Laurier Period

Wilfred Laurier

• first French-Candian PM

• became PM in 1896

• wanted to bring together English and French speaking population in Canada; vision for unity

• ended two decades of Conservative rule

• French-Canadians pleased; wanted protection for langugae and Roman Catholic rights

• wanted to secure Canadian interests internationally

Imperialism

• act of a nation extending into other region or regions

• Gold, God, and Glory

Boer War

• 1899-1902

• South African War

• Diamond and gold discovered in Orange Free State and Transvaal Repiblic

• Britain attempts to expand control over South Africa, Boers (Dutch descent) declares war

• English-Canadians wanted to support, French did not

• Laurier compromises by sending volunteer army to fight with Britain, but not Canada’s official army

Arms race

• Britain and Germany

• Britain wanted monetary support from Canada

• French-Canadians wanted own navy

• Laurier compromises with Naval Service Act: Canada will have own navy, that can assist Britain in emergencies

Alaska Dispute

• 1898-1903

• Gold discovered in Klondike region in Yukon

• Both US and BC wanted control over Alaskan “panhandle”, seperating BC from coast as the way to the Yukon

• Lynn Canal was mainly disputed

  • international tribunal created to settle

  • 3 American judges, 2 British, 1 Canadian

  • Britian voted in US favor

• miners sail up to Skagway, Alaska, then climb Chilkoot Pass

• eased worldwide depression and helped Yukon become territory in 1898

Laurier boom

• increase in industrial production, increased need for raw material

  • high prices for lumber and minerals

• improved shipping technology and cheap freight rates meant Canadian materials had edge in global market

• increase in newspaper industry from new pulp and paper mills in Ontario

• Canadian Shield mined for nickel and copper

• new inventions, like electricity in factories

• more manufacturing jobs and more manufactured goods

  • Canada Dry

  • Heinz Ketchup

  • Shredded Wheat

“Last Best West”

• bread basket of the world

• no more homestead land in US

  • European and American immigrants turn to Canada

• 1896-1911, government encouraged immigration to West

• Clifford Sifton,

  • minister of interior

    • immigration campaigns

    • vigrour recruitment program to entice immigrants to prairies > cities

Railway cities

• most cities began as small fur trading centers chosen for site or situation

  • site: geographical land

  • situation: what surrounds site

• railway grew small western towns

  • Saskatoon

  • Edmonton

  • Prince Rupert

  • Prince George

Home Children

• 1/3 of immigrants were from Britain

  • working class from industrial cities

• Many British orphans or very poor children also sent

  • some were “adopted”

  • others used as cheap labor

  • basic neccesities not met

Indigenous peoples

• denied proper farming equipment in prairies

  • used to fuel false idea that they were not fit for farming and should be relocated

• children sent to residential schools for assimilation

  • no contact with family up to 10 months

1907

• Frank Oliver

  • replaced Sifton

  • more restrictive immigration policies, especially against asians

• Anti-asian activists in BC formed Asiatic Exclusion League

  • protested in 1907 when Lieutenant Governor didn’t sign bill excluding Japanese immigrants

  • Britain and Japan were allies

  • protest became riot and damaged property in Chinatown and Japanese neighborhoods

Continuous passage

• 1904, CPR agents in Hong KOng encouraged Sikhs to immigrate to Canada

• Indians were British subjects

  • hard to deny entry

• 1906 Imigration Act amended

  • must arrive by direct route

    • impossible from INdia

• 1914 Gurdit Singh chartered Komagata Maru to carry 354 Sikhs from Hong Kong to Canada

• arrived Vancouver May 23rd 1914, waited 2 months in harbor before being sent back

Other stuff bro idek at this point

• Laurier lost 1911 election and Sir Robert Borden became PM

• immigrants from Britain, America, Iceland, Italy, Russia, Austria-Hungary, etc.

• women began campiagin for suffrage

• Indigenous communtieis face bans on cultural practices

• Alberta and Saskatchewan became 8th and 9th provinces in 1905

• new inventions in Laurier period included telephones, wireless radio, cars, planes, motion pictures