1. The Dominion of Canada

• Research one of the factors that played a role in the creation of Canada and the expansion of its territory:

  • the doctrine of Manifest Destiny

  • the American Civil War

  • changes in British attitudes towards British North America

  • Fenian raids

  • the construction of the transcontinental railway

  • the Manitoba Act of 1870

  • the search for the Northwest Passage

  • the Red River Resistance

  • the North-West Resistance

  • the federal government’s purchase of Rupert’s Land

  • the creation of the North-West Mounted Police

  • the Numbered Treaties

  • the Indian Act

• Research the impact of one of the limitations with respect to the legal status, rights, and privileges in the second half of the 19th century had on First Nations, Métis, and Inuit individuals and/or communities:

  • land ownership

  • the Act for the Better Protection of the Lands and Property of Indians in Lower Canada, 1850

  • the Gradual Civilization Act, 1857

  • the Gradual Enfranchisement Act, 1869

  • the Indian Act, 1876

  • the rights and legal status of “status Indians” on reserves

  • policies of assimilation

  • the exclusion of Métis as a collective from most treaties

• 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:

  • land ownership in Prince Edward Island

  • married women’s property rights

  • women’s political rights

  • property qualifications for the franchise

  • restrictions on Chinese immigration

  • the privileged lifestyle of industrialists in contrast to the lives of workers in their factories

  • discrimination facing African Canadians

• 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

• Pick a situation from the list below, and devise high-level inquiry questions (using the bottom right hand corner of the Question Matrix) that will guide your inquiry into your situation:

  • Confederation

  • the National Policy

  • the rights of First Nations

  • the establishment of residential schools for First Nations and Métis children

  • industrialization

  • temperance

  • immigration

  • the presence of refugee slaves and free African-American migrants in Canada

  • the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway

  • the Red River Resistance and/or the North-West Resistance

  • the trial and execution of Thomas Scott and/or Louis Riel

• 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 events below, and identify factors that led to the event AND describe the historical significance of that event to various individuals, groups, and/or communities:

  • Confederation

  • the Red River Resistance

  • the creation of the North-West Mounted Police

  • the settlement of the Northwest

  • the North-West Resistance

  • the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway

  • the Royal Commission on the Relations of Labour and Capital

• Pick one of the legal developments below and explain its impact on First Nation, Metis, and Inuit people:

  • the Robinson Treaties, 1850

  • the Manitoba Act, 1870

  • Numbered Treaties 1–7

  • the Manitoba Provisional Government’s List of Rights of December 1, 1869

  • the Métis scrip system

  • the 1880 order in council proclaiming Canada’s sovereignty over Arctic lands and waters

  • the St. Catharines Milling case, 1887

• 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 legal changes below and explain its impact on various non-Indigenous individuals, groups, and/or communities:

  • the U.S. Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

  • the British North America Act

  • the B.C. Qualification and Registration of Voters Act

  • the National Policy

• 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

• Create your own Heritage Moment - pick one of the following individuals or groups and explain their contribution to Canadian heritage and/or identity:

  • Sir George-Étienne Cartier

  • Sir James Douglas

  • Gabriel Dumont

  • The Honourable Joseph Howe

  • Kwong Lee

  • The Right Honourable Sir John A. Macdonald

  • Thomas D’Arcy McGee

  • Mistahimaskwa (Big Bear)

  • Nahnebahwequay (Catharine Sutton)

  • Louis Riel, Jr.

  • Mary Ann Shadd (Cary)

  • Emily Stowe

  • the Orange Order

  • the Knights of Labor

  • the Underground Railroad

  • anti-slavery and abolitionist groups

  • Chinese railway workers

  • the Métis Nation

  • the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union