Mr. Pollitt

Social Studies 11 Blk A

Unit 1: History

• Homer: How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?

Themes

• Identity: the name or essential character that identifies somebody or something, set of characteristics that somebody recognizes as belonging uniquely to himself or herself and constituting his or her individual personality for life

• Autonomy: political independence and self-government

• International involvement: To what extent should get involved in other countries affairs

Sir Wilfred Laurier

• Liberal

• Prime Minister 1896-1911

• Canada’s first francophone Prime Minister

Laurier

• Laurier supported the National Policy

• National Policy: Canada should be strong

• Won support from English-Canadians• Laurier wished to see an independent Canada. He was

so different from MacDonald in this respect that they call him Canada’s first Canadian!

Laurier

• However: also wanted the provinces to hold more power– This differed from the Conservative approach which wanted a

strong Federal Government

• This move won support from French-Canadians

• Many French believed he would fight for their rights

All Things to All People?

• Many Canadians believed that Laurier could mend the problems between English and French Canadians

Laurier to the Rescue?

Laurier in Action

• Manitoba Schools Act, 1890:

• When Manitoba entered Confederation, French-speaking Catholics were guaranteed bilingualism and Catholic schools

• however, the Manitoba School Act of 1890 made English the official language and did not give any money to the Catholic schools

• Compromise 1897: the public schools would provide a French-speaking teacher if there were more than 10 French-speaking students

• Religious instruction would take place at the end of the school day

Imperialism

• defined as the defined as the forced takeoverforced takeover of a country by a more of a country by a more powerful country, usually spurred on by a variety of factors powerful country, usually spurred on by a variety of factors with the intent of building an with the intent of building an empireempire

Imperialism

“The sun never sets on the British Empire” (pink territory)

Causes of Imperialism• The need for foreign markets for European goods

• The desire to exploit (take advantage of) natural resources

• Competition for territory between European nations

• Ethnocentricity : the belief that one’s culture or ethnicity is superior to other cultures or ethnicities

• “White Man’s Burden” (the duty of whites to uplift other cultures/races – to civilizes the “savages”)

• Imperialism dominated the world stage during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Come to your mother?

• Boer War, 1899-1902:• The Boer War was fought in South Africa between Britain and

the “Boers” (Dutch descendents)• Britain wanted Canada to send troops• English Canadians, feeling loyal to Britain, wanted to go

(imperialists)• French Canadians felt they should not have to fight a war which

did not involve them as Canadians• Laurier sent a volunteer army, which French Canadians considered

doing too much and English Canadians considered doing too little• Henri Bourassa French-Canadian nationalist, resigned from

Laurier’s cabinet in response

Canadian Volunteers: Boer War

•Between 7 000 and 8 000 soldiers and 16 nurses served in the war, and between 200 and 300 soldiers were killed

Henri Bourassa

• French-Canadian nationalist

• Editor and owner of le devoir

• Member of Quebec Assembly and Federal Government

• The wind and the sun place a wager over who can make a traveler remove his jacket. The wind blows and blows only to have the man pull his jacket even tighter. The sun then smiles warmly down, and the man eventually takes of his jacket on his own accord.

• “I will try sunny ways,” – Wilfred Laurier

Something to Tick Everyone Off

• The Alaska boundary Dispute 1897

• Access to the Klondike Gold fields

• Canada vs. USA

Alaskan Boundary Dispute

• Direct negotiations in the Joint High Commission of 1898-99 failed

• 1903 referred to an international tribunal,

• 3 American, 2 Canadian, 1 British

• Chief Justice of England, supported the American claim

• Canadian judges refused to sign the award, issued 20 October 1903

• Violent anti-British feeling erupted in Canada.

More Recently

• The 49th Parallel and Beyond• December 3, 2006• Vancouver Sun• Canada and the United States are debating

heavily over whether or not the Southern tip of Vancouver Island (including Victoria) rightfully belongs to the United States. The United States argues that the tip of Vancouver Island is below the 49th Parallel and therefore rightfully belongs to the USA. Canadian officials argue that Vancouver Island was originally a British territory and is rightfully a part of Canada.”

Questions from Laurier PP

• Why was it important for Laurier to make compromises between English and French Canadians?

Zulu

• Homer: There's your giraffe, little girl. Ralph Wiggum: I'm a boy. Homer: That's the spirit. Never give up.

Immigration

• Immigration: the movement of peoples into a country

• Emigration is the movement of peoples out of a country

Why Immigrate?• Pull factors (lured immigrants to Canada):

• Canada was a democratic nation which meant freedom from religious persecution

• Promise of free land in Western Canada

• immigration agents were stationed in foreign countries in order to recruit immigrants

Why Immigrate?

• Push factors (forced immigrants to leave their countries):

• religious persecution in their home countries

• poor economic conditions meant that it was very difficult for people to make a living or to get ahead in life

• shortage of land• limited work

Come to Canada eh!

• Open-Door Policy: the 1872 Dominion Lands Act sought to entice immigrants to Canada

• Promise of free land • Freedom from religious

persecution • The Home Children

programme (orphan or immigrant children were placed in Canadian homes) was part of this policy as well

Immigration• Ethnocentricity the belief that one’s culture or ethnicity is

superior to other cultures or ethnicities.

• English Canadians thought that their culture/race was superior to other cultures/races, resulting in discrimination against certain immigrants

Clifford Sifton• Rating Immigrants• Eager to develop the West, Canadian immigration authorities rate immigrants according to

their race, perceived hardiness and farming ability: • Most Wanted : English

French White American farmers

• Acceptable: BelgiansDutchScandinaviansSwissFinnsRussiansGermansAustro-HungariansUkrainiansPoles

• Need Not Apply: ItaliansSouth SlavsGreeksSyriansJews BlacksAsiansGypsies

Farming

“Stalwart peasants in sheep-skin coats"

Racist Immigration Policies

• Chinese Head Tax 1885: The Canadian government used Chinese labour to build the national railway during the latter half of the nineteenth century

• Once the railway was completed, the governments made all Chinese immigrants pay a $50 head tax to enter the country in order to deter Chinese immigration, increasing it to $500 per person by 1903

Racist Immigration Con’t

• Chinese Exclusion Act: the Head Tax did not stop Chinese immigration

• 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act, prevented Chinese immigrants from entering Canada

• The act was not repealed until 1947

Chinese Canadian National Council(CCNC)

Racist Immigration Policies Cont

• Continuous Passage: 1908 Bill of Direct Passage• immigrants must reach Canada via an uninterrupted journey

from their country of origin

• Immigrants from India and Japan could not arrive in Canada without having stopped along the way

• the Canadian government could then legally deny them entry to the country

• India was a British colony (part of the Commonwealth), which meant that Canada would have to let Indians immigrate • continuous passage legislation allowed Canada sneakily to deny British

citizens entry into a Commonwealth country

• India was a British colony (part of the Commonwealth), which meant that Canada would have to let Indians immigrate • continuous passage legislation allowed Canada sneakily to deny

British citizens entry into a Commonwealth country

Komagata Maru

• Komagata Maru: in the summer of 1914, a ship carrying 376 Sikh immigrants arrived in Vancouver, and was turned away by officials citing the “continuous passage” legislation

• The ship waited off the coast of British Columbia for roughly two months before being forced to return to India (via Japan) with all 376 passengers still on board