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Monthly Archives: May 2012

From Coast to Coast: The Iron Horse, Part 2

25 Friday May 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada, History

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

British Columbia, Canada, Canadian Pacific Railway, Confederation, CPR, Rogers Pass, William Cornelius Van Horne

 
Horse and Train, by Alex Colville
1954
glazed tempera
Gift of Dominion Foundries and Steel Limited
Collection of the Art Gallery of Hamilton
 

Roy Campbell, (2 October 1901 – 22 April 1957) was an Anglo-African poet and satirist. (Wikipedia)

Against a regiment I oppose a brain and a dark horse against an armoured train.

When British Columbia entered into Confederation, on 20 July 1871, the Dominion of Canada, constituted on July 1, 1867, promised it would build a railway that would stretch from coast to coast.  July 20, 1871[i] is a post-Confederation date as is July 15, 1870, when Manitoba joined the Dominion of Canada.

The railway promised British columbia was to be built within ten years which may have worked except for the lack of a team and money.  This railway had to cross several hundreds of kilometers of what seemed unbreachable ranges of mountains.

Albert Bowman Rogers

In 1881, The Canadian Pacific Railway promised to give Major Albert Bowman Rogers (28 May 1829 – 4 May 1889), a cheque for $5,000.00 to find the pass named in his honour.  As quoted in Wikipedia, Rogers “became obsessed with finding the pass” that would be named the Rogers Pass.  The pass was discovered in April 1881.  The CPR gave Rogers the cheque for $5,000.00 which he kept in a frame until the CPR gave him an engraved watch.

The ten years had passed since British Columbia had entered into Confederation. The railway was under construction but there had been a lull.

Blackfoot chief Crowfoot and Father Lacombe

There were other obstacles. For instance, the train would pass through land controlled by the Blackfoot First Nation. A missionary priest, Albert Lacombe, persuaded the Blackfoot chief Crowfoot that construction of the railway was inevitable.  Crowfoot agreed and was rewarded with a lifetime pass to travel on the CPR.

The Kicking Horse River

Another obstacle was the Kicking Horse River.  There was a 350-meter drop in the first 6 km (3.7 miles).  The CPR would have to build to a long stretch of track with a 4.5 percent gradient when it reached the pass in 1884. This was too steep a gradient for nineteenth-century technology and two steep a gradient for current technology.  That section of the track would be called the CPR’s Big Hill (see Video).  Special locomotives would have to be built, but runaways (go to List) occurred including the first locomotive to descend the line.  These conditions remained for 25 years or until the completion of the Spiral Tunnels (see Video) in the early 20th century.

William Cornelius Van Horne

Besides construction was too slow until 1882, when the CPR hired renowned railway executive William Cornelius Van Horne.  There were all manner of catastrophes including floods (eastern part).  However, by June 1882, the Department of Railways and canals built the Thunder bay brand (west from Fort William) and turned it over to the CPR in May 1883,  “permitting all-Canadian lake and rail traffic from eastern Canada to Winnipeg, for the first time in Canada’s history.”  (Wikipedia, Canadian Pacific Railway)

Sections built simultaneously

The railway was built in sections.  Certain eastern parts of the railway were built at the same time as western parts, making it possible for the railway to be built faster.  At that rate “by the end of 1883 the railway had reached the Rocky Mountains, just eight km (5 miles) east of Kicking Horse Pass.  The construction seasons of 1884 and 1885 would be spent in the mountains of British Columbia and on the north shore of Lake Superior.” (Canadian Pacific Railway, Wikipedia,)

The Navvies and the Coolies: shame on us! 

East of the Rockies, navvies built the railway.  But in British Columbia, Chinese workers called coolies were hired. The navvy, many of whom were immigrants, was poorly paid:  “between $1 and $2.50 per day, but had to pay for his own food, clothing, transportation to the job site, mail and medical care.”  But matters were worse for Chinese workers, coolies, who made 75 cents and $1.25 a day, paid in rice mats, and not including expenses, leaving barely anything to send home.

The Chinese workers ASSIGNED THE MOST DANGEROUS JOBS

The more dangerous construction jobs were carried by the coolies, the Chinese workers.  They cleared tunnels using explosives and the families of those who died were not compensated for the loss of their bread-winner.  At times, they were not even notified that their relative had died.  As for the men who survived, they had not earned enough money to return to their families in China, despite a promise from Chinese labour contractors.  There is a sense in which the Chinese (go to lower part of the entry) built the railway (its western part).  No apology was issued by the Canadian government until 2006.

The Railway Relief Bill & the Last Spike

Yet, despite the low cost of labour, building through solid rock was too expensive for the government to continue building.  It therefore passed the Railway Relief Bill, providing a further $22.5 million in loans to the CPR. The bill received royal assent on 6 March 1884 and a year later the last spike was the, the Last Spike was driven at Craigellachie, British Columbia, on 7 November 1885.  Not that the entire railway was completed but British Columbia had its railway as promised.  See timeline [iii].

 
 
You will need this list when you watch the first video:

  • 1871.  British Columbia enters into Confederation conditionally.  The Dominion of Canada will have to build a railway within ten years.
  • Sir J. A. MacDonald awards the contract to Sir Hugh Allan, in exchange for campain contributions.  That event is remembered as the Pacific Scandal.  MacDonald resigned.
  • 1873.  Alexander Mackenzie is elected prime Minister, but neglects the railway.
  • Therefore, B. C. threatens to secede from its union with Canada.
  • 1878.  Sir J. A. MacDonald is re-elected, primising completion of the railway
  • 1881. CPR is incorporated and Sir Donald Alex Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, will build the eastern part of the railway.
  • Western part contracted to American Railway Engineer Andrew Onderdonk
  • Underdonck hires Chinese, which is opposed by inhabitants of British Columbia.
  • 1885. A Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration [ii] settles the debate. The Chinese workers are needed or the railway will not be built.  Sir John A. MacDonald argues that the Chinese will return to China.
  • About 15,000, some say 17, 000, Chinese workers are hired. Approximately 1,500 die during construction, but there is no official record.
  • The Last Spike: November 7, 1885 (driven by Sir Donald Alex Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal).

This ends my story of the railway.  It would now be possible to travel from coast to coast although, temporarily, alternative transportation would be necessary in certain areas. areas.

But former British colonists who had retired to Victoria—many from the Far East—finally had a means of crossing their province and the Dominion of Canada and and eastern Canadians could travel westward.  A Mari usque ad Mare.

_________________________
[i] See Dates Provinces and Territories Entered Canadian Confederation

[ii] Report of the Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration (report and evidence).

[iii] Timeline History of Canadian Pacific Railway:  http://www.kohlin.com/soo/cpr-hist.htm

Videos & a song:
–Canadian Pacific Railway
–Canada’s Canyon
–The “Big Hill” Climb
–CPR Spiral Tunnel
–GordonCanadian  Lightfoot – Railroad Trilogy (Lyrics )

© Micheline Walker
25 May 2012
WordPress
 
 
 
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Current Events in Quebec: 25 May 2012

25 Friday May 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

CTV News, Globe & Mail, Le Devoir, National Post, New York Times, Ozias Leduc, Quebec, WordPress

It seems protest has simmered down.  I did not see any mention of Quebec  current events in the Globe and Mail.  Students are using kichen pots and pans to make a big noise.

This could be the end, but I believe it is a respite.  The matter of tuition fees will resurface.  It cannot be avoided.

L’Enfant au pain, Ozias Leduc

 
© Micheline Walker
25 May 2012
WordPress

 

 

 

 

 

In English

The Montreal Gazette: http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html
The National Post: http://www.nationalpost.com/index.html
The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/
CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/news/story/2012/05/18/montreal-protest-declare-illegal-after-molotov-cocktail.html
CTV News: http://montreal.ctv.ca/
 

In French

La Presse: http://www.lapresse.ca/
Le Devoir: http://www.ledevoir.com/
 

—ooo—

Edith Piaf: Non, Je ne regrette rien
(please click to hear Edith sing)
 
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From Coast to Coast: The Iron Horse, part 1

24 Thursday May 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada, History

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Alex Colville, Canada, Colony of Vancouver Island, Fenian, George Monro Grant, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia

Horse and Train, by Alex Colville
1954
glazed tempera
Gift of Dominion Foundries and Steel Limited 
Collection of the Art Gallery of Hamilton
 

Roy Campbell, (2 October 1901 – 22 April 1957) was an Anglo-African poet and satirist. (Wikipedia)

 Against a regiment I oppose a brain and a dark horse against an armoured train.

When artist Alexander Colville heard this poem, he was inspired to paint his “Horse and Train.”

There is truth to Roy Campbell’s lines.  The dark horse built the train or humans built the train, which makes humans, represented by a dark horse, more powerful than the train, which makes them: iron men.

However, it is not the train that was difficult to build, it was the railway.  The train existed, but only Colville’s dark horse could build the railway and the dark horse, to a large extent, consisted of Chinese immigrants who worked for a dollar a day to build a railway through several ranges of mountains.

Motivation

A Mari usque ad Mare

We cannot dismiss the territorial imperative that led to the view of a Dominion of Canada that would stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, but the dream of a country that went from sea to sea was also very compelling.  The moment this dream entered the imagination of the Fathers of Confederation, it played a powerful role:

It appears the phrase A Mari usque ad Mare was first used by George Monro Grant, C.M.G. (22 December 1835 – 10 May 1902) a  “Canadian church minister, writer, and political activist” from Stellarton, Nova Scotia, who would later serve as principal of Queen’s College, Kingston, Ontario for 25 years, from 1877 until 1902.  Reverend Grant was very much in favour of Confederation, and although his book entitled Ocean to Ocean (1873) was published after Confederation, the Reverend Grant helped shape public opinion in Nova Scotia.

Protection

Moreover, intrusions by Fenians in New Brunswick also shaped public opinion.  The Fenians had attacked New Brunswick and were attempting to cross the 49th parallel nearly all the way to the United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, the amalgamation, in 1866, of the Colony of Vancouver Island and the Colony of British Columbia.  In 1868, Thomas D’Arcy Étienne Hughes McGee, PC, (April 13, 1825 – April 7, 1868) would be assassinated.  He died at the age of 42.  The population wanted protection.

Furthermore the threat of annexation by the United States, despite the Oregon Treaty of 1846, was not a figment of the people’s imagination.  According to Wikipedia:

[w]hen American Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated the Alaska Purchase in 1867, it was part of his plan to incorporate the entire northwest Pacific Coast, chiefly for the long-term commercial advantages to the United States in terms of Pacific trade. Seward believed that the people in British Columbia wanted annexation and that Britain would accept this in exchange for the “Alabama claims”. (Wikipedia: History of British Columbia)

Consequently, within three years of the Charlottetown Conference, held from September 1 and September 9 September 1864, Confederation was achieved and it included Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario.  In 1870, Louis Riel had negotiated the entry of Manitoba into Confederation and on 20 July 1871, the afore-mentioned amalgamated Colonies of Vancouver Island and British  Columbia joined the Dominion of Canada.

However, they joined the Dominion of Canada on the condition that a railway be built that would stretch from sea to sea, but nevertheless entered early.  Queen Victoria had also acted promptly.  She was given the task of choosing a capital for the future Dominion of Canada in December 1857 and did so very quickly.  She chose Ottawa.

I would like to tell of the story of the railway today, but there is no room left.   So we will have a part 2 to the Iron Horse.  Confederation preceded the building of the railway.  Moreover, Confederation was negotiated.  As for the Dominion of Canada, it had a capital before it was a country.

Moreover, Canada did not have a Wild West.  The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrived at its the various destinations at about the same time as the settlers, if not earlier.  The Royal Northwest Mounted Police (RNWMP) was founded 1873.  They became the Royal Canadian Mountain Police in 1920 when there was a merger of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police with the Dominion Police (founded 1868).

A Video: please click on the title to hear and see the video.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police tribute 
 

A Mari usque ad Mare (“From Sea to Sea”), Canada’s motto (devise), was derived from Psalm 72:8, which reads in Latin “Et dominabitur a mari usque ad mare, et a flumine usque ad terminos terræ,” and in the King James version, “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.”  (Wikipedia: A Mari usque ad Mare)

 Related Blog: From Coast to Coast: the Fenian Raids

© Micheline Walker
24 May 2012
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Current Events in Quebec: May 24, 2012

24 Thursday May 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada

≈ Comments Off on Current Events in Quebec: May 24, 2012

Tags

British Columbia, Canada, Canadian Pacific Railway, CTV News, Le Devoir, National Post, New York Times, WordPress

The problem has not been resolved.  There were demonstrations and many arrests were made in the last twenty-four hours.  So the “congenital malcontents” are working very hard.

I’m still working on the Confederation.  British Columbia is now joining the Dominion of Canada.

In English:

  • The Montreal Gazette: http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html
  • The National Post: http://www.nationalpost.com/index.html
  • CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news/
  • CTV News: http://montreal.ctv.ca/
  • New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/

In French:

  • La Presse: http://www.lapresse.ca/
  • Le Devoir: http://www.ledevoir.com/

The video I am including tells the story of the Chinese workers who helped build the Canadian Pacific Railroad.  Thousands died, but it seems their lives were not deemed important.

Chinese railroad workers in Canada: 1880-1885
 (please click on the title to see the video).

Micheline Walker©
24 May 2012
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Current Events in Quebec: May 21-23

23 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

CTV News, Globe & Mail, Le Devoir, National Post, New York Times, Parti Québécois, Pauline Marois, Quebec

Front and Side

 
Alena Krizek
Gordon Lightfoot: singer-composer
Micheline Walker©
May 23, 2012
WordPress
 

Just I was researching the CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway), I heard there might be a CPR strike.  I will have to investigate.

The Demonstrations are not abetting.  This strike seems part of a campaign to defeat the Quebec government in the next election.  I cannot imagine a return to power of the Parti Québécois and certainly not under Pauline Marois.  It could be that she did not realize she was playing with fire, but as leader of a political party, she should have known.  She has used the students to brew discontent.  I am more and more convinced that this strike is all about politics and creating disorder.

I apologize for not posting yesterday’s front pages, but I was exhausted.  Writing my little article on Louis Riel allowed me to assess these events, but it also tired me out.  Louis Riel was the victim of Orangemen.  He is the Father of Manitoba and one of the Fathers of Confederation.  He is Canada’s foremost folk-hero.

* * *

  • The Montreal Gazette: http://www.montrealgazette.com/index.html
  • The National Post: http://www.nationalpost.com/index.html
  • The Globe and Mail (Toronto): http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
  • The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/ (nothing but so interesting)
  • CBC news: http://www.cbc.ca/news/
  • CTV news: http://montreal.ctv.ca/
  • Le Devoir (French):  http://www.ledevoir.com/ 
  • La Presse (French):  http://www.lapresse.ca/  
 
Gordon Lightfoot : Canadian Railroad Trilogy (Lyrics) 
 
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Louis Riel as Father of Confederation

22 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Aboriginals, Canada, Métis

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Gabriel Dumont, Hudson's Bay Company, Lagimonière, Louis Riel, Manitoba, Métis, Ontario Orangemen, Red River Rebellion, The Earl of Selkirk, Thomas Scott

Buffalo Hunt, by Peter Rindisbacher (1806-1834; aged 28)

metis_family11

A Métis Family by Peter Rindisbacher (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

From Coast to Coast

John A. MacDonald was the first Prime Minister of Canada and a Father of Confederation
George-Étienne Cartier was a Quebec Leader and a Father of Confederation
Gabriel Dumont (a Métis leader) took Riel to Saskatchewan (second Rebellion)
 

Louis Riel is the grandson of Jean-Baptiste Lagimonière (1778-1855), a farmer and a voyageur who made a name for himself. On April 21,1806, he married Anne-Marie Gaboury (1780 – 1875), the first white woman resident in the west, and the grandmother of legendary Louis Riel.

Upon learning that the Earl of Selkirk, DOUGLAS, THOMAS, Baron DAER and SHORTCLEUCH, 5th Earl of SELKIRK (1771 [St Mary’s Isle, Scotland] – 1820 [Pau, France]) was settling the Red River, Lagimonière and his wife went to live in the Red River settlement. But rivalry between the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company was so intense that North-West Company men nearly destroyed the settlement.

Lagimonière was sent to Montreal to speak to Lord Selkirk, but taken prisoner on his way back to Manitoba. Lord Selkirk attacked the fort and the settlers were able to resume a difficult but relatively normal life. Lord Selkirk rewarded Lagimonière for his services, by giving him a large grant of land between the Red River and the Seine, close to present-day Winnipeg. Lagimonière had become a celebrity.

Louis riel

The Lagimonières had several children: four girls and four boys and, for a time, they became a very prosperous family.  One of the Lagimonière daughters, Julie, married a Métis, a neighbour named Louis Riel, and is the mother of Louis and is the mother of Louis Riel (22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885; aged 41) who is considered the father of Manitoba.

Louis Riel

Louis Riel (1844 -1885; by hanging)

An intellectually-gifted child, Louis Riel was sent to the Petit Séminaire, in Montréal, to prepare for the priesthood. He dropped out before graduation and studied law under Rodolphe Laflamme.

He was not very fond of the subtleties of  laws and slowly found his way back to Manitoba working odd jobs in Chicago and St Paul, Minnesota, where many of the voyageurs employed by John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company had retired. He then travelled back to the Red River settlement, which had changed during his absence.

The Settlers, the Surveyors and William McDougall

  • On his arrival in St-Boniface, the current French area of Winnipeg, Riel observed that settlers had arrived from Ontario. They were white Anglo-Saxon Protestants who disliked Catholics. Many were Orangemen or Orangists. Settlers had also moved up from the United States.
  • As well, land surveyors were dividing up the land, but not in the manner it had been divided formerly. The long strips of land of New France were becoming square lots. This land still belonged to the Hudson’s Bay Company, but the Crown was preparing for a purchase (1869) and no room was being made for the Métis.
  • Moreover, William McDougall, an outsider, had been appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the territory and was overseeing the progress of the land surveyors.
  • As for the Métis, they had suffered from an invasion of grasshoppers, so food was scarce. Moreover, immigrants were walking all over the Métis’ flower-beds, metaphorically speaking. They therefore needed a leader and went to Louis Riel for help.

The Red River Rebellion: the First ‘Treason’

  • Riel quickly organizes a “national committee” to put an end to the surveyors’ work.
  • On 2 November 1869, Riel and his men capture Fort Garry unopposed.
  • However, John Christian Schultz and John Stoughton Dennis start to prepare for an armed conflict.
  • The Federal Government recalls McDougall and orders are given to end the work of the surveyors.
  • Riel has John Christian Schultz and John Stoughton Dennis imprisoned in Fort Garry and
  • Riel and his Métis establish the Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia:

“The Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia was a short-lived legislature set up to pass laws for the North-Western Territory and Rupert’s Land provisional government led by Louis Riel from 1869 to 1970.  The Legislative Assembly was named after the Council of Assiniboia that previously managed the territories before the Hudson’s Bay Company sold the land to Canada in 1869.” (See “Legislative Assembly of Assiniboia.”)

Scott and Boulton recruit a small army and are joined

  • by a surveyor, Thomas Scott, an Orangeman, and
  • by a soldier named Charles Boulton.

A good will mission arrives from the Federal Government. One member of this group is Donald A. Smith, the chief representative of the Hudson’s Bay Company.  Frightened by Thomas Scott and Charles Boulton, Métis have them imprisoned and court-martialed. They are condemned to death by Ambroise Lépine.

  • Charles Boulton is pardoned, but
  • Thomas Scott, an Orangeman, is executed despite pleas on the part of Donald Smith of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Manitoba enters into Confederation: 12 May 1870

The Bishop of Saint-Boniface, Bishop Taché, returns from Rome carrying and amnesty proclamation for all acts previously performed. At this point, a committee of Métis reach an agreement and the Manitoba Law is passed on 12 May 1870. The Federal Government gives land to the Métis and makes both French and English the official languages of the new Province of Manitoba.

However, in 1870, after learning that Colonel Garnet Wolseley is being sent to the Red River by the new Governor General, A. G. Archibald, Riel flees to the United States but returns home to Saint-Vital in the fall of 1871. He then offers to help keep Fenians from attacking the Red River Settlement.

Louis Riel

  • is elected into office in 1873;
  • He is re-elected to the Federal Assembly in 1874, but a motion to expel him from the room was proposed by Orangist or Orangeman Mackenzie Bowell and was passed.
  • But Riel is re-elected into office.  However, he will not sit with other members of Parliament.

At about the same time, Ambroise Lépine, who condemned Thomas Scott to death, is also condemned to death for the “murder” of Thomas Scott, but his sentence is commuted.  He spends two years in jail and loses all his rights.  However, Lépine and Riel are amnestied, in February 1875.  

Next, Riel spends nearly three years (1875-1878) in hospital where he was treated for depression.  He has turned to religion and feels he has a divine mission to guide his people.

Riel was released from hospital and went to the United States where he managed to earn a living, became an American citizen, joined the Republican Party and, in 1880, he married a Métis woman, Marguerite Monet (1861-1886).  Riel fathered three children. His wife, Marguerite, died of tuberculosis in May 1886. She lived with Louis Riel’s mother, Julie Lagimonière.

North-West Rebellion (1885): The second ‘treason’

But in June 1884, Riel is asked, by Saskatchewan Métis, Gabriel Dumont, to help Métis whose rights are being violated. Riel goes to Saskatchewan believing that it is his divine mission to do so. He takes over a Church in Batoche, Saskatchewan, gathers a small army, but on 6 July 1885, he is officially arrested and accused of ‘treason.’

He is tried and his lawyer asks that he be examined by three doctors one of whom comes to the conclusion that Riel is no longer responsible for his actions. This divided determination is not made public and Riel is condemned to death.

Appeals fail so Louis Riel is hanged in Regina on 16 November 1885 and the body is then sent by train to Saint-Vital and he is buried in the cemetery of the Cathedral at Saint-Boniface.

To this day, opinion remains divided as to Riel’s guilt.

Comments

Yet, Louis Riel had been elected into office three times. He is still considered by many as the father of Manitoba. Moreover, Riel had brought Manitoba into Canadian Confederation as a bilingual province and with Métis being allotted the land they needed.

Yes, the Red River Rebellion was ‘treason,’ but clemency had been requested by the judge and there were mitigating circumstances: Riel’s mental health is one of these contingencies. However, the execution of Thomas Scott had long generated enormous resentment on the part of Ontario Orangemen or Orangists. As a result, being amnestied did not weigh in Riel’s favour.

As for the North-West Rebellion of 1885, it was ‘treason.’  Riel was found guilty and condemned to death, but the judge had asked for clemency.  However, Orangists remembered the execution of Thomas Scott and despite appeals Riel was hanged ostensibly for ‘treason,’ but also, in all likelihood, for the “murder” of Thomas Scott.

Riel, who was hanged for ‘treason,’ is nevertheless a Father of Confederation.

These videos tell the story:

  • A CANADIAN MINUTE – Louis Riel
  • Joseph Boyden on Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont. fs
 
 Buffalo Hunt, P. Rindisbacher 
 

 RELATED ARTICLES

  • The Fenian Raids
  • The Oregon Country
https://michelinewalker.com/2012/05/20/from-coast-to-coast-the-fenian-raids/
https://michelinewalker.com/2012/05/18/from-coast-to-coast-the-oregon-country/
 
Photo credit: Wikipedia, all images
Artist: Swiss-born Peter Rindisbacher
 

Sources other than Wikipedia:

  • Canadian Illustrated News and the Red River,
    http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/cin/001065-2040-e.html  
  • Lynne Champagne, “Lagimonière, Jean-Baptiste,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?BioId=38136
  • George F. G. Stanley, “Gaboury, Marie-Anne,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?id_nbr=4992
  • Lewis H. Thomas, “Louis Riel,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=5796

rindisbacher-peter--schlittenfahrt-des-gouverneurs-mit-792868

© Micheline Walker
12 May 2012
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Current Events in Quebec: May 19 -21, 2012

21 Monday May 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Anton Mauve, CTV News, Globe & Mail, Hague School, Le Devoir, Lysiane Gagnon, Marc-André Hamelin, New York Times

800px-anton_mauve_-_herderin_met_kudde_schapen2

Anton Mauve, Shepherdess With a Flock of Sheep, The Hague School

Anton Mauve (18 September 1838, Zaandam, North Holland – 5 February 1888, Arnhem) Photo credit: Wikipedia

The News are mostly bad.  As a result, I really do suspect that the students are being set up, which is unacceptable.  The students have acted like a bunch of sheep.

I have written of few tweets to point out to students that they were mere puppets.  The fines they have to pay will exceed the raise in tuition fees.  Moreover, the price of trying to control the demonstrators is very heavy.  People need protection.

It seems the movement is spreading to the US, which points to professional malfeasance.

 
composer: Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) 
piece:  Un Sospiro
performer: Marc-André Hamelin
 
 
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May 21, 2012
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On Artist Alexander Colville

20 Sunday May 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Canada

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Acadia University, Alex Colville, Hound, Mount Allison, Nova Scotia, Sackville

Hound in Field, by Alexander Colville*

*1958 casein tempera (cacéine a tempera)

Alexander Colville is great artist and, among all of his paintings, this is one I truly like.

Alex Colville

It has what I call definition.  There is nothing impressionistic about it.  It is a portrait of a dog drawn and painted with precision.  Yet the dog could not possibly have been posing.  It could be that it was photographed, but I doubt it.  For painters, photographs are best used to record lightness and darkness.  Yet, Colville is definitely familiar with the anatomy of dogs running, or dogs sleeping in front of a fireplace.

I also like this painting because it features a beautiful dog.  There are people for whom the subject of the painting is important.  I love sailboats, I love paintings of elegant interiors, paintings of flowers and, obviously, paintings featuring gorgeous dogs: man’s best friend.

* * *

I am certain Mr Colville spent a great deal of time perfecting his Hound in Field, but the composition of this painting is simple: a sloping line and curved lines (the dog), then, above the sloping line, barely articulated dark trees that give depth to the painting.  The sloping line at the back is intersected by a sloping line in the portrait of the dog.  And there are several golden sections.  As for the colours, the painting has a monochromatic quality: black and greenish gold and white, but nothing busy.

However, the positioning of the dog is simply extraordinary.  If the dog were not turning around, he would fall off the painting, except that Colville is not letting him do so.  He is simply bringing to dog back to a more central point, yet not central.  The dynamics of this painting are superb.

Biographical Notes:  Alex Colville was born in Toronto, in 1920, but, after spending nearly three years in St. Catharines, Ontario, his family moved to Amherst, Nova Scotia when he was nine (in 1929).  He was educated (1938-1942) at Mount Allison University, in Sackville, New Brunswick, probably the best small university in Canada.

In 1942, the year he graduated from Mount Allison and married Rhoda Wright, Colville enrolled in the Canadian army, working as a war artist from 1944 until six months or so after the end of the war.  He met his future wife in art class.  There were only ten students in the class.  They had four children.

Colville taught art at Mount Allison from 1946 until 1963 and then devoted his life to his paintings, except that he moved his family to Wolfville, Nova Scotia in the early 1970s.  He was made Chancellor of Acadia University, in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.  He now lives in Wolfville.

For further information and to see several paintings, visit Colville House, by clicking.

Brahms: Ballade Op 10 No 2 in D major, Glenn Gould
(please click on the title to hear the music) 

Dog and Fireplace (but unnamed), 1951 graphite and gouache on watercolour board

© Micheline Walker
May 20, 2012
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From Coast to Coast: the Fenian Raids

20 Sunday May 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada, Canadian History, History, Quebec

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Canadian Confederation, Manifest Destiny, Sir George-Étienne Cartier, The Fenian Raids

 The Fathers of Confederation (1864)

The Fathers of Confederation meeting in Charlottetown in 1864

Although the British had secured the northern part of the Oregon country,[i] fear of American expansionism, as expressed in the Manifest Destiny, remained the chief motivation for Britain to unite the provinces of its North-American colonies. Its two British colonies in what had been the Oregon Country were amalgamated in 1866 as the United Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia. Moreover, in 1870, the Province of Canada bought land formerly owned by the Hudson’s Bay Company.  So, finally, “British Columbia, was enticed to join the new confederation in 1871, but only with the promise that a transcontinental railway be built within 10 years to physically link east and west.”[ii]

The Canadian Pacific Railway

“The Canadian Pacific Railway Company was incorporated February 16, 1881, with George Stephen as its first president.” Building a railway through ranges of mountains was well-nigh impossible but “[t]his incredible engineering feat was completed on Nov.7, 1885 – six years ahead of schedule – when the last spike was driven at Craigellachie, B.C.”[iii]  (The Fenians were there.)

The Provinces, territories and Yukon entering into Confederation

Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia

Provinces entered into Confederation progressively, which constitutes a main characteristic of Confederation. When the Federal Dominion of Canada was formed, on July 1, 1867, one British colony, the British Province of Canada, was divided into the new Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec and two other British colonies, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, joined Ontario and Quebec. In other words, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces on July 1, 1867.

Manitoba, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, Alberta & Newfoundland

Manitoba joined in 1870, followed by British Columbia, in 1871, bringing the number of provinces of the Dominion of Canada to six (6).  Prince Edward Island (7) joined on July 1, 1887, Saskatchewan and Alberta, on September 1905 (8 & 9).  However, the tenth province, Newfoundland, now Newfoundland and Labrador, did not join until 1949 (10), under Joseph Roberts “Joey” Smallwood, PC, CC (December 24, 1900 – December 17, 1991), Newfoundland’s first Premier.

The Northwest Territories and Yukon

As for the Northwest Territories and Yukon, the rest of what would constitute the Dominion of Canada, they entered into Confederation respectively in 1870 (the Northwest Territories) and, the Yukon, in 1898.

The Fenians or Irish Republican Brotherhood

Fenians

There was reluctance to join Confederation on the part of the three Atlantic provinces: New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, once called collectively Nova Scotia.  They simply had no need, a crucial factor, to enter into a partnership with British Provinces to the West.  Quebec stood to regain its Lower Canada, which was important motivation.

However the initial reluctance on the part of the Atlantic provinces was overcome when, as mentioned above, US expansionism became a threat to Britain’s colonies in North America.  However, threats did not emanate from believers in the Manifest Destiny, but from Fenians who were attempting to invade the British colonies north of the 49th parallel.

Fenianism

The first threats from the US had little to do with the expansionist Monroe Doctrine.  On the contrary, attempts to invade lands north of the border were made by Fenians, an Irish Brotherhood: the Fenian Brotherhood devoted to building an independent Irish Republic (Irish Republican Brotherhood: IRB).

In Britain, the Fenians were promoting trade unionism as well as armed revolution to further their goals.  Consequently, Fenians, were poor candidates for American citizenship.  Yet, they found their way across the Atlantic to the US.  The US branch of the Fenian Brotherhood, was founded by John O’Mahony and Michael Doheny,[iii] the author of the Felon’s Track, a Gutenberg Project EBook (simply click on the title:  Felon’s Track to read).  As well, the Great Irish potato famine (1845 and 1852) had led to massive emigration to the United States and to Canada, but I do not think the Irish Potato Famine refugees can be associated to Fenianism.  They arrived in North America between 1845 and 1852.

The Fenians in “Canada”: Raids

Raids (Wikipedia)

In Canada, the Fenians first attacked the Missisquoi County, in the Loyalist Eastern Townships, the area of Canada where I live.  But other Fenian targets were Campobello Island, New Brunswick (United Empire Loyalist country), which they attacked in April 1866, and the current Ontario.  In the current Ontario, about a thousand Fenians crossed the Niagara River on 1st June  1866 under Colonel John O’Neill.  The Fenians then attacked the future western provinces of burgeoning Canada all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

In Ottawa, Patrick James Whelan was hanged, perhaps too hastily, for the murder of Thomas D’Arcy Etienne Hughes McGee, PC, (13 April  1825 – 7 April 1868 ).  D’Arcy McGee was an Irish nationalist, but he was also one of the Fathers of Confederation, which had just been achieved.

In other words, the Fenians raids played a significant role in bringing about Confederation, as did the Oregon Treaty of 1849. So, aggressiveness on the part of the United States was to be feared by Britain’s colony to the north of the United States.

Nineteenth-Century Nationalism

However, we do see signs of the times in the actions of the Fenians.  After the Congress of Vienna (September, 1814 to June, 1815), nationalism grew considerably in Europe leading to the various revolution of 1848 and, ultimately, to World War I.  Michael Doheny took part in the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848.[iv]

In fact, European nationalism had also fuelled French-Canadian nationalism.  When Lord Durham suggested the Union of Upper and Lower Canada and the assimilation of French-speaking Canadians, he inadvertently gave great impetus to French-Canadian nationalism, which, as mentioned above, helps understand why French-speaking Canadian leaders, living in what would be the Province of Quebec, supported Confederation.

Conclusion, but to be followed

So a threat from the US, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, or the Fenians, led to Atlantic Canada’s willingness to join the Confederation.  Under Confederation the Atlantic provinces gained muscle.  Newfoundland, however, was beyond the grasp of Fenians.  Other provinces would join after 1867. Provinces joined Confederation because there was something to be gained. In the case of British Columbia the construction of a railway would be  condition and a need.

—ooo—

I will pause here in order to talk about the Red River Rebellion and the yet to be understood the life and execution of Louis Riel, the member of Parliament for Provencher (Manitoba) and the “father of Manitoba.”

____________________

[i] Under the terms of the Oregon Treaty of 1849, Britain ceded it claims to ownership of land south of the 49th parallel.  But it kept Vancouver Island and coastal islands as well as Vancouver.

[ii]  Canadian Pacific Railway, History, http://www.cpr.ca/en/about-cp/our-past-present-and-future/Pages/our-history.aspx.  The General Manager of the Company was William Cornelius Van Horne.

[iii]  “He [Michael Doheny] took part in the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848, eluded arrest, and, after being hunted by the police for some time, escaped to New York. He settled in the United States, and became a lawyer and a soldier with the Fenian Brotherhood.” (Wikipedia)

Provinces of Canada:1867-1870 (please click on the map to enlarge it)

 
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 20 April 2012
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More Current Events & a Painting by A. J. Casson

19 Saturday May 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

British Empire, Canada, Fenian, Le Devoir, Monroe Doctrine, National Post, Quebec, The Globe and Mail

Old Maple, by A. J. Casson 1898-1992 (Group of Seven)
Brenner Fine Arts
 

All is relatively quiet in Quebec.  Today is a lovely spring day, so it seems that people are simply enjoying the fine weather.

Bill 78 was voted into law yesterday afternoon.  I have no way of knowing whether or not it will work, but a lot of people will call themselves martyrs.  It’s a mindset.

I am writing my next blog.  It is part of a mini-series called “From Coast to Coast”.  Yesterday I wrote about the Monroe Doctrine, but the plot has thickened to include the Fenians.  It could be that the Fenian raids are the catalyst in the building of Confederation.  Fenians were Irish nationalists who advocated revolution.  Some settled in the United States and started raiding the British colonies to the north from coast to coast.  Some also settled in Canada.

The Fenians scared the Atlantic Provinces into entering Confederation for sheer protection.  The future Canada was also scared into sending the Mounted Police West before it sent the settlers.

I must return to my account of how Confederation was achieved.   There are many things we were not taught in school.  For one thing, Confederation was not altogether a choice, it was a necessity.

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