[1867 - 1914] The Dominion of Canada: Confederation and Expansion

We stand at the threshold of 1867. Imagine a vast, sparsely populated land north of the ambitious United States. Four British North American colonies – the recently united Province of Canada (itself an uneasy pairing of Upper and Lower Canada, soon to be Ontario and Quebec), Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick – decided to cast their lot together. On July 1st, 1867, the Dominion of Canada was born. It wasn't a revolution fought with gunpowder, but a political masterstroke, a defensive union forged in the face of American expansionism and the desire for greater economic stability. At the heart of this audacious project was John A. Macdonald, a charismatic, sharp-witted, and deeply flawed politician who became Canada's first Prime Minister. His vision was grand: a nation stretching "from sea to sea." But the Dominion of 1867 was a mere fraction of that dream, a thin ribbon of settlement along the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, with outliers in the Maritimes. The West, a vast territory then known as Rupert’s Land and controlled by the Hudson's Bay Company, beckoned. The ink on the British North America Act was barely dry when the Dominion began to stretch. In 1870, the Manitoba Act brought in a tiny "postage stamp" province around the Red River Settlement, born from the fires of the Red River Resistance. Here, the Métis, a people of mixed Indigenous and European ancestry, led by the compelling and controversial Louis Riel, demanded their rights and a say in their future as settlers pushed westward. Their traditional way of life, centred on the bison hunt and river-lot farms, felt the inexorable pressure of the new order. Then came British Columbia in 1871, lured into Confederation by the promise of a transcontinental railway – a monumental, almost unimaginable undertaking for such a young, financially strained country. Prince Edward Island, initially hesitant, joined in 1873, also swayed by economic incentives and the promise of settling its land absentee landlord issues. The railway. Ah, the Canadian Pacific Railway! This was more than just steel and wood; it was the spine of the new nation. Its construction, between 1881 and 1885, was a saga of political scandal (the Pacific Scandal nearly toppled Macdonald), engineering marvels through the unforgiving Canadian Shield and the towering Rockies, and immense human cost. Thousands of Chinese labourers, paid a pittance (often $1 a day, half of what white workers earned) and facing deadly conditions like dynamite accidents and disease, laid mile after painstaking mile. But by November 7, 1885, when the last spike was driven at Craigellachie, British Columbia, Macdonald’s "sea to sea" dream had a physical link. Life in this burgeoning Dominion was a study in contrasts. In Montreal, Toronto, or Halifax, gaslights flickered on cobblestone streets. Men in frock coats and top hats conducted business, while women, cinched into corsets and draped in voluminous skirts, managed households often bustling with children and, if affluent, domestic staff. Victorian architecture, with its ornate details and grand scale, like the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, proclaimed the Dominion’s aspirations. Yet, mere miles away, or further west, life was starkly different. On the Prairies, newly arrived settlers from Europe, the British Isles, and Eastern Canada faced an immense, often lonely, landscape. Their first homes were frequently sod houses, built from the very earth, offering basic shelter against blistering summers and bone-chilling winters where temperatures could plummet to -40°C. The wind howled a constant song. The scent of woodsmoke from a cast-iron stove, the feel of rough woolen clothing, the endless horizon – these were the daily realities. They broke the stubborn prairie sod with walking plows, hoping for a bountiful wheat harvest. By the early 1900s, under Minister of the Interior Clifford Sifton, immigration policies aggressively courted farmers, especially from Eastern Europe, to populate the West. Over 3 million immigrants arrived between 1896 and 1914, transforming the cultural makeup of the nation. But expansion came at a continued price for Indigenous peoples. The numbered Treaties, signed throughout this period, promised land, education, and annuities in exchange for ceding vast territories. Yet, the spirit and intent of these agreements were often undermined by government policies aimed at assimilation, most notoriously through the residential school system, designed to eradicate Indigenous cultures and languages. The bison, central to Plains Indigenous life, were hunted to near extinction. In 1885, a second uprising, the North-West Resistance, again involving Métis and some First Nations allies led by Louis Riel, was swiftly and brutally suppressed. Riel’s subsequent trial and execution for treason deeply divided the country along French-English lines, a wound that would fester for generations. Technological advancements were rapidly changing the rhythm of life. The telegraph already connected distant communities, and the telephone, patented in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell (who did much of his inventive work in Canada), began its slow creep into businesses and wealthy homes. Electricity started to illuminate city streets and power factories, where the clatter of machinery set the pace for long working days, often 10-12 hours, six days a week, for men, women, and even children. As the 19th century gave way to the 20th, under the optimistic leadership of Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, who famously declared that the 20th century would belong to Canada, the nation continued to grow. Alberta and Saskatchewan were carved out of the North-West Territories in 1905. The population swelled from roughly 3.5 million in 1871 to nearly 8 million by 1914. Wheat became king, and cities like Winnipeg, the "Gateway to the West," boomed. Grand railway hotels, symbols of progress and luxury, sprouted across the land. Yet, this era of unprecedented growth and nation-building was also one of stark social inequalities. Women were largely excluded from political life, though the suffrage movement was gaining momentum. Working conditions in factories and mines were often dangerous, and labour unions were just beginning to fight for better wages and safety. Beneath the veneer of British propriety and imperial pride, tensions simmered – between French and English, Indigenous and settler, rich and poor. By 1914, Canada stood as a transcontinental nation, forged through political will, steel rails, and the sweat and dreams of millions. It was a place of vast opportunity but also of deep-seated challenges. Its identity was still being shaped, its future uncertain. And as the summer of 1914 arrived, the echoes of distant drums of war in Europe began to reach its shores, heralding the end of one chapter and the violent, transformative beginning of another.