Bay Company. Canada agreed to pay the company £300,000 as part of the transfer arrangements.
Canada negotiated over the Hudson’s Bay Company’s claimed rights and interests. It was not purchasing Indigenous title from Indigenous peoples through this transaction.
The people living at Red River were not sitting at the negotiating table. From Ottawa, this looked like national expansion. From Red River, it could look like strangers deciding the future of your homeland.
Why would Canadian politicians want control of this territory?
What does a political map fail to show?
THEN THE SURVEYORS ARRIVED
Canada began preparing for control of the region. Canadian surveyors appeared at Red River. This mattered because Métis families already occupied land there.
Many farms followed a river-lot system. Long, narrow properties stretched back from the river. Then Canadian surveyors began laying out a different land grid.
That made the political transfer suddenly real. Lines were being drawn across land people already considered theirs.
River lots give many families access to water. A square grid can cut across established long, narrow properties.
YOUR TURN
Why did surveying increase Métis fears?
What happens to our land?
Who governs us?
What happens to our political rights?
What happens to our language and institutions?
Does Ottawa get to decide all of this without us?
The surveyors had arrived. The Métis decided to resist.
SECTION 2
The Red River Resistance
Ottawa expected to take control. Red River had other ideas.
Keep this story straight. It moves quickly.
THE SURVEYORS
Canadian surveyors began working across land already occupied by Métis families. Métis residents stopped them.
One of the leaders who emerged was Louis Riel. Riel argued that Canada could not simply take control of Red River without negotiating with the people who lived there.
UPPER FORT GARRY
Métis forces seized Upper Fort Garry. The fort stood at the meeting of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers and was a major centre of the settlement.
Controlling it gave the resistance political leverage, supplies, and a strong position from which to negotiate.
A PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
Riel and other Red River leaders created a provisional government. That means a temporary government. Its purpose was to govern during the crisis and negotiate with Canada.
YOU DO NOT GET TO GOVERN US UNTIL YOU NEGOTIATE WITH US.
Red River representatives developed political demands commonly known as Lists of Rights. These addressed political representation, land, language, schools, and local government.
PRIMARY SOURCE · RED RIVER LIST OF RIGHTS
That the English and French languages be common in the Legislature and Courts, and that all public documents and acts of the Legislature be published in both languages.Article adopted by the Convention of Forty, reported in the New Nation, February 1870
THOMAS SCOTT
The provisional government faced opposition from strongly pro-Canadian residents. One of them was Thomas Scott.
Scott was imprisoned after opposing the provisional government. In 1870, the provisional government tried him and executed him by firing squad.
Be precise: Riel did not personally shoot Thomas Scott. Riel led the provisional government and approved the execution.
The execution became enormously controversial, especially in Ontario. Scott was an English-speaking Protestant from Ontario. For many Ontarians, the political debate now became intensely personal. Riel increasingly became viewed there as a rebel and a murderer.
YOUR TURN
Why did Thomas Scott’s execution change the political situation?
NEGOTIATING MANITOBA
Here is the part students must not miss. Even after the violence, negotiations continued.
Representatives from Red River travelled to Ottawa. Canada and the Red River representatives negotiated. The result was the Manitoba Act, 1870.
It created the Province of Manitoba. The Act included important provisions involving provincial government, language, education, and Métis land.
The exact settlement did not magically solve every problem. But the resistance changed Canada’s original plan. Instead of simply administering Red River as territory, Canada created a province.
PRIMARY SOURCE · MANITOBA ACT, 1870
Either the English or the French language may be used by any person in the debates of the Houses of the Legislature...Manitoba Act, 1870, section 23
Manitoba in 1870 was tiny compared with the modern province. The nickname makes the map hard to forget.
RIEL FLEES
Canada sent troops west in the Wolseley Expedition. By the time they reached Red River, Manitoba had already been negotiated into existence.
But anger over Thomas Scott remained intense. Riel feared arrest and violence. He fled.
That is where we leave him for now. His story is not over. The deeper Riel story belongs later in the course.
THE RED RIVER STORY
YOUR TURN
Which statement best captures the Red River Resistance?
SECTION 3
Canada Reaches the Pacific
Canada’s map is changing fast.
Canada began in 1867 with four provinces. Then Manitoba. Then British Columbia. Then Prince Edward Island.
Within only a few years, Canada stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. But BC and PEI entered for very different reasons.
Strangely: railways matter to both stories.
BRITISH COLUMBIA
British Columbia was on the Pacific coast. Canada was thousands of kilometres away.
Between them: forests, prairie, rivers, muskeg, and the Rocky Mountains. No railway connected them. No practical all-Canadian transportation route crossed the continent.
BC HAD OPTIONS
British Columbia faced economic problems, political uncertainty, and geographic isolation. Possible futures were debated.
Canada had to make Confederation attractive. British Columbia asked for something enormous.
BUILD US A RAILWAY
Canada promised to begin construction of a railway connecting British Columbia to the Canadian railway system within two years and complete it within ten years.
Think about the geography. Canada had existed for only a few years. Now it was promising a railway across a continent.
PRIMARY SOURCE · BC TERMS OF UNION
The Government of the Dominion undertake to secure the commencement... within two years... and... the completion of such railway within ten years from the date of the Union.British Columbia Terms of Union, Term 11, 1871
MAP JUDGMENT
WOULD YOU HAVE MADE THIS PROMISE?
British Columbia entered Confederation in 1871. Canada had reached the Pacific politically. Connecting the country physically was another problem entirely.
Remember that railway promise. It is about to cause trouble.
YOUR TURN
Why was the railway promise especially important to British Columbia?
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
PEI had hosted the Charlottetown Conference. Then it did not join Canada in 1867.
Island politicians had concerns about representation, local autonomy, economic benefits, and land issues. For several years, PEI remained outside Canada.
Then came the railway.
THE OTHER RAILWAY STORY
PEI began building its own railway. Costs exploded. The project contributed to a serious debt problem.
Suddenly, joining Canada became more financially attractive. Canada offered to assume the Island’s debts and provided other important terms.
PEI joined Canada in 1873.
Same technology. Opposite problem. Infrastructure can change political decisions.
YOUR TURN
How did railways affect BC and PEI differently?
WATCH THE MAP GROW
FOUR-PROVINCE CANADA
Use the controls to follow the political map. Dates are hidden here so the story—not a number—carries the order.
Canada is becoming geographically huge. Can the country actually connect all of this territory?
SECTION 4
The Pacific Scandal & the National Policy
Canada promised a railway across a continent. Somebody had to build it.
The railway promise to British Columbia created enormous pressure. Canada needed money, engineering, workers, and private investment.
Businessmen wanted the railway contract. Politicians needed money for elections. Those worlds collided.
SIR HUGH ALLAN
Sir Hugh Allan was a wealthy Montréal businessman and shipping magnate. His group wanted control of the Pacific railway project.
At the same time, Macdonald’s Conservatives needed money for the 1872 federal election. Allan and his associates contributed heavily to Conservative election efforts.
THE PACIFIC SCANDAL
Evidence emerged connecting railway interests, campaign financing, and the Conservative government.
Opponents accused Macdonald’s government of improperly mixing public decision-making and political fundraising. The controversy became the Pacific Scandal.
PRIMARY SOURCE THINKING
What does the Pacific Scandal cartoon prove, suggest, and not prove by itself?
MACDONALD FALLS
The scandal became politically devastating. Macdonald’s government fell. Macdonald resigned as prime minister in 1873.
The Liberal leader Alexander Mackenzie became prime minister.
That is real political consequence.
YOUR TURN
Why was the Pacific Scandal politically damaging?
BUT MACDONALD COMES BACK
Macdonald’s political career was not finished. Canada experienced a difficult economic period during the 1870s.
In 1878, Macdonald and the Conservatives returned to power. They brought a major economic program.
THE NATIONAL POLICY
Beginning in 1879, Macdonald’s government implemented the National Policy. One major part was protective tariffs.
Imported manufactured goods would face higher taxes. The goal was to encourage Canadian manufacturing.
The broader development strategy became connected to industry, western settlement, and the transcontinental railway.
Raise the price of imported manufactured goods.
Encourage manufacturing, especially in central Canada.
Farms produce grain and create western markets.
Move manufactured goods west and farm products east.
These pieces could reinforce one another. Settlers move west. Farms produce grain. Manufactured goods move west. Agricultural products move east. The railway connects the economy.
That was the vision.
WHO BENEFITS? WHO PAYS?
Build Canadian industries, create jobs, strengthen east–west trade, and reduce dependence on American manufactured goods.
Tariffs increased prices, benefited some regions more than others, and made western consumers pay more to protect eastern manufacturers.
YOUR TURN
What connects tariffs, western settlement, and the railway in the National Policy vision?
ONE IMPORTANT PROBLEM REMAINS
Canada still has to actually build the railway across forest, prairie, muskeg, rivers, and mountains.
It will require enormous money, engineering, politics, and human labour.
SECTION 5
Expanding Canada: Pull It Together
Can you rebuild the story?
Nothing here is new. Rebuild the story from cause, consequence, geography, and evidence.
REVIEW 1 · BUILD THE EXPANSION CHAIN
Put the story in order. No dates are shown until the chain is correct.
- Métis resist
- Canada becomes a four-province federation
- Canadian surveyors enter Red River
- Canada negotiates for HBC territorial rights
- Provisional government forms
- Upper Fort Garry is occupied
- Red River negotiates with Ottawa
- Thomas Scott is executed
- Riel flees
- Manitoba is created
- BC joins Canada
- British Columbia demands a railway connection
- PEI joins Canada
- PEI’s railway debt becomes a serious problem
- Macdonald’s government falls
- Pacific railway politics create a scandal
- National Policy
- Macdonald returns to power
REVIEW 2 · RED RIVER IN ONE CHAIN
Put the story in order. No dates are shown until the chain is correct.
- Fort Garry
- Surveyors
- Métis resist
- Thomas Scott
- Provisional government
- Manitoba
- Negotiations
- Riel flees
REVIEW 3 · MAP CHANGE
Order the maps, then identify what changed.
REVIEW 4 · WHAT DOES THE MAP HIDE?
Compare the political map with the Red River settlement plan.
REVIEW 5 · WHY RED RIVER?
A student claims, ‘The Métis resisted because they simply did not want to be part of Canada.’ Which correction is strongest?
REVIEW 6 · TWO RAILWAY STORIES
Match each province to the railway pressure that changed its decision.
REVIEW 7 · CAUSAL CHAIN
Does this prove BC joining caused the Pacific Scandal all by itself?
REVIEW 8 · THE COMEBACK
Put the story in order. No dates are shown until the chain is correct.
- Mackenzie government
- Pacific Scandal
- National Policy
- Macdonald resigns
- Macdonald returns
REVIEW 9 · NATIONAL POLICY
Match each part to its role.
REVIEW 10 · WHO DECIDED?
REVIEW 11 · PERSPECTIVE
Protective tariffs: how might each person see them?
Predict one likely benefit.
Predict one likely cost.
REVIEW 12 · THE BIG IDEA
Did Canada simply “expand west”?
ONE-SENTENCE CHALLENGE
Why did Red River resist?
ONE-SENTENCE CHALLENGE
Why did British Columbia join?
ONE-SENTENCE CHALLENGE
Why did the Pacific Scandal matter?
Show what you understand
Ten questions cover the whole chapter. Every answer includes an explanation.
You should now be able to...
Explain why Canada looked west and why Rupert’s Land was not empty.
Explain why the HBC transfer did not equal Indigenous consent.
Tell the Red River story from surveyors to Riel’s flight.
Explain how negotiation under pressure helped create Manitoba.
Compare BC’s railway demand with PEI’s railway debt.
Explain how railway politics produced the Pacific Scandal.
Explain Macdonald’s fall, Mackenzie’s government, and Macdonald’s return.
Connect tariffs, settlement, and railways in the National Policy vision.
CANADA’S MAP EXPANDED THROUGH POLITICAL DECISIONS, RESISTANCE, NEGOTIATION, INFRASTRUCTURE, AND POWER.
Sources and further reading
Official law, curriculum, national historic-site research, archival images, and published historical reference works support this chapter.
Ontario Ministry of EducationHistory, Grade 8 — official current curriculum ↗Department of Justice CanadaRupert’s Land and North-Western Territory Order ↗Parks CanadaThe Red River Resistance ↗Department of Justice CanadaManitoba Act, 1870 ↗Province of ManitobaChronology of events in the life of Louis Riel ↗Department of Justice CanadaBritish Columbia Terms of Union ↗Parks CanadaConstruction of the Prince Edward Island Railway ↗The Canadian EncyclopediaPacific Scandal ↗The Canadian EncyclopediaNational Policy ↗Parks CanadaPrime-minister terms of office ↗