1850-1890

Creating Canada

Grade 8 History - Unit 1

1. The Dominion of Canada



  • Research the impact of one of the differences in legal status and in the distribution of rights and privileges in the second half of the 19th century had on various settler/newcomer individuals and/or groups:


  • Research actions taken by various individuals, groups, and/or communities to improve their lives in the second half of the 19th century:

    • the creation of provisional governments by the Métis in 1869 and 1884

    • attempted alliances among First Nations during negotiations with the federal government

    • the creation of mutual aid societies by ethnic groups to help new immigrants from their homelands

    • campaigns against Confederation in the Maritimes

    • the creation of labour unions to press for higher pay, shorter hours, and better working conditions

    • the creation of the newspaper the Provincial Freeman by Mary Ann Shadd to lobby against slavery and for the rights of African Canadians

2. Perspectives: 1850-1890


  • Continuing with the same situation you picked in the task above, gather and organize information about the differing perspectives on your situation using primary sources...

    • advertisements

    • diaries

    • letters

    • oral histories

    • hospital records

    • editorial cartoons

    • excerpts from fiction or non-fiction books written during this period

    • petitions

    • photographs, paintings, songs, or poetry from the time

    • testimony to commissions of inquiry

  • ... and secondary sources:

    • poetry, songs, paintings, or drawings from after this historical period

    • museum exhibits

    • documentaries

    • online videos

    • graphic novels

    • web resources and/or books on Canadian history


  • Critically analyze the sources you used in the task above to determine if they are credible and relevant to your investigation (by considering the perspective, bias, accuracy, authenticity, purpose, and/or context of the source AND the values and/or expertise of its author).


  • Continuing with the same situation you have been working with for the last several tasks, create a map showing the spatial boundaries of your situation (consider using Google My Maps). For example:

    • issue-based map as part of their investigation into the North-West Resistance

    • political and territorial expansion of Canada

    • flow map to determine the routes of the Underground Railroad

    • demographic map to show the location of the major immigrant groups and Indigenous communities in Canada during this period

    • flow map to show the Métis dispersion during this period


  • Continuing with the same situation you have been working with for the last several tasks, interpret and analyze information and evidence relevant to your investigation. For example:

    • use graphic organizers to compare perspectives in the information you have gathered on the impact of the Indian Act or to analyse different perspectives on components of the National Policy

    • analyse political speeches and newspaper articles for views on Chinese immigrants

    • analyse pamphlets from the time to determine the arguments used by temperance advocates and their opponents


  • Continuing with the same situation you have been working with for the last several tasks, evaluate evidence and draw conclusions about the differing perspectives on your situation.


  • Continuing with the same situation you have been working with for the last several tasks, communicate the results of your inquiry using appropriate vocabulary (Confederation, National Policy, Underground Railroad, industrialization, expansion, resistance, rebellion, migration, refugee, settlement, treaty, reserves, residential school system, racism, cultural genocide, assimilation, pass system, reconciliation) in an appropriate format. For example:

    • a story or graphic novel on the Underground Railroad from the perspective of a fugitive slave, abolitionists along the route, and free Blacks in Canada

    • a dramatic presentation on differing perspectives on the North-West Resistance and its aftermath

    • an information poster explaining attitudes of pro- and anti-Confederation forces

    • an audiovisual presentation on the perspectives of the federal government and status and non-status Indians on the Indian Act

    • a photographic essay on the various groups of people involved in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway [CPR]

3. Impacts: 1850-1890



  • Pick one of the factors that contributed to the residential school system below...

    • government and/or settler appropriation of Indigenous land

    • desire to impose Christianity on Indigenous peoples

    • government policies and church actions that repressed Indigenous cultures and resistance and/or sought to assimilate Indigenous

    • people

    • beliefs within settler society about European cultural and race superiority

    • the drive to expand the British Empire

  • ...and explain the impact of this system on Indigenous individuals and communities:

    • loss of Indigenous language, culture, and identity

    • disconnection of Indigenous children from family and community

    • intergenerational trauma and grief

    • changes in Indigenous children’s relationship to the land

    • internalization among Indigenous people of the world view of the colonizers

    • assimilation

    • exposure to disease

    • physical, sexual, and emotional abuse



  • Pick one of the social and/or economic changes below and explain its impact on various individuals, groups, and/or communities:

    • the Industrial Revolution

    • the development of urban centres

    • the gold rush in British Columbia

    • economic changes resulting from the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 and the repeal of the Corn Laws

    • lack of foreign markets for locally produced products resulting from changes in British policies

    • changes among Plains First Nations and Métis communities as a result of declining buffalo populations

    • the role of Inuit in the whale oil industry in the Arctic

    • increased settlement of the West

    • increasing rates of immigration


  • Describe one of the significant instances of cooperation and conflict below:

    • conflict between Protestants and Catholics

    • the Red River Resistance

    • the North-West Resistance

    • the Toronto printers’ strike of 1872

    • cooperation between various individuals and groups to coordinate the Underground Railroad

    • Confederation negotiations

    • the 1880 petition of First Nations and Métis in the Lake Nipigon region

    • cooperation between First Nations, Métis, and the Hudson’s Bay Company in the fur trade or between Inuit and Europeans in the development of trade and resources in the Arctic


Resources for this Unit