Helen " Ma " Armstrong ( née Jury ; 1875–1947) was a Canadian human rights and labour activist, who took part in the 1919 Winnipeg general strike .
130-507: The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 was one of the most famous and influential strikes in Canadian history . For six weeks, May 15 to June 26, more than 30,000 strikers brought economic activity to a standstill in Winnipeg , Manitoba, which at the time was Canada's third largest city. In the short term, the strike ended in arrests, bloodshed and defeat, but in the long run it contributed to
260-530: A Canadian culture that has also been strongly influenced by its linguistic, geographic and economic neighbour, the United States . Since the conclusion of the Second World War , Canada's strong support for multilateralism and internationalism has been closely related to its peacekeeping efforts . Archeological and Indigenous genetic evidence indicate that North and South America were
390-527: A North American fur trade monopoly was granted to Pierre Du Gua, Sieur de Mons . The fur trade became one of the main economic ventures in North America. Du Gua led his first colonization expedition to an island located near the mouth of the St. Croix River . Among his lieutenants was a geographer named Samuel de Champlain , who promptly carried out a major exploration of the northeastern coastline of what
520-410: A band of Reformers under the leadership of William Lyon Mackenzie took up arms in a disorganized and ultimately unsuccessful series of small-scale skirmishes around Toronto, London , and Hamilton . In Lower Canada, a more substantial rebellion occurred against British rule. Both English- and French-Canadian rebels, sometimes using bases in the neutral United States, fought several skirmishes against
650-541: A bricklayer who was president of the Trades and Labour Council, and socialists such as R.B. Russell , a machinist who favoured the OBU. At 11 am on Thursday, May 15, 1919, virtually the entire working population of Winnipeg went on strike. Somewhere around 30,000 workers in the public and private sectors walked off their jobs, and the city experienced a sudden cessation of many normal activities. The Strike Committee requested
780-465: A contented existence ... then the Government might find it necessary to step in and let the state do these things at the expense of Capital." The impact of the strike was evident in subsequent elections. Labour had elected some representatives prior to the strike but the number significantly increased afterwards at all three levels of government. While awaiting trial, Queen was re-elected to
910-638: A federated country in its own right. (According to James Bowden, writing in The Dorchester Review , "Ottawa turned its back on 'Dominion' in the 1940s and 1950s," impelled by what historian C.P. Champion referred to as "neo-nationalism.") Federation emerged from multiple impulses: the British wanted Canada to defend itself; the Maritimes needed railroad connections, which were promised in 1867; English-Canadian nationalism sought to unite
1040-713: A federation. This was especially pushed by the liberal Reform movement of Upper Canada and the French-Canadian Parti rouge in Lower Canada who favoured a decentralized union in comparison to the Upper Canadian Conservative party and to some degree the French-Canadian Parti bleu , which favoured a centralized union. Using the lure of the Canadian Pacific Railway , a transcontinental line that would unite
1170-721: A forerunner of the New Democratic Party . That party was elected to provincial government in Saskatchewan in 1944 and in Manitoba in 1969. Heaps was elected as the Labour Member of Parliament for Winnipeg North in 1925 and re-elected until 1940. Organized labour built on the legacy of the strike to strengthen the union movement and to pursue formal collective bargaining rights. The One Big Union flourished briefly, achieving its greatest popularity in 1920. This
1300-608: A gathering of strikers and was dragged off his horse and severely pummelled. This led to claims that he was attacked by "enemy ruffians". The local newspapers, the Winnipeg Free Press and Winnipeg Tribune , had lost the majority of their employees due to the strike, but once they were able to resume publication, they took a decidedly anti-strike stance. The Winnipeg Free Press called the strikers " bohunks ", "aliens", and "anarchists" and ran cartoons depicting radicals throwing bombs. These anti-strike views influenced
1430-507: A general strike, 8,667 to 645. Ernest Robinson, secretary of the Labour Council, issued a statement that "every organization but one has voted in favour of the general strike" and that "all public utilities will be tied-up in order to enforce the principle of collective bargaining". A Strike Committee was established, with delegates elected by the city's unions. The leadership included both moderate trade unionists, such as James Winning,
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#17327727955141560-580: A great difference in the number of men at 2,034 versus 1,181 women. By the early 1700s the New France settlers were well established along the shores of the St. Lawrence River and parts of Nova Scotia, with a population of around 16,000. However, new arrivals stopped coming from France in the proceeding decades, meaning that the English and Scottish settlers in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and
1690-766: A group of settlers led by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve , who founded Ville-Marie, the precursor to present-day Montreal . In 1663 the French crown took direct control of the colonies from the Company of New France . Although immigration rates to New France remained very low under direct French control, most of the new arrivals were farmers, and the rate of population growth among the settlers themselves had been very high. The women had about 30 per cent more children than comparable women who remained in France. Yves Landry says, "Canadians had an exceptional diet for their time." This
1820-414: A kitchen where hundreds of meals were served every day. On June 12 a "ladies day" was held at Victoria Park, where women occupied seats of honour to cheer a speech by J.S. Woodsworth promoting the emancipation of women and the equality of the sexes. An emerging working-class activist named Edith Hancox , who became a notable defender of the city's dispossessed during the 1920s, is the only woman reported as
1950-400: A musical called Strike! based on the event. A film version called Stand! was scheduled for release in 2019 and premiered on September 10, 2019. Many of the famous photographs of the strike were by Winnipeg photographer L. B. Foote . In Winnipeg, there are several memorials and monuments commemorating the strike. Canadian history The history of Canada covers the period from
2080-580: A radical activist even before the General Strike in 1919. In 1917, she aided the Women's Labour League , which helped in "union organization, political advocacy, the education of women workers on…their own rights." She had a strong belief in the equality of men and women and was adamant about empowering women to fight for themselves. She stated in a letter to the editor of The Telegram in 1917: "Girls have got to learn to fight as men have had to do for
2210-682: A separate colony— New Brunswick —was created in 1784; followed in 1791 by the division of Quebec into the largely French-speaking Lower Canada ( French Canada ) along the St. Lawrence River and the Gaspé Peninsula and an anglophone Loyalist Upper Canada , with its capital settled by 1796 in York (present-day Toronto ). After 1790 most of the new settlers were American farmers searching for new lands; although generally favourable to republicanism, they were relatively non-political and stayed neutral in
2340-542: A speaker at the huge outdoor gatherings at Victoria Park. Negotiations between members of the Strike Committee, city council and local businesses produced an arrangement to continue milk and bread deliveries. To make it clear that the delivery men were not strikebreakers, a small poster was printed for display on their wagons reading "PERMITTED BY AUTHORITY OF STRIKE COMMITTEE." Although the cards were suggested by management, they were also attacked as evidence that
2470-777: A transcontinental railway—voted no in 1869, and did not join Canada until 1949. In 1873, John A. Macdonald ( First Prime Minister of Canada ) created the North-West Mounted Police (now the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ) to help police the Northwest Territories . Specifically the Mounties were to assert Canadian sovereignty to prevent possible American encroachments into the area. The Mounties' first large-scale mission
2600-640: A verse from Isaiah: " Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees ." Further publication of the newspaper was suppressed. These events broke the confidence of the Strike Committee, and on June 25, they announced the end of the strike for 11:00 a.m. the next day. After six weeks, workers drifted back to their jobs, but many were blacklisted or otherwise punished for participating in the strike. In May and June 1919, general strikes broke out in as many as thirty other cities, from Amherst, Nova Scotia, to Victoria, British Columbia. Some of these strikes were protests against local conditions; some were in solidarity with
2730-627: A young adult novel by Melinda McCracken about a girl who distributes the strikers' newspaper. In the same year, 1919 A Graphic History of the Winnipeg General Strike was published by the Graphic History Collective. Among remembrances of this event in Canadian popular culture is the song "In Winnipeg" by musician Mike Ford , included in the album Canada Needs You Volume Two . In 2005, Danny Schur created
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#17327727955142860-469: Is now Quebec City , one of the earliest permanent settlements, which would become the capital of New France. He took personal administration over the city and its affairs and sent out expeditions to explore the interior. Champlain became the first known European to encounter Lake Champlain in 1609. By 1615, he had travelled by canoe up the Ottawa River through Lake Nipissing and Georgian Bay to
2990-599: Is now the United States. In the spring of 1605, under Samuel de Champlain, the new St. Croix settlement was moved to Port Royal (today's Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia ). Samuel de Champlain also landed at Saint John Harbour on June 24, 1604 (the feast of St. John the Baptist) and is where the city of Saint John, New Brunswick , and the Saint John River gets their name. In 1608 Champlain founded what
3120-693: The 1930 Imperial Conference and the passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931 recognized that Canada had become co-equal with the United Kingdom. The Patriation of the Constitution in 1982 marked the removal of legal dependence on the British parliament. Canada currently consists of ten provinces and three territories and is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy . Over centuries, elements of Indigenous, French, British and more recent immigrant customs have combined to form
3250-533: The Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples. The Algonquian language is believed to have originated in the western plateau of Idaho or the plains of Montana and moved with migrants eastward, eventually extending in various manifestations all the way from Hudson Bay to what is today Nova Scotia in the east and as far south as the Tidewater region of Virginia . Speakers of eastern Algonquian languages included
3380-831: The American Revolution , there was some sympathy for the American cause among the Acadians and the New Englanders in Nova Scotia. Neither party joined the rebels, although several hundred individuals joined the revolutionary cause. An invasion of Quebec by the Continental Army in 1775, with a goal to take Quebec from British control, was halted at the Battle of Quebec by Guy Carleton , with
3510-741: The Appalachian Mountains to the Rocky Mountains . France and Spain kept the Treaty of Fontainebleau secret from other countries until 1764. However under the Treaty of Paris, the eastern side of the Mississippi river basin became British territory. Great Britain returned to France its most important sugar-producing colony, Guadeloupe , which the French considered more valuable than Canada. (Guadeloupe produced more sugar than all
3640-544: The Arctic archipelago , the distinctive Paleo-Eskimos known as Dorset peoples , whose culture has been traced back to around 500 BCE, were replaced by the ancestors of today's Inuit by 1500 CE. This transition is supported by archeological records and Inuit mythology that tells of having driven off the Tuniit or 'first inhabitants'. Inuit traditional laws are anthropologically different from Western law . Customary law
3770-510: The Atlantic coast communities and sailed into the St. Lawrence River , trading and making alliances with First Nations , as well as establishing fishing settlements such as in Percé (1603). As a result of France's claim and activities in the colony of Canada, the name Canada was found on international maps showing the existence of this colony within the St. Lawrence river region. In 1604,
3900-536: The Atlantic provinces . Official tradition deemed the first landing site to be at Cape Bonavista , Newfoundland, although other locations are possible. After 1497 Cabot and his son Sebastian Cabot continued to make other voyages to find the Northwest Passage , and other explorers continued to sail out of England to the New World, although the details of these voyages are not well recorded. Based on
4030-698: The Dakelh (Carrier) and the Tsilhqot'in . The inlets and valleys of the British Columbia Coast sheltered large, distinctive populations, such as the Haida , Kwakwaka'wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth , sustained by the region's abundant salmon and shellfish. These peoples developed complex cultures dependent on the western red cedar that included wooden houses, seagoing whaling and war canoes and elaborately carved potlatch items and totem poles . In
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4160-631: The French and Indian War , an event called the Expulsion of the Acadians or le Grand Dérangement . The "expulsion" resulted in approximately 12,000 Acadians being shipped to destinations throughout Britain's North America and to France, Quebec and the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue . The first wave of the expulsion of the Acadians began with the Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755) and
4290-699: The Mi'kmaq and Abenaki of the Maritime region of Canada and likely the extinct Beothuk of Newfoundland . The Ojibwa and other Anishinaabe speakers of the central Algonquian languages retain an oral tradition of having moved to their lands around the western and central Great Lakes from the sea, likely the Atlantic coast. According to oral tradition, the Ojibwa formed the Council of Three Fires in 796 CE with
4420-655: The Odawa and the Potawatomi . The Five Nations of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) were centred from at least 1000 CE in northern New York, but their influence extended into what is now southern Ontario and the Montreal area of modern Quebec. They spoke varieties of Iroquoian languages. The Iroquois Confederacy , according to oral tradition, was formed in 1142 CE. In addition, there were other Iroquoian-speaking peoples in
4550-533: The Portuguese Empire . In 1506, King Manuel I of Portugal created taxes for the cod fisheries in Newfoundland waters. João Álvares Fagundes and Pero de Barcelos established fishing outposts in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia around 1521 CE; however, these were later abandoned, with the Portuguese colonizers focusing their efforts on South America. The extent and nature of Portuguese activity on
4680-686: The Tlingit , who lived on the islands of southern Alaska and northern British Columbia . The Na-Dene language group is believed to be linked to the Yeniseian languages of Siberia. The Dene of the western Arctic may represent a distinct wave of migration from Asia to North America. The Interior of British Columbia was home to the Salishan language groups such as the Shuswap (Secwepemc) , Okanagan and southern Athabaskan language groups, primarily
4810-617: The Treaty of Tordesillas , the Spanish Crown claimed it had territorial rights in the area visited by John Cabot in 1497 and 1498 CE. However, Portuguese explorers like João Fernandes Lavrador would continue to visit the north Atlantic coast, which accounts for the appearance of " Labrador " on maps of the period. In 1501 and 1502 the Corte-Real brothers explored Newfoundland (Terra Nova) and Labrador claiming these lands as part of
4940-571: The War of 1812 . In 1785, Saint John, New Brunswick became the first incorporated city in what would later become Canada. The signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 formally ended the war. Great Britain made several concessions to the US at the expense of the North American colonies. Notably, the borders between Canada and the United States were officially demarcated; all land south and west of
5070-544: The peopling of the Americas are the subject of an ongoing debate. By 16,000 years ago the glacial melt allowed people to move by land south and east out of Beringia, and into Canada. The Haida Gwaii islands, Old Crow Flats , and the Bluefish Caves contain some of the earliest Paleo-Indian archeological sites in Canada. Ice Age hunter-gatherers of this period left lithic flake fluted stone tools and
5200-415: The republicanism that was common among American immigrants to Canada . The troubling memory of the war and the American invasions etched itself into the consciousness of Canadians as a distrust of the intentions of the United States towards the British presence in North America. The rebellions of 1837 against the British colonial government took place in both Upper and Lower Canada. In Upper Canada,
5330-418: The western frontier . In the former French territory, the new British rulers of Canada first abolished and then later reinstated most of the property, religious, political, and social culture of the French-speaking habitants , guaranteeing the right of the Canadiens to practice the Catholic faith and to the use of French civil law (now Quebec Civil Code ) in the UK's Quebec Act of 1774. During
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5460-404: The "specials" and military patrols that took over the downtown area. When the Strike Bulletin published its account of the events of Bloody Saturday, the editors, J.S. Woodsworth and Fred J. Dixon , were arrested and charged with seditious libel. They had published articles with headings such as "Kaiserism in Canada" and "The British Way". The charges against Woodsworth included his quotation of
5590-407: The 1840 Act of Union , and responsible government was achieved in 1848, a few months after it was accomplished in Nova Scotia. The parliament of United Canada in Montreal was set on fire by a mob of Tories in 1849 after the passing of an indemnity bill for the people who suffered losses during the rebellion in Lower Canada. Between the Napoleonic Wars and 1850, some 800,000 immigrants came to
5720-494: The Arctic Ocean on the north and the Pacific Ocean on the west. The Colony of Vancouver Island was chartered in 1849, with the trading post at Fort Victoria as the capital. This was followed by the Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1853, and by the creation of the Colony of British Columbia in 1858 and the Stikine Territory in 1861, with the latter three being founded expressly to keep those regions from being overrun and annexed by American gold miners. The Colony of
5850-405: The British Conquest of Acadia occurred in 1710, resulting in Nova Scotia (other than Cape Breton) being officially ceded to the British by the Treaty of Utrecht , including Rupert's Land, which France had conquered in the late 17th century ( Battle of Hudson's Bay ). As an immediate result of this setback, France founded the powerful Fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island . Louisbourg
5980-472: The British islands combined, and Voltaire had notoriously dismissed Canada as " Quelques arpents de neige ", " A few acres of snow "). Following the Treaty of Paris, King George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 . The proclamation organized Great Britain's new North American empire and stabilized relations between the British Crown and Aboriginal peoples , formally recognizing aboriginal title, regulated trade, settlement, and land purchases on
6110-482: The British to a settled colony with stronger ties to New England. Britain eventually gained control of Quebec City after the Battle of the Plains of Abraham and the Battle of Fort Niagara in 1759, and finally captured Montreal in 1760. As part of the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763) , signed after the defeat of New France in the Seven Years' War , France renounced its claims to territory in mainland North America , except for fishing rights off Newfoundland and
6240-411: The Canadian mainland during the 16th century remains unclear and controversial. French interest in the New World began with Francis I of France , who in 1524 sponsored Giovanni da Verrazzano 's navigation of the region between Florida and Newfoundland in hopes of finding a route to the Pacific Ocean . Although the English had laid claims to it in 1497 when John Cabot made landfall somewhere on
6370-413: The Citizens' Committee during the strike. Seven of the accused (Armstrong, Bray, Ivens, Johns, Pritchard, Russell and Queen) were found guilty by the largely rural juries selected for the trials. Most were sentenced to one-year sentences, but Russell was sentenced to two years and Bray, who was convicted on a lesser charge, was sentenced to six months. (As well, John Farnell, who had filled the void left in
6500-431: The Great Lakes, which was formerly a part of the Province of Quebec and included modern-day Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, was ceded to the Americans. Fishing rights were also granted to the United States in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the coast of Newfoundland and the Grand Banks . The British ignored part of the treaty and maintained their military outposts in the Great Lakes areas it had ceded to
6630-446: The Hudson's Bay Company claims, and in 1686, Pierre Troyes led an overland expedition from Montreal to the shore of the bay , where they managed to capture a handful of outposts. La Salle 's explorations gave France a claim to the Mississippi River Valley , where fur trappers and a few settlers set up scattered forts and settlements . There were four French and Indian Wars and two additional wars in Acadia and Nova Scotia between
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#17327727955146760-474: The Mayor read the Riot Act , the Mounties entered the fray again, this time discharging their .45 revolvers in three separate volleys. About 120 shots were fired. One man, Mike Sokolowski, was killed on the spot. Another, Steve Szczerbanowicz, died later from his wounds. Hospitals reported about 30 injuries, mainly from police gunfire. Others were tended to by friends and family. As the crowds were chased into sidestreets and broken up, some 80 people were arrested by
6890-413: The North American coast (likely either modern-day Newfoundland or Nova Scotia ) and had claimed the land for England on behalf of Henry VII , these claims were not exercised and England did not attempt to create a permanent colony. As for the French, however, Jacques Cartier planted a cross in the Gaspé Peninsula in 1534 and claimed the land in the name of Francis I, creating a region called " Canada "
7020-400: The OBU instigated the general strike is misleading, as the OBU was not formed until June 1919. However, the "one big union" idea contributed to the atmosphere of unrest. Similar volatile conditions existed elsewhere in Canada, and in other countries around the world, at the end of World War I , but the combination of circumstances in Winnipeg proved to be explosive. The most immediate cause of
7150-418: The Queen Charlotte Islands and most of the Stikine Territory were merged into the Colony of British Columbia in 1863 (the remainder, north of the 60th Parallel, became part of the North-Western Territory ). The Seventy-Two Resolutions from the 1864 Quebec Conference and Charlottetown Conference laid out the framework for uniting British colonies in North America into a federation. The Resolutions became
7280-436: The Strike Committee was taking control of the city. In a city divided on class lines, opposition to the strike was led by a group of local businessmen and professionals who described themselves as the Citizens' Committee of One Thousand. From their headquarters in the Board of Trade building, they encouraged employers not to give in to the strikers and attempted to stir up resentment of "alien" immigrants, who, they charged, were
7410-443: The Thirteen American Colonies and New France from 1688 to 1763. During King William's War (1688 to 1697), military conflicts in Acadia included the Battle of Port Royal (1690) ; a naval battle in the Bay of Fundy ( Action of July 14, 1696 ); and the Raid on Chignecto (1696) . The Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 ended the war between the two colonial powers of England and France for a brief time. During Queen Anne's War (1702 to 1713),
7540-437: The U.S., and they continued to supply their native allies with munitions. The British evacuated the outposts with the Jay Treaty of 1795, but the continued supply of munitions irritated the Americans in the run-up to the War of 1812. Canadian historians have had mixed views on the long-term impact of the American Revolution. Arthur Lower in the 1950s provided the long-standard historical interpretation that for English Canada
7670-418: The Winnipeg City council. While serving out their sentences in prison, Armstrong, Ivens and Queen were elected to the Manitoba legislature. Queen later served seven terms as mayor of Winnipeg. Woodsworth was elected as a Labour Member of Parliament from Winnipeg in 1921 and was repeatedly re-elected until his death in 1942. In 1932 he helped found and became leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation ,
7800-464: The Winnipeg strikers; some arose from both causes. Eight of the strike leaders were brought to trial on charges of seditious conspiracy. The evidence against them focused less on their actions than on their socialist ideas, which were seen as the root cause of the unrest that led to the general strike. Under arrangements accepted (and paid for) by the federal government, the prosecution was conducted by Andrews and other "legal gentlemen" who were active in
7930-407: The area, including the St. Lawrence Iroquoians , the Erie, and others. On the Great Plains , the Cree or Nēhilawē (who spoke a closely related Central Algonquian language , the plains Cree language ) depended on the vast herds of bison to supply food and many of their other needs. To the northwest were the peoples of the Na-Dene languages , which include the Athapaskan-speaking peoples and
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#17327727955148060-449: The arrival of the Paleo-Indians to North America thousands of years ago to the present day. The lands encompassing present-day Canada have been inhabited for millennia by Indigenous peoples , with distinct trade networks, spiritual beliefs, and styles of social organization. Some of these older civilizations had long faded by the time of the first European arrivals and have been discovered through archeological investigations. From
8190-431: The assistance of First Nations and loyalist informants, most notably Laura Secord . The War ended with no boundary changes thanks to the Treaty of Ghent of 1814, and the Rush–Bagot Treaty of 1817. A demographic result was the shifting of the destination of American migration from Upper Canada to Ohio , Indiana and Michigan , without fear of Indigenous attacks. After the war, supporters of Britain tried to repress
8320-418: The assistance of local militias. The defeat of the British army during the Siege of Yorktown in October 1781 signalled the end of Great Britain's struggle to suppress the American Revolution. When the British evacuated New York City in 1783, they took many Loyalist refugees to Nova Scotia, while other Loyalists went to southwestern Quebec. So many Loyalists arrived on the shores of the St. John River that
8450-412: The attempted settlement of Vinland by Leif Erikson around the same period or, more broadly, with Norse exploration of the Americas . Under letters patent from King Henry VII of England , the Italian John Cabot became the first European known to have landed in Canada after the Viking Age . Records indicate that on June 24, 1497, he sighted land at a northern location believed to be somewhere in
8580-505: The authorities. The towns of Chambly and Sorel were taken by the rebels, and Quebec City was isolated from the rest of the colony. Montreal rebel leader Robert Nelson read the " Declaration of Independence of Lower Canada " to a crowd assembled at the town of Napierville in 1838. The rebellion of the Patriote movement was defeated after battles across Quebec. Hundreds were arrested, and several villages were burnt in reprisal. The British government then sent Lord Durham to examine
8710-401: The basis for the London Conference of 1866 , which led to the formation of the Dominion of Canada on July 1, 1867. The term dominion was chosen to indicate Canada's status as a self-governing polity of the British Empire, the first time it was used about a country. With the coming into force of the UK's British North America Act, 1867 (enacted by the British Parliament ), Canada became
8840-466: The brisk market for sea otter pelts in China, thereby launching what became known as the China Trade . In 1789 war threatened between Britain and Spain on their respective rights; the Nootka Crisis was resolved peacefully largely in favour of Britain, the much stronger naval power at the time. In 1793 Alexander MacKenzie , a Scotsman working for the North West Company , crossed the continent and with his Aboriginal guides and French-Canadian crew, reached
8970-463: The centre of Huron country near Lake Simcoe . During these voyages, Champlain aided the Wendat (aka "Hurons") in their battles against the Iroquois Confederacy. As a result, the Iroquois would become enemies of the French and be involved in multiple conflicts (known as the French and Iroquois Wars ) until the signing of the Great Peace of Montreal in 1701. The English, led by Humphrey Gilbert , had claimed St. John's, Newfoundland , in 1583 as
9100-526: The colonies of British North America, mainly from the British Isles , as part of the great migration of Canada . These included Gaelic -speaking Highland Scots displaced by the Highland Clearances to Nova Scotia and Scottish and English settlers to the Canadas, particularly Upper Canada. The Irish Famine of the 1840s significantly increased the pace of Irish Catholic immigration to British North America, with over 35,000 distressed Irish landing in Toronto alone in 1847 and 1848. Spanish explorers had taken
9230-425: The conscription, as well as lobbying the government for increased pensions for soldiers' wives and children. She was imprisoned many times for her activism, along with her husband, but still continued to be an outspoken advocate for the oppressed populations of Canada throughout her time. Throughout the Winnipeg General Strike in 1919, many were fighting to obtain a set minimum wage, an eight-hour work day, as well as
9360-541: The country. Blumenberg found his feet in the U.S., organizing workers in the Duluth area and even running for municipal office there on the socialist platform. A provincial royal commission headed by H.A. Robson investigated the strike. The report deplored sympathetic strikes but concluded that the Winnipeg strike was not a criminal conspiracy by foreigners and stated that "if Capital does not provide enough to assure Labour
9490-433: The development of a stronger labour movement and the tradition of social democratic politics in Canada. There were many background causes for the strike, most of them related to the prevailing social inequalities and the impoverished condition of the city's working class. Wages were low, prices were rising, employment was unstable, immigrants faced discrimination, housing and health conditions were poor. In addition, there
9620-428: The end of World War I. Shortly after the strike, two novels, Ralph Connor 's To Him that Hath (Toronto, 1921) and Douglas Durkin 's The Magpie (Toronto, 1923), explored some of the labour and social themes raised by the strike. Fox , a 1991 novel by author Margaret Sweatman , is a work of historical fiction about the events leading up to and following the strike. In 2019, Fernwood Publishing released Papergirl,
9750-486: The entire police force for refusing to sign a pledge promising to neither belong to a union nor participate in a sympathetic strike. With the assistance of the Citizens' Committee, the city police were replaced with a large body of untrained but better paid special constables who patrolled the streets with clubs. Within hours, one of the special constables, a much-medalled World War I veteran Frederick Coppins , charged into
9880-494: The federal government amended the Immigration Act to allow for the deportation without trial of any British citizens not born in Canada who were charged with seditious activity. The municipal government also took action. As large numbers of veterans were holding marches in the streets in support of the strike, on June 5 Mayor Charles F. Gray announced a ban on public demonstrations. On June 9 the city also dismissed almost
10010-504: The first North American English colony by royal prerogative of Queen Elizabeth I . In the reign of King James I , the English established additional colonies in Cupids and Ferryland , Newfoundland , and soon after established the first successful permanent settlements of Virginia to the south. On September 29, 1621, a charter for the foundation of a New World Scottish colony was granted by King James to William Alexander . In 1622,
10140-528: The first settlers left Scotland. They initially failed and permanent Nova Scotian settlements were not firmly established until 1629 during the end of the Anglo-French War . These colonies did not last long except the fisheries in Ferryland under David Kirke . In 1631, under Charles I of England , the Treaty of Suza was signed, ending the war and returning Nova Scotia to the French. New France
10270-484: The following summer. Cartier had sailed up the St. Lawrence river as far as the Lachine Rapids , to the spot where Montreal now stands. Permanent settlement attempts by Cartier at Charlesbourg-Royal in 1541, at Sable Island in 1598 by Marquis de La Roche-Mesgouez, and at Tadoussac, Quebec in 1600 by François Gravé Du Pont all eventually failed. Despite these initial failures, French fishing fleets visited
10400-487: The fortress surrendered. The return of Louisbourg to French control by the peace treaty prompted the British to found Halifax in 1749 under Edward Cornwallis . Despite the official cessation of war between the British and French empires with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle , the conflict in Acadia and Nova Scotia continued as Father Le Loutre's War . The British ordered the Acadians expelled from their lands in 1755 during
10530-476: The lands into one country, dominated by the English language and loyalist culture; many French-Canadians saw an opportunity to exert political control within a new largely French-speaking Quebec and exaggerated fears of possible U.S. expansion northward. On a political level, there was a desire for the expansion of responsible government and elimination of the legislative deadlock between Upper and Lower Canada, and their replacement with provincial legislatures in
10660-686: The large population of immigrants from Eastern Europe, after the Russian Revolution of 1917. A meeting of western labour delegates in Calgary in March 1919 adopted numerous radical resolutions, including support for a five-day week and a six-hour day. They also called for the establishment of a new union centre, the One Big Union , to promote class solidarity by uniting workers from all trades and industries in one organization. The idea that
10790-420: The largely urban jury acquitted him. This result caused the prosecution to abandon the similar charges against Woodsworth. In the case of the "foreigners" arrested on June 17, there were no criminal proceedings. The attempt to deport Almazoff failed, and Charitonoff appealed successfully against a deportation order. Blumenberg and Schoppelrei were deported on technical grounds related to their original entry into
10920-670: The last continents into which humans migrated . During the Wisconsin glaciation , 50,000–17,000 years ago, falling sea levels allowed people to move gradually across the Bering land bridge ( Beringia ), from Siberia into northwest North America. At that point, they were blocked by the Laurentide Ice Sheet that covered most of Canada, confining them to Alaska and the Yukon for thousands of years. The exact dates and routes of
11050-563: The late 15th century, French and British expeditions explored, colonized, and fought over various places within North America in what constitutes present-day Canada. The colony of New France was claimed in 1534 with permanent settlements beginning in 1608. France ceded nearly all its North American possessions to the Great Britain in 1763 at the Treaty of Paris after the Seven Years' War . The now British Province of Quebec
11180-528: The lead in the Pacific Northwest coast , with the voyages of Juan José Pérez Hernández in 1774 and 1775. By the time the Spanish determined to build a fort on Vancouver Island , the British navigator James Cook had visited Nootka Sound and charted the coast as far as Alaska, while British and American maritime fur traders had begun a busy era of commerce with the coastal peoples to satisfy
11310-424: The leadership of pro-strike returned soldiers after Bray's arrest, was sentenced to nine months in prison. He was released three months early, due to his wife's illness.) Heaps conducted his own defence. He was acquitted on all charges. Dixon, who was charged with seditious libel, delivered a strong defence of the right to free speech as an essential element of the British tradition. After forty hours of deliberation,
11440-678: The mouth of the Bella Coola River , completing the first continental crossing north of Mexico, missing George Vancouver 's charting expedition to the region by only a few weeks. In 1821, the North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company merged, with a combined trading territory that was extended by a licence to the North-Western Territory and the Columbia and New Caledonia fur districts, which reached
11570-542: The nation, Ottawa attracted support in the Maritimes and in British Columbia. In 1866, the Colony of British Columbia and the Colony of Vancouver Island merged into a single Colony of British Columbia . After Rupert's Land was transferred to Canada by Britain in 1870, connecting to the eastern provinces, British Columbia joined Canada in 1871. In 1873, Prince Edward Island joined. Newfoundland—which had no use for
11700-403: The nature of labour reform and radical activism in western Canada. Churches, immigrants, women, soldiers, and municipal politics have also been the subject of study. The "red scare" promoted by business and government spokesmen attracted attention, as did the legal manoeuvres that led to the arrest and conviction of prominent strike supporters on charges of sedition. While some historians regarded
11830-799: The need to complete the Canadian Pacific Railway. It guaranteed Anglophone control of the Prairies and demonstrated the national government was capable of decisive action. However, it lost the Conservative Party most of their support in Quebec and led to a permanent distrust of the Anglophone community on the part of the Francophones. Helen Armstrong (activist) Armstrong developed a reputation for herself as
11960-692: The oldest pottery excavated to date in Canada. The Hopewell tradition is an Indigenous culture that flourished along American rivers from 300 BCE to 500 CE. At its greatest extent, the Hopewell Exchange System connected cultures and societies to the peoples on the Canadian shores of Lake Ontario . Canadian expression of the Hopewellian peoples encompasses the Point Peninsula , Saugeen , and Laurel complexes . The eastern woodland areas of what became Canada were home to
12090-541: The opinions of some Winnipeg residents and contributed to the deepening atmosphere of crisis. A plan to offer a modified form of collective bargaining to the Metal Trades Council was in the works at the middle of the month, but any efforts at compromise were ended by a series of arrests on charges of seditious conspiracy. In the early morning hours of June 17, the RNWMP apprehended several prominent leaders of
12220-554: The passage of time, there is a pattern of increasing regional generalization (i.e.: Paleo-Arctic , Plano and Maritime Archaic traditions). The Woodland cultural period dates from about 2000 BCE to 1000 CE and is applied to the Ontario, Quebec, and Maritime regions . The introduction of pottery distinguishes the Woodland culture from the previous Archaic-stage inhabitants. The Laurentian-related people of Ontario manufactured
12350-399: The police force, who had voted in favour of the strike, to remain on duty. Workers at the city waterworks also remained on the job to provide service at reduced pressure. Union membership had increased substantially during the spring of 1919, but most of the people who came out in support of the general strike were not union members. For instance, the first to leave work, at 7:00 a.m., were
12480-424: The principal leaders of the strike. They also put pressure on governments to take action against the strike. They published a newspaper, The Winnipeg Citizen , that claimed that "the so-called general strike is in reality revolution – or a daring attempt to overthrow the present industrial and governmental system." At the end of the first week of the strike, two federal cabinet ministers arrived in Winnipeg to assess
12610-407: The progress of the strike and discuss the many related social reform issues of the time. To ensure that strikers were kept informed of developments, the Strike Committee also published a daily Strike Bulletin . This newspaper urged the strikers to remain peaceable as well as idle: "The only thing the workers have to do to win this strike is to do nothing. Just eat, sleep, play, love, laugh, and look at
12740-454: The provincial legislature, or facing the police court magistrate […] in a letter to the deputy minister of labour she wrote "the lives of many of our working girls... so unbearable that in the end the street claims them as easy prey." During the strike, she was able to help many women who had left work in order to aid in the movement, by having places where they could go and receive food and when possible, help with money to pay rent. Helen Jury
12870-527: The remains of large butchered mammals. The North American climate stabilized around 8000 BCE (10,000 years ago). Climatic conditions were similar to modern patterns; however, the receding glacial ice sheets still covered large portions of the land, creating lakes of meltwater. Most population groups during the Archaic periods were still highly mobile hunter-gatherers. However, individual groups started to focus on resources available to them locally; thus with
13000-517: The results were counter-revolutionary: [English Canada] inherited, not the benefits, but the bitterness of the Revolution…. English Canada started its life with as powerful a nostalgic shove backward into the past as the Conquest had given to French Canada: two little peoples officially devoted to counter-revolution, to lost causes, to the tawdry ideals of a society of men and masters, and not to
13130-586: The right to live, and we women of the Labor League are spending all our spare time in trying to get girls to organize as the master class have done to protect their own interests." In 1918, she was a leader in the "campaign for minimum-wage legislation for women in Manitoba ." During the First World War , she advocated on behalf of the "aliens", or those deemed to be interned enemies for opposing
13260-496: The right to organize a union. This strike is considered to be the most crucial in regards to Canadian history. During the General Strike, she campaigned against the wage inequality between men and women, and for changes in the unhealthy conditions many women faced while working. She advocated on behalf of all women, regardless of their class or occupation. She did so in terms of "walking the picket line , making her case in
13390-424: The scope of their activity. Discussion of the Winnipeg General Strike often begins with whether it was a conspiracy to overthrow the government or a fight for union recognition and a living wage. Given the scale of the strike and its political impact, it was difficult to consider it only an ordinary collective bargaining dispute. This led some historians to study local labour relations in detail, while others examined
13520-469: The second wave began after the final Siege of Louisbourg (1758) . Many of the Acadians settled in southern Louisiana , creating the Cajun culture there. Some Acadians managed to hide and others eventually returned to Nova Scotia, but they were far outnumbered by a new migration of New England Planters who settled on the former lands of the Acadians and transformed Nova Scotia from a colony of occupation for
13650-424: The self-reliant freedom alongside of them. Recently Michel Ducharme has agreed that Canada did indeed oppose "republican liberty", as exemplified by the United States and France. However, he says it did find a different path forward when it fought against British rulers after 1837 to secure "modern liberty". That form of liberty focused not on the virtues of citizens but on protecting their rights from infringement by
13780-506: The settlement of the frontier. The war on the border with the United States was characterized by a series of multiple failed invasions and fiascos on both sides. American forces took control of Lake Erie in 1813, driving the British out of western Ontario, killing the Shawnee leader Tecumseh , and breaking the military power of his confederacy . The war was overseen by British army officers like Isaac Brock and Charles de Salaberry with
13910-548: The situation was discussed at meetings of the Winnipeg Trades and Labour Council, the umbrella body for the city's unions. The Labour Council decided to call on their 12,000 affiliated members to vote on a proposal for a general strike. On a smaller scale, this tactic had achieved success for striking city workers a year earlier in 1918. Preliminary results of the vote among the Labour Council's member unions were announced on May 13. The outcome showed overwhelming support for
14040-445: The situation, acting Minister of Justice Arthur Meighen and Minister of Labour Gideon Robertson . They refused to meet with the Strike Committee, but consulted with the Citizens' Committee, who greatly influenced their conclusions. Meighen issued a statement that the strike was "a cloak for something far deeper—an effort to 'overturn' the proper authority". Robertson reported back to Ottawa that "the motive behind this strike undoubtedly
14170-535: The situation; he stayed in Canada for five months before returning to Britain, bringing with him his Durham Report , which strongly recommended responsible government . A less well-received recommendation was the amalgamation of Upper and Lower Canada for the deliberate assimilation of the French-speaking population. The Canadas were merged into a single colony, the United Province of Canada , by
14300-470: The southern Thirteen Colonies outnumbered the French population approximately ten to one by the 1750s. From 1670, through the Hudson's Bay Company , the English also laid claim to Hudson Bay and its drainage basin, known as Rupert's Land , establishing new trading posts and forts , while continuing to operate fishing settlements in Newfoundland. French expansion along the Canadian canoe routes challenged
14430-672: The state. The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and the British, with the British North American colonies being heavily involved. Greatly outgunned by the British Royal Navy , the American war plans focused on an invasion of Canada (especially what is today eastern and western Ontario ). The American frontier states voted for war to suppress the First Nations raids that frustrated
14560-463: The streets around City Hall. When the soldiers refused to call off the demonstration, Mayor Gray requested assistance from the RNWMP, who entered into the crowds on horseback, wielding clubs in an attempt to disperse the assembly. A streetcar operated by a strikebreaker attempted to travel south on Main Street towards Portage Avenue but was stopped and tipped off the tracks and briefly set on fire. After
14690-439: The strike as a western labour revolt rooted in unique conditions in western Canada, others have pointed to widespread labour unrest across Canada, both in 1919 itself and also during the years from 1917 to 1925. Recent accounts of the strike have also noted that most strikers were not union members, suggesting that the events might be described as an urban rebellion against the failings of the capitalist social order as it existed at
14820-489: The strike involved support for collective bargaining in the metal trades and building trades, where workers were attempting to negotiate contracts through their trades councils. When the Metal Trades Council and the Building Trades Council had both failed to secure contracts with employers by the end of April, they went on strike, the building trades on May 1 and the metal trades on May 2. Shortly afterwards,
14950-521: The strike, including George Armstrong , Roger Bray , Abraham Heaps , William Ivens , R.B. Russell and John Queen . In addition, Bill Pritchard , a Vancouver union organizer who was returning from Winnipeg, was arrested in Calgary. R. J. Johns, of Winnipeg, was in Montreal and not arrested at this time. With the exception of Armstrong, who was Canadian-born, they were all British immigrants. Several foreign-born socialists, including Sam Blumenberg, Max Charitonoff and Solomon Almazoff were also arrested, as
15080-437: The sun ... Our fight consists of doing no fighting." Women leaders played an important part in building solidarity among the strikers. Experienced organizers such as Helen "Ma" Armstrong , one of two women on the Strike Committee, encouraged young working women to join the strike and often spoke on street corners and at public meetings. The Women's Labour League raised money to help women workers pay rent. They also set up
15210-507: The telephone operators, the so-called "hello girls" at the city telephone exchanges, who were not at this time union members. Also on the first day of the strike, the major organizations of returned soldiers announced their support and were active throughout the six weeks of the strike. In the early days of the strike, according to historian David Bercuson, "The atmosphere was almost festive, the belief in ultimate victory strong." Participants assembled in city parks to listen to speakers report on
15340-667: The two small islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon where its fishermen could dry their fish. France had already secretly transferred its vast Louisiana territory to Spain under the Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762) in which King Louis XV of France had given his cousin King Charles III of Spain the entire area of the drainage basin of the Mississippi River from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from
15470-501: The word " Dominion " was conferred as the country's title. Over the next eighty-two years, Canada expanded by incorporating other parts of British North America , finishing with Newfoundland and Labrador in 1949. Although responsible government had existed in British North America since 1848, Britain continued to set its foreign and defence policies until the end of World War I . The Balfour Declaration of 1926 ,
15600-411: Was Oscar Schoppelrei, an American-born Canadian war veteran of German ethnic origin. The climax of the strike came a few days later, on Saturday, June 21, which was soon known as Bloody Saturday. To protest against the arrest of the strike leaders, the returned soldiers had announced a demonstration in the form of a "silent parade" on Main Street for Saturday afternoon. Crowds assembled in the thousands in
15730-577: Was born in 1875 in Toronto , Ontario. She was the eldest daughter of a family with ten children. While living in Toronto she worked as a tailor in her father’s tailoring shop. Her father, Alfred Jury, was a member of the Knights of Labor which was a "working class organization that campaigned for the nine-hour day…" Helen met George Armstrong in Toronto, whom she later married. Together, they moved to
15860-558: Was divided into Upper and Lower Canada in 1791. The two provinces were united as the Province of Canada by the Act of Union 1840 , which came into force in 1841. In 1867, the Province of Canada was joined with two other British colonies of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia through Confederation , forming a self-governing entity. "Canada" was adopted as the legal name of the new country and
15990-463: Was due to the natural abundance of meat, fish, and pure water; the good food conservation conditions during the winter; and an adequate wheat supply in most years. The 1666 census of New France was conducted by France's intendant , Jean Talon , in the winter of 1665–1666. The census showed a population count of 3,215 Acadians and habitants (French-Canadian farmers) in the administrative districts of Acadia and Canada. The census also revealed
16120-487: Was followed by the rise of new industrial unions in the 1930s. The renewed poverty and insecurity of the Great Depression led to a long period of labour militancy across Canada in the 1940s, when union membership increased substantially. By the end of that decade, a formal industrial relations regime was established in Canadian law that provided some security for unions and their members but also threatened to limit
16250-593: Was intended to serve as a year-round military and naval base for France's remaining North American empire and to protect the entrance to the St. Lawrence River. Father Rale's War resulted in both the fall of New France's influence in present-day Maine and the British recognition that it would have to negotiate with the Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia. During King George's War (1744 to 1748), an army of New Englanders led by William Pepperrell mounted an expedition of 90 vessels and 4,000 men against Louisbourg in 1745. Within three months
16380-488: Was non-existent in Inuit society before the introduction of the Canadian legal system . The Norse , who had settled Greenland and Iceland , arrived around 1000 CE and built a small settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows at the northernmost tip of Newfoundland (carbon dating estimate 990 – 1050 CE). L'Anse aux Meadows, the only confirmed Norse site in North America outside of Greenland, is also notable for its connection with
16510-666: Was not fully restored to French rule until the 1632 Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye . This led to new French immigrants and the founding of Trois-Rivières in 1634. After Champlain's death in 1635, the Roman Catholic Church and the Jesuit establishment became the most dominant force in New France and hoped to establish a utopian European and Aboriginal Christian community. In 1642, the Sulpicians sponsored
16640-523: Was resentment of the enormous profits enjoyed by employers during the war. Soldiers returning from the war were determined to see improved social conditions and opportunities after their harrowing experiences overseas. Most workers did not have union representation, but many were influenced by the hope of achieving greater economic security through unions. Many workers were also influenced by socialist ideas voiced by local reformers, radicals and revolutionaries. These attracted greater interest, especially among
16770-508: Was the overthrow of Constitutional Government." They warned striking postal workers, who were federal employees, to return to work or lose their jobs. At this time, they also authorized the local government to use the armed forces and the Royal Northwest Mounted Police as needed. In preparation for arrests, at the beginning of June, and on the advice of one of the leaders of the Citizens' Committee, A.J. Andrews,
16900-540: Was to suppress the second independence movement by Manitoba 's Métis , a mixed-blood people of joint First Nations and European descent, who originated in the mid-17th century. The desire for independence erupted in the Red River Rebellion in 1869 and the later North-West Rebellion in 1885 led by Louis Riel . Suppressing the Rebellion was Canada's first independent military action and demonstrated
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