Striving for Accommodation: Laurier's "Sunny Ways"

The Immigration Boom From 1881 to 1891 there was global depression that highly effected Canada's population increase to less than 25%. A lot of people also left Canada to go to the states during this time. Around 1890 and the end of this depression, it started to turn around for Canada and from 1890 – 1910 Canada's population increased by almost two thirds. Going from 5.4 million to 10.4 million people.

The Manitoba Schools Issue Because of Manitoba joining into confederation in 1870 they had dual educational system for French Catholics and English Protestants.  But by 1890 there was so many English speaking people and the Metis and Aboriginals left, meant that there was no point for a dual system and they eliminated funding for French-language Catholic schools in the province. They were trying to reduce educational costs, but it looked like they were trying to get rid of the French language in Manitoba. In 1896 Wilfrid Laurier took on the task of finding a solution. His stance on siding with the French Catholics helped him win the federal election that year.

The Manitoba Schools issue Cont. Laurier and the Manitoba Premier Thomas Greenway came up with a compromise. The Province would not be compelled to finance the Catholic schools, they did however have to provide 30 minutes for religious purposes at the end of each school day, as well as having French teachers and resources would be provided. Eventually the same would happen in Ontario and NB. 

The Klondike Gold Rush The biggest strike for gold would happen in the Klondike in 1896. 3 prospectors discovered the gold in Rabbit Creek, near the Yukon River where over 40 000 people came into the region. Klondike was right in Yukon's ice and the mountains. They dealt with horrible temperatures, carrying heavy supplies, snow, ice, dangerous rivers and mountain passes. While also searching and then protecting the gold that they found. 

Klondike Gold Rush Effect on Dawson City In less than 3 years Dawson City from a small fur-trading post to a Frontier town with 25 000 people.  Lots of miners in the city just for the gold.  Soapy Smith cheated miners on the way to gold fields and the area was known as "the roughest place in the world." The NWMP tried to stop people coming down The Yukon River from going that way but most of the time it did not work. As more gold  was struck and more places where discovered with gold, people started leaving and it started becoming a quiet town again. 

The Opening of the Canadian West As the global depression started to end, a wheat boom began. Prices starting rising because of Europe's urban industrial population growing creating a huge market for Canadian food. Farm machinery made production more efficient.  A scientist named Charles Saunders invented a new strain of wheat called Marquis.

Attracting Immigrants In 1900 Laurier's minister decided start advertising to attract settlers to come and live in Western Canada. "The Last Best West".  Lots of propaganda.  The biggest incentive to these immigrants was the free land offered to the homesteaders. For building a homestead and clearing the land you received 160 acres of free land. This convinced 2.5 million people to come to Canada between 1896 and 1914. Most to the Prairies.

Arrival and Reaction The growth helped the economy and the immigrants produced a lot of wheat and proved to be at help for the CPR.  Views differed. Some wanted one large prairie province and others wanted two or more provinces and then there was even some that wanted some of the prairie land to be absorbed into Manitoba. All agreed that they wanted to be citizens of a province and not a colony. In 1905 they created 2 provinces Alberta and Saskatchewan. The had the same constitution as Ontario's  but the only difference was that the federal government would keep control of the natural resources. The farmers started having problems with growing wheat and food, which got the government to look for better people for farming and also started rejecting people from entering Canada if they were of no help. As well as a lot of Canadians started looking at all these new immigrants as strange. 

Arrival and Reaction Cont. 15 000 Chinese worked on building the CPR between 1880 and 1884. After completing the railway the government passed a Chinese head tax of $50 to discourage further immigration. In 1901 they doubled it and then in 1904 it was raised to $500, which is the equivalent to a year's wage. Chinese immigration still went up after the tax was made and reached up to 7500 immigrants.  People in BC worried that the Asian immigrants would start to create a loss of jobs, lower wage.  The Asiatic Exclusion League had 30 000 people join an anti-immigration rally in 1908, this involved a riot and ransacking Japanese and Chinese homes and businesses.  Laurier went on to apologize for this but he also negotiated an agreement that only 400 people could come over to Canada from Japan.

Immigration and The Canadian Identity The conflict between new immigrants and the Canadians forced people to look at the new emerging national identity. In 1906, a Frenchmen Andre Siegfried created "The Race Question In Canada". Andre argued that "the English Canadians consider themselves the sole masters of Canada". English Canadians were to be considered the superior people and they showed that against others including the French Canadians. They tolerated them but looked at them differently. They found the catholic church to keep French Canadians submissive and rural.  They started to make these new people coming in conform to the values and practices of their culture. Some Russian and Ukrainian people were attacked when coming to the Prairies due to not signing an agreement. Frank Oliver in 1910 created the Immigration Act to make it "restrictive, exclusive and selective".

The Komagata Maru Was a Japanese freighter rented by Indian business man to carry 376 men from Punjab India. Canadian policies said that they could only come to Canada by continuous passage from India and also had to have $200 on them when arriving. Most of the passengers were detained on board for two months, while they wanted to decide on their status.  Finally they ordered the Navy to escort them out of Canadian waters or blow up the ship if they did not leave. This caused a lot of Indian-Canadians to leave Canada and go back to India.

Canada's Emergence on the World Stage John A Macdonald decided we should help the British at their request, when Britain found trouble in Egypt. They dispatched 367 Canadians, mostly French and Aboriginal.  Macdonald along with several others believed we needed to help Britain but Anti-imperialists such as Goldwin Smith believed that they did not need Britain and challenged Britain in power.

The Boer War Dutch settlers declared war on Britain in South Africa in 1899. Britain wanted Canada to fight with them. Canada split into a decision, Many English people sought it as their duty to fight and the French thought of it as a foreign war that had nothing to do with Canada.  Laurier found middle ground in the scenario and declared there would be no conscription to send them to South Africa but the Canadian Government would look after training, and transporting of 1000 soldiers.

Naval Service Crisis A naval arms race between Britain and Germany in 1909. Laurier had to make a decision again. Some wanted them to help with funds and others thought if they helped it would lead to greater involvement. Laurier introduce the Naval Service Bill which he designed to find compromise between the two sides. It stated that in the case of a war, any Canadian armed force could be placed on the disposal of Britain with consent from the Parliament. Conservatives said the bill was a failure of their support to Britain while the nationalists scolded Laurier for caving into imperial demands.

Alaska Boundary Dispute The international boundary between Canada and Alaska  Where the line was drawn would determine how the Lynn Canal was divided and who would own Skagway. They used a 6-man joint commission. 3 Amercian judges, 2 Canadians and 1 British.  4-2 votes: The British judge did not want to antagonize President Roosevelt and the US so they voted with them. Many Canadians were mad because the national interest had been sacrificed by Britain. In 1909 Canada created a separate Department of External Affairs to move towards a more independent country. Laurier decided to join with the US in the creation of the International Joint Commission. It was used for resolving Canadian-American border disputes. 

Reciprocity After 15 years of supporting Macdonald's protective tariffs, the Laurier Liberals wanted to abandon them in favor of reciprocity with the US. The Liberals  believed if the tariff wall was eliminated they would make more money. Many people were still against this idea. The  National Police started creating of over 400 American branch plants, the beginnings of massive direct foreign investment and more. These investments, trades and trends would increase and they started to show that they were building an American connection and getting away from the British influence.

Questions 1. Read this poem and then share with the class your thoughts on it and compare it to what you have learned about The Klondike Gold Rush. 2.Do you believe that Laurier's idea of a comprise in situations was the smartest option or that he should have chosen a side more? 3.Do you think it was smart for Canada to make a deal with the US and work with them and abandon the British?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilkoot_Trail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manitoba_Public_Schools_Act http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/tresors/immigration/imf030 2e.shtml https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komagata_Maru_incident