Have you ever thought about the history of your community and what it would have been like to live there 200 years ago? What has stayed the same? What has changed?

The Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812, did not change the borders between Canada and the United States. However, decisions and developments made after the war affected the settlements and lives of the people who were living in Canada.

The British government wanted to prevent any further conflict with the Americans. They also wanted to protect their colonies from possible American attacks. To do this, they built new forts and improved the existing forts throughout Upper Canada. They also encouraged settlement as a way to keep control over the land.

In the same year the fort was expanded, the Rideau Canal opened. It is a 202 km canal that was built to link Kingston to Bytown (present-day Ottawa). As a result, Kingston became a military, economic, transportation, and political centre. The Rideau Canal was a major point of defence, a secure route for the shipment of goods, and a transportation route for immigrants who were arriving from Lower Canada to settle in Upper Canada.

York (Toronto)

York was built as a military fort in 1793. It was made the capital of Upper Canada because Newark was too close to the American border. York was damaged by an American attack during the War of 1812. After the war, people worked on mending the damage. New settlers moved to York which made it an important business and government area. It was renamed Toronto in 1834.

FROM SOLDIERS TO SETTLERS

The British government wanted former soldiers, or veterans, from the War of 1812 and the Napoleonic Wars in Europe to settle in the colonies. Former soldiers were given land grants in Upper and Lower Canada based on their rank and years of service. They were also given transportation to Canada, supplies, and food. The soldiers had to clear and cultivate a set amount of their land within a certain time period. If they failed, they had to give back the land. What does the artwork in picture below tell you about the challenges of clearing the land?

Even with the free land, many soldiers had trouble starting a new life in Canada. The quality of the soil in the lots they were given was poor, compared with the more fertile soil around the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. Also, the lots were spread far apart in order to protect as much land as possible against potential American attacks. Roads were poor or non-existent, so many soldiers and their families were isolated. As a result, the soldiers drifted to towns and cities in search of other work.

Black veterans from the War of 1812 were also given land grants in Canada. However, when they tried to claim the rewards for their service, they often faced discrimination. When land grants were distributed in 1821, they received only 100 acres, half of what the other soldiers were given. Despite this, these land grants helped to establish the first Black settlements in Canada, such as the one in Oro Township.

Richard Pierpoint fought for the British during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. When it came time to receive his land grant in return for his military service, 71-year-old Pierpoint requested instead to go back to his homeland in Senegal, Africa. Read the quote below which is an excerpt from his petition in 1821 to Peregrine Maitland, the lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada. Why did Pierpoint want to return to Senegal?

City Life

Life in the city was different than the country, but the settlers still had settlement issues to deal with. In the cities, just like the country, there was not a properly established sanitation system for garbage or waste water. People threw their garbage on the roads and in the bodies of water. These bodies of water were the same places people accessed water for cooking, drinking, and bathing. This lack of sanitation became a concern for people. However, it took until the 1840’s for sewer systems to be developed for cities to dispose of their waste water.

Mail was delivered by horse and buggy due to the distances between homes, villages, and cities. Roads were of poor quality and flooded during heavy rains. It was not a calm drive on these bumpy and uneven log roads. In the 1830s, roads began to be paved with crushed stones or gravel.

People also used waterways to get from place to place. Boats, ships, and canoes were another form of transportation. In the 1820s passenger steamboats carried people from Niagara Falls to Kingston. In the winter, people used horse-drawn sleds to navigate the roads because the snow was too deep for other transportation methods.

Early pioneer homes had no running water, electricity, heating or sewer systems. There was also no garbage collection. Garbage was thrown onto the road, into the bush, or into bodies of water. Roads were made of cut logs, which turned to mud in the rain. There was also no official police or fire department. In case of emergency, family members and neighbours would help each other. Some towns created volunteer on-call firefighters. Settler families kept empty buckets and rope on standby in case they or a neighbour needed help.