Post-Confederation Canada

(1867 to 1914)

What happened?

The story of Canada since 1867 is a successful one.  For a century and a half, people of different languages, cultures, and backgrounds, thrown together in the vast, northern reaches of a continent, built a free society where regional communities could grow and prosper, linked by the common thread of an emerging national identity. There were difficulties alone the way, but for the most part, Canada became an example to the world as a modern, workable nation state.

One in three Canadians was French. The population consisted also about 100.000 aboriginal. It was a rural country composed of small farms. Montreal was the largest city with a population of about 115.000. In the muddy streets of the new national capital Ottawa, pigs roamed.

The economy was based on the export of lumber, fish, and grain. Factories were small, except for those making farm implements for the agriculture in Canada. The economy prospered until the world-wide depression 1873-1896, who severely hurt the export economy.

Politically, the father of Confederation, John Macdonald (1815-1891) and his Conservative Party dominated the national politics until his death. The Liberals under Wilfrid Laurier (1841-1919) were in power in 1896-1911. They were ousted in a campaign based on anti-Americanism. The confederation was independent in internal affairs, however the parliament in London had a lot to say over Canada with regard of foreign relations. The new nation was defined by its practically, realism and stoicism. It had no interest in theory or esthetics. Loyalty to family was much more important. Just like for the church, political party, and Queen Victoria.

Francophones had a district and traditionalistic culture, led by landholders and the priests. The Anglophones took pride in their Britishness and in their pride to be swallowed up by the United States. Baseball and lacrosse were favorite sports. The cultural facilities were limited. Only two libraries existed in the new country. Only half of the adults in Québec could read. Hard drinking in public was the norm.

On the eve of the great war in 1914, the population had reached 8,1 million people in Canada. The great national achievement was the building of transcontinental railways that opened the prairies to settlement. The reach new farmlands made Canada a major exporter of wheat.

Issues of nationalism versus loyalty to the British crown continued. Bitter disputes on language issues increased also, especially the role of the French language outside Québec. Ethno-religious tensions flared between the Francophones and the Anglophones, the Catholic Irish and the Protestant Irish, and between the Europeans and the Asians on the West Coast.

Newspaper Clipping of Chip Shop in Montreal (Canada)

Newspaper Clipping of Chip Shop in Montreal, Canada. Found: Rhône-Alpes, France (JN0100)

(Takeaway) Chip Shop

± 1909

Around the Belgian cities Dinant and Namur in the 17th century, fried potato sticks were fried in oil in winter to replace small fish.

The origin of the chips was claimed in France or Spain around 1900. Around the same time fries became ccommon property in Belgium. Baked on a stew in an iron pot with oil out of the hardened white beef fat from the local butcher. A stall at markets and fairs sold them. The first chip shops were mobile, they were not allowed to stand on the street.

After WWII, a chip shop was given a permanent location where many people came, near churches, football stadiums, town houses, monuments, and stations.

There were different types of permanent locations for a takeaway chip shop. A free-standing barrack apparently quickly assembled with inexpensive materials like plywood, chipboard, corrugated iron, etc. was one of the well-known. The bus or caravan type was a discarded van, wreck of a car, crashed plane with corrugated iron and windshields. A third style is the chalet type, a neat weekend house, painted and equipped with illuminated signs.

You could buy chips in Belgium at the ‘frietkot’ meaning chip shop. The Netherlands sold fries at the snack bar.

Belgian fries are claimed as the best. They are thicker, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The fries or chips taste more like potato. Usually fried in animal fat. And are eaten with mud-fat homemade mayonnaise.

Beauty committees and municipal authorities are gradually clearing chip shops from the streets since the 21st century. 

Tiny Specks of Rusticles

Tiny Specks of Rusticles. Found: North Atlantic Ocean, Canada (JN0328-1)

Wood of Titanic

Wood. Found: North Atlantic Ocean, Canada (JN0328-2)

Coal. Found: North Atlantic Ocean, Canada (JN0328-3)

R.M.S. Titanic

± 1912

R.M.S. stands for Royal Mail Ship. It is a seagoing vessel that carries Royal Mail. Ships whose shipping company has contracted with Royal Mail can bear the abbreviation R.M.S. before the ship's name.

Before 1850 mail transport was entrusted to the Royal Navy. From 1850 private shipping companies could land postal contracts. The ships that could bear the R.M.S. designation (= academic title) were considered reliable. This was certainly a competitive advantage for the shipping company involved. RMS ships had to adhere strictly to scheduled times as stated in the contract. The shipping company had to pay a fine to Royal Mail for every minute a mail ship arrived late at the port of destination.

Long-distance mail transport has now (2021) switched to air traffic. A few British Airways aircraft are crowned with Royal Mail inscription. There are also a few ships that can use R.M.S. This, for example, maintains the scheduled service in the absence of an airport or may use the title for nostalgic reasons.

R.M.S. Titanic was the second of three Olympic-class luxury ships built for the White Star Line. The ship was therefore owned by the White Star Line shipping company and was built in Belfast. A few accidents occurred during construction, which was not unusual at the time due to the long working hours. In the event of an accident, you could leave immediately. There were no facilities at the time.

On its maiden voyage in 1912, the Titanic collided with an iceberg shortly before midnight. There were no binoculars on board and had not seen the iceberg before. The ship had a speed of 40 km / h. The starboard side (= the right side) was pierced in several places. Thomas Andrews, shipbuilder of the Titanic reported that the ship would sink in 1 hour. Captain Edward Smith did not want to cause panic and gave little information to the people. Within three hours the ship was sunk. 1522 people on board were killed. The fame of this shipping disaster is mainly because the ship was known as unsinkable. It is not the biggest shipping disaster ever.

The Titanic was recovered in 1985, revealing a lot of information about the ship and its fatal end. The American Robert Ballard led the expedition. Three large ship parts and several smaller remains are located at a depth of 3800 meters. Research showed that the Titanic's iron broke because it had become brittle due to sea salt and the low temperature of the seawater. In 2019 a study was published about the Titanic. Researchers have discovered that large parts of the ship have disappeared due to a metal-eating bacteria. It is estimated that there would be nothing left of the shipwreck between 2039 and 2049.