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Period: Aug 30, 1500 to
Population
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Sep 1, 1500
Land Bridge
During the ice age, the Europeans walked from Russia to chase the animals to hunt and later realized they were in another continent. They ended up in the western part of North America. They eventually immigrated the north-east of North America once it got warmer. -
Sep 2, 1500
Relations with the Natives
The Natives and Europeans would exchange what they have a lot of for what they need.
The Natives would provide warm clothes for the Euro's, teach them how to survive the winter, travel equipment (canoes,snowshoes,etc.)
The Europeans would provide weapons for the Natives, tools made out of iron, salt and bread, alcohol, etc.
The aboriginal population was decreasing because of diseases (they would drink to much alcohol for example) and wars (Euro's were more advanced with their weapons). -
Sep 1, 1534
Jacques Cartier
In 1534, Jacques Cartier explored and mapped out the Gulf of St.Lawrence where he thought he found gold, was really fish, furs and timber.
In 1535, he sailed up the St.Lawrence and met the Natives, who taught him how to survive from survey and Canada's freezing winter.
In 1541, he tried to set up a colony which didn't succeed. Also, the missionaries attempted to convert the Natives to catholicism. -
Samuel de Champlain
The king of France sent Samuel de Champlain to establish Port Royal in Nova Scotia. Because of it's geographic area, it failed.
In 1608, Champlain returned to establish a trading post near Stadacona (Quebec), which would be called New France. -
Seigneurial Regime
To cultivate the new colony (New France), the king would give pieces of land to seigneurs and the seigneurs would develop and accumulate rent from the peasants who lived on the land. The peasants would cultivate and give a percentage to their seigneur. The peasants had to use the windmill that belonged to the seigneur. -
Jean Talon
The king of France wanted to develop the population of New France so he named Intendant Jean Talon in charge to grow the population.
Jean Talon was determined to get anybody to live in the new colony.
For example he offered retired soldiers free land if they agreed to stay there. He offered minor criminals a chance to live there instead of going to prison in France. -
Jean Talon Continued
Also,"Filles de roi" were sent from France to New France to marry the men there. Couples that were married young would receive some money, and fathers of unmarried girls would receive a fine, as well as bachelors over 21 years old. With the help of Jean Talon, he increased New France's population by over 2000%. -
Immigration Policies
After the British won the battle on the planes of Abraham, they had full control of the laws. However, 99% of the population was french which cause some conflict once some laws were in motion. In 1763, the rich business men would try to take over. In 1791, they tried to increase immigration by granting land to shipping and railroad companies. In 1812, there were laws discouraging American immigration.
In 1840, they created an immigration office in London -
The Effects of the Loyalists
To stay loyal to Britain, 36 000 loyalists moved to Canada and 6000 moved to Quebec. They increased the english population from 1% to 10%. They made settlements with english names, they settled in townships (which were just square pieces of land not rectangular), they also created english schools and protestant churches. -
The Irish
When the potato famine struck Ireland, millions of people were affected. They were starving and diseases were spreading. Thousands of the Irish decided to emigrate to New France. The trip there wasn't the best time of their lives, but once the healthy people got to New France, it was a whole different life for them. The French didn't like the Irish because they were willing to work for less pay, therefore stealing jobs from the French. -
Grosse-Ile
From 1832 to 1848, the Irish were immigrating to New France due to the potato famine. On the boat that would take them there, some of the people on the ship would get sick (mostly from cholera) and that disease would spread through the ship to a majority of the passengers on board. In order to keep New France healthy, they would sent everyone on the ship to Grosse-Ile where they will stay there until they are healthy. A lot of people died on the island. -
Composition of the Population
Due to the potato famine, a lot of the Irish immigrated to Quebec. Thousands of loyalists also immigrated to Quebec to stay loyal to Britain. Even with the Irish and loyalist immigration, english-speaking people were still minorities in Quebec. The french-canadians were the majority due to their increasing birth rate. -
Immigration Policies (Contemporary Times)
In 1867, the BNA was formed (British North American Act). This was for the federal-provincial government would have full control of what to do with the immigrants. In 1878, the national policy was to grant land over to rail companies to settle in the west. Later on international events would effect the immigration policies and more changes would be made. Also, Discriminatory policies ended after the Second World War, and ever since it's been diversification of immigration.
