The Canadian Shield

In the year of 1867 the nation we know as Canada came into being. The Confederation in this year only came about after things had been overcome. Many political and economic pressures were exerted on the colonies and a federal union of the colonies seemed to be the most practical method of dealing with these pressures and conflicts. While Confederation was a solution to many of the problems, it was not a popular one for all the colonies involved. In the Maritime colonies views differed widely on the topic.

"The Conquest as Rupture and Continuity" CANS 200. Strathcona Anatomy and Dental Building, Montreal. 16 September 2013 "The Vikings and Canada." Canada History. The Government of Canada, n.d.

Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949, making it the last and most recent province to became part of the country. Newfoundland had the opportunity to enter into Canada in 1867, which makes the delay difficult to understand. Deciciding to remain an independent political entity, under British control, reflected the opposing political views between the colony’s Conservatives and Liberals. Unsurpisingly, many of Newfoundland’s core industries began to suffer, while the colony’s government continued to disagree, despite an ongoing concerted effort by Canadian officials to have them join the larger nation well before 1949. This paper explores why Newfoundland did not join Confederation in 1867 and remained an independent political entity until 1949 by examinig its early history, Confederation struggles, ‘the in between years’ as well as Joey Smallwoods impact on Newfoundland becoming apart of Canada.

Immigrating as a Welsh person generally put people at an advantage when facing immigration policies Immigration initially began in 1885, following the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. At this time Canada was not a very popular place for immigrants to go, despite all Canada’s advertising attempts. Canada had created the first Immigration Act in 1869 to prevent certain types of settlers from entering. The Immigration Act of 1869 primarily dealt with immigrants who may carry and spread diseases. A few other rules were also set such viewing passenger lists ahead of time and limiting the amount of passengers per ship.

Early European interests in North America impacted the level of reading materials and cultural ideals associated with the region. British control aimed to invest their time into exploitation of the resources while leaving little room for cultural or intellectual undertakings amongst the vastly illiterate society. Available books and periodicals often came from France and found their way into the hands of Quebec’s elite while English Canada remained dependent on the British (Vipond 15-16). It did not take English Canadians long to become influenced by their southern neighbors as their mass media expansion seemed stagnant in comparison to its growth in the United States. The beginning of Canadian newspaper was slow; however, the delivery of the printing press into the British colonies of Nova Scotia and Quebec in the mid-eighteenth century helped the industry take off.

Their economic system was one of trade and they spoke Inuktitut, which was only an oral language until about fifty years ago. Yet, this way of life was altered drastically with the increasing presence of the Canadian government in the region. In the early 1900's the government of Canada began to take notice of the increasingly heavy flow of foreign ships in the arctic waters. It was not the presence of the ships the Canadian government were concerned with, but rather the revenue they were losing (Matthiasson, 36). To overcome this problem, Canada loosely asserted its sovereignty over the region more for economic reasons than anything else.

Calgary: The Canada West Foundation, 1981 Milner, Henry. First Past the Post? Progress Report on Electoral Reform Initiatives in Canadian Provinces. Ottawa: Institute for Research and Public Policy, 5(9), 2004. Riegel, Christian A Sense of Place: Re-evaluating Regionalism in Canadian and American Writing Calgary : University of Alberta, 1997 Schull, Joseph.

World War 2 was a defining event in history, which had a considerable effect on Canada. World War 2 affected Canada socially, politically, and economically. Canada assisted in multiple assaults that led to the substantial victories. Canada’s contributions to the war led to drastic changes to Canada, which includes technology advancement, baby boomers , better economy and a higher prowess. Ever since World War one, Canada was starting to grow away from the British Empire.

Faultlines again come into perspective within demographic issues, especially with newcomers/old-timers, aboriginal population expansions, and French/English language. The core/periphery model is also represented. The end of the chapter places a focus on Canada’s economic face as well, dealing with stresses inside the global economy as well as its strong dependency on the U.S markets (Bone, 169) especially with the stimulating global recession. Canada’s economic structure leans on the relative share of activity in the primary (natural resource extraction), secondary (raw material assembly), tertiary (sale/exchange of goods and services), and quaternary (decision-making) sectors of the economy (Bone, 166).

Overall, the Great depression was a hard time for most Canadians, and the concept of unemployment insurance brought Canada to the world wide stage. Whether it is Prime Ministers opening relief programs, events which supported the upbringing of our country, the inventions which boosted our economy in giving us more trade, or the Depression in general, the whole period of time starting from the market crash to revival was the event which Canada showed the world that we are strong and not easily crushed. Therefore, the key event in this decade is the Great Depression and the acts towards it.