Identity, Society and Culture

Canada From 1815 to 1914

By: Ellen Lee, Alicia Guan, and Lily Chen
Canadian Society – Gender Role
 Since the 1800s women had to stay at home while their husbands
worked. Their husbands held all the control and power .
 During that time women were treated as a lower class of people,
therefore held no power and had to listen and obey their
husbands in fear of losing food and shelter.
 The women were not treated as equals, and some men often
have more than one wife to serve him.
 Arranged marriages were a big part in history, as many couples
chose their offspring’s spouses. They married for status and
money not for love.
 Unlike men the women often are not educated because they
believed that women are not smart and do not deserve education
therefore they are forced to remain house wives .
 Little girls learn to cook and clean from their mothers in order to
please their husbands in the future and avoid abuse.
Canadian Society -Background
Background
 In 1881 approx.88 per cent of Canadians identified with British or
French ethnic origins. Of the remaining 12 per cent of the
population, half identified themselves as German. At this time the
Germans, including large numbers of Mennonites, were the
largest non-British and non-French ethnic group in Canada. Other
groups, which composed the remaining 6 per cent of the
population, included Natives (3%), Dutch (1%), and small groups
of Italians, Jews, Russians, Scandinavians, Chinese and African
Canadians.  
Chinese Workers 
 Between 1880 and 1885, about 15,000 Chinese laborers were
brought into Canada from China and California to work on the
British Columbia section of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Many of
these immigrants were hoping this job would help them escape
from crushing levels of poverty in China.
 The Chinese often had the most dangerous jobs on the railway
carrying heavy rocks or planting unstable explosives. They lived
in unsafe canvas tents that offered poor protection from the
elements, including sudden rockslides in the Rockies.
 Many of these workers died from diseases like smallpox and
cholera, or were killed in work-related accidents.
Canadian Society - Art
 
 Emily Carr's art and vision of Canada have also been called
unique. Her family background, the region of the country in
which she painted, the subjects she chose to paint, and her
own ideas about Canada and Canadian art combined to
produced a vision of the Canadian west coast which remains
popular today. This vision and the art it led Carr to create
distinguishes her as the best-know woman artist in Canadian
history.
 Her work was very well received and she found herself on the
way to establishing a national character a leading artistic
figure in Canada. In recent years, however, Carr's work has
become famous. Where once Carr's art was generally
applauded, some art critics have begun to question the ways
in which she chose to describe the Native people. Her
paintings of decayed Native totems and villages. It is
important to note that a popular artistic vision of Canada
could present Native peoples only as remembrance of the
 Emily Carr’s Artworks

Seascap Totem Beloved of the

e Forest Sky
Canadian Society – Art (Part II)
Lucy Maud Montgomery 
 Known best for Anne of Green Gables and the Emily books,
Montgomery is a person of national historic significance and a
hero of the Twentieth Century: gifted author, diarist,
photographer, letter writer, keeper of scrapbooks, and
newspaper woman.
 Her public and private works show Canadian culture as she
reflected and imagined it; the book covers suggest how some
of her imaginings were interpreted and marketed.
 Stephen Leacock
 Stephen Leacock was an humorist, essayist, teacher, political
economist, and historian (at Stanmore, Eng 30 Dec 1869; d at
Toronto 28 Mar 1944). The recipient of numerous honorary
degrees, awards and distinctions (the Lorne Pierce Medal, the
Governor General's Award, a postage stamp issued in his
honor, the Leacock Medal for Humor established in his honor),
Leacock was the English-speaking world's best-known
humorist 1915-25.
 
Lucy Maud Montgomery 

Born in Clifton (New London) in 1874 on

November 30th she has become the
hero of the twentieth century due to her
writings of the book "Anne Green Gables",
and the "Emily Books"
Montgomery has many hobbies such as
being a photographer; owns a scrapbook,
and is a gifted author
  

Born on 1869 December 30th, Stephen Leacock

lived in the rural village of Swanmore in
Hampshire England.
Stephen Leacock attended an elite private school
of Upper Canada College in Toronto he was the
head student in his class.
A man whom has many traits as a great humorist,
who is also a teacher with political economist
views, and as a historian, he also has numerous
honorary degrees, awards, and distinctions.
The Interaction between
Aboriginals and Europeans Explorers
 European explorers found aboriginal groups in Canada
 Europeans started the fur trade (increased activity +
interaction)
 Aboriginal women would marry the European men to increase
trade
 Europeans settled in Canada
 Aboriginal groups were the backbone to the fur trade
 Europeans brought diseases with them which killed off
Aboriginals
 Traditional life was ruined by Europeans who brought alcohol
with them
 Aboriginal groups went to war because of the fur trade
The Interaction between
Aboriginals and Europeans Explorers
 Taught Europeans how to build canoes
 showed the fur traders the best trails and canoe routes
 The Huron and Algonquin provided food, and medical cures
 The aboriginal needed tools(metal tools) but had no iron-
making technique
 Europeans wanted fur so they traded
 First Nations and Inuit women sewed mittens and leggings for
the fur traders
 settlers were also taught how to snowshoe and toboggan for
transportation
Immigration on Canadian Society from
1815 – 1914- Chinese
 Emigration from China was once a capital crime
 Chinese immigrate were used as slaves for the BC railway and
they were pay only 50 cents compared to the Whites
 Chinese workers were brought into the country to work on the
BC railway
 Chinese workers were often badly treated in the camp by the
whites
 There were separate camps for the Chinese workers, and they
ate rice, salmon and tea for daily basis
 Chinese workers labour on the railway in BC , played an
important role in the construction of the CPR
Immigration on Canadian Society from 1815 –
1914- Chinese
Immigration on Canadian Society from
1815 – 1914- Europeans
 Aboriginal and European newcomers lived in a place where is
peace in Manitoba for more than 20 years. Canada is a
Multicultural nation, home to members from all the worlds of
life
 It was originally home to the Aboriginal peoples, eastern
Canada became a power French settlement more than 100
years after its discovery by the white man By the late 1800’s
Canada had a national railway system that was able to
transport settlers who were Europeans
 By the late 1800s, Canada had a national railway system that
was able to transport settlers who were European in origin.
Immigration on Canadian Society from 1815 –
1914- Europeans
Changing National Identity
 When the British Parliament accepted Canadian proposals for
a revised constitution and passed the Constitution Act of
1982. As a result of this act, the British North America Act was
renamed the Constitution Act of 1867.
 main provisions - single parliament with; equal
representation; each constituent section
 unfair to Lower Canada - larger population & smaller debt.
However, both Canada agreed.
 An Act for the Union of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New
Brunswick, and the Government(Constitutional)
 Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick – want to
be federally united into One Dominion under the U.K and
Ireland, with a Constitution similar U.K.
Changing National Identity
 Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Laurier asserted that Canada's lack’s the
TREATY-MAKING POWER made difficulties to maintain the rights
internationally but he just mentioned it and took no immediate action to it.
 In 1911, the “reciprocity election," the suspicions of the United States
proved by the award might have contributed to Canada’s rejection of the
FREE TRADE.
 Lord Durham's Report and the Act of Union , Lord Durham
recommended that the two colonies should combine into one
colony. Secondly Canada (as a whole) should be given
responsible government.
 Lord Durham's suggestion of "Responsible Government" meant
that the government would listen to the Assembly (the common
people)
Suggestions
 The Anglican church should not have special privileges
 The colonies should be allowed to deal with their own affairs.
 Suggested that all British colonies unite.
 Force the French to be British.
Changing National Identity

After the Lord Durham's

suggestions were announced to
people, the French Canadians
were angry because the report
stated that they should be
forced to assimilate.
From the Act of Union, the Upper
Canada became Canada West;
the Lower Canada became
Canada East; the Capital moved
the Montreal.

However the British government

did not grant responsible
government in 1841 because it
did not want to give up their
Changing National Identity
 British North America Act served as the main written part of
Canada's constitution from 1867 until 1982.
 The Constitution Act of 1982 replaced it as the basic
governing document of Canada. The British Parliament passed
the British North America Act in March 1867 to provide for the
formation of the Dominion of Canada. The act took effect on
July 1, 1867 and united the three British colonies of New
Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Canada. Under the act, these
colonies became four provinces—New Brunswick, Nova Scotia,
Ontario, and Quebec. The act divided the colony of Canada to
create Ontario and Quebec.
 The British North America Act established a federal union with
a strong central government and limited provincial
governments. Generally, the dominion government had the
power to deal with matters of national interest. Each
provincial government handled education, health, natural
resources, and other local affairs.
Changing National Identity
For