Welcome to Founders' Hall -- Educational Resources

The Following is taken directly from the National Library’s Confederation For Kids website.

The Shaping of Canada
Today Canada is the second-largest country in the world. It has an area of almost 10 000 000 square kilometres, and is made up of ten provinces and three territories. Canada became a country in 1867, but the story of the people and the land that would become Canada is much older. Many events over the last five hundred years have shaped the way Canada looked at the time of Confederation.

In the 1500s explorers from Europe came to North America to claim lands. They realized that this land was rich in resources. Soon settlement began, with people seeking a new life in the new world. The two European countries that figured the most in North America were Britain and France. They met Aboriginal Nations that had been living for thousands of years in what is now Canada. These First Nations and Britain and France often had difficult relations. They often went to war with each other but sometimes they were friends.

Britain vs. France
When the Seven Years War ended in 1763, France had to surrender its land in North America to Britain. From this time on Britain had control of most of North America.

Britain vs. America
At the time of the war with France most of Britain's colonies in North America were in what we now call the United States. However, these thirteen colonies were angry at the way Britain had been treating them, so in 1775 they began a war with Britain for their independence. The Americans won the war and the British were forced to recognize the United States as its own country. Because of the war Britain lost much of its land, and had a bad relationship with the United States. The land left over was called British North America. This would become Canada almost 100 years later.

British North America
In the 1860s there were many British colonies in what is now Canada: British Columbia, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and the Province of Canada. At this time the idea of all the colonies joining to make a new country became popular. But what were the reasons behind this move towards Confederation?

Why Confederation?
In the 1860s the British colonies were facing many different kinds of problems. One solution for all of these was for the colonies to come together to form one country. These are the problems that led to Confederation:

Political problems
The Province of Canada contained the most people and was later made into the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The government of the Province of Canada did not run smoothly because the English-speaking and French-speaking halves had different ideas about how things should be run. Leaders from both parts of the province decided that joining the other colonies might help solve their own political problems.

Economic problems
In order for their economies to do well, the colonies needed to be able to sell their goods to other markets. At this time there were very few places that they could sell to. One solution was to bring all the colonies together. In this way they could more easily sell their goods to each other.

Military problems
Since America had fought Britain to gain its independence the relationship between British North America and the United States had never been stable. The relationship became even worse when Britain supported the South in the American Civil War. The North won the war and was angry at Britain for helping the South. Many Americans wanted to take over all of what is now Canada.
Meanwhile, Britain didn't want to have to pay for the cost of defending its colonies. It decided to encourage the colonies to join together, because the United States would be less likely to attack Canada if it were a self-governing country rather than separate colonies of Britain. The fear of the United States helped to strengthen the call for Confederation.

On The Road to Confederation
For all of these reasons the Province of Canada began to plan for Confederation. Leaders from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island had already thought about joining together in a Maritime union and were planning a conference. The politicians from the Province of Canada asked if they could come to the meeting to propose a larger union of all the British North American colonies. The Maritime colonies agreed to let them attend, and all the leaders met at Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island. This was the first of the three conferences that led to Confederation in 1867.

The Charlottetown Conference, September 1864
The politicians from the Province of Canada convinced the politicians from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island to consider a larger union. They agreed to meet again to discuss Confederation. The next conference was at Quebec City.

The Quebec Conference, October 1864
During this conference the leaders had to work out how the new country would be run. The decisions they came to were called the Quebec Resolutions or the 72 Resolutions. Although Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland both took part, after the conference they both decided not to join Confederation at that time.

The London Conference, December 1866-January 1867
This was the last conference, and it took place in London, England. Leaders from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the Province of Canada had to take the rough draft of the Quebec Resolutions and come up with a final agreement. The document they created was called the British North America Act. Once British Parliament approved it, Confederation could go ahead.

Confederation, July 1, 1867
On this date Canada became a country with four provinces. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia hardly changed, but the Province of Canada was split into two new provinces: Ontario and Quebec. A look at the map of Canada in 1867 will show a very different Canada from that of today.
It would take more than a century to add the other six provinces and three territories that today make up Canada.

People in the Background
When Canada entered Confederation over a century ago some groups of people were not given the chance to participate in the talks or to have their opinions heard. Two groups were especially important:

Native peoples
The First Nations and Inuit peoples have lived in North America for thousands of years. However, by the time of Confederation the European settlers had taken control of much of the land. Treaties were made with many First Nations to move them onto smaller areas of land called reserves. The government tried to make these people live like Europeans. For example, they supported missionaries who took Native children away to teach them the religion and lifestyle of Europeans.
The idea was to make Native people fit in with the Europeans that surrounded them. Today we realize that one group should not try to change the way of life of another, but in the 1860s this was not seen to be a bad thing. Not only did the politicians try to change the life of these people, but they also did not include them in negotiations for Confederation. Native people had no say over the future of the land that they had lived on for thousands of years.

Women
At the time of Confederation in 1867 women were not allowed to be politicians. They were not even allowed to vote in federal elections. It was not until 1918 that women could vote in federal elections, and not until 1919 that women gained the right to be elected to the House of Commons. At the time of Confederation women did not have the power to express themselves in politics.