Canada and the British immigrant
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Title: Canada and the British immigrant
Author: Emily P. Weaver
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CANADA AND THE BRITISH IMMIGRANT ***
CANADA AND THE BRITISH
IMMIGRANT
[Illustration: FRUIT RANCH AT NELSON, BRITISH COLUMBIA]
C A N A D A
AND
THE BRITISH IMMIGRANT
BY
EMILY P. WEAVER
Author of
“A Canadian History for Boys and Girls” “Old Quebec: The
City of Champlain” “The Story of the Counties
of Ontario” “The Trouble Man”
Etc., Etc.
LONDON
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY
4 BOUVERIE STREET AND 65 ST PAUL’S CHURCHYARD EC
MCMXIV
_The climate has honest heat in summer and honest_
_cold in winter. The sun is seldom hidden, and_
_men see many seasons, and are healthy, strong,_
_and active._—THE MARQUIS OF LORNE, K.T.
PREFATORY NOTE
By the very writing of this book, I am in a measure offering myself as a
guide to any prospective immigrant choosing to avail himself of my
services. It is well, therefore, to explain that I myself came out from
England, a good many years ago, as one of a large family, to settle in
Canada, and so know something at first hand, of the difficulties, the
trials and the pleasures that await the newcomer in the attempt to “make
good” under unfamiliar circumstances.
My father had had no previous experience of farming, but fortunately one
of my brothers had had a little training on a Cheshire farm. We settled
ourselves on a good-sized farm in a fertile district of Ontario, and
there we had an experience probably broadly resembling that of many new
arrivals—sometimes amusing, sometimes vexatious, or worse. Of course we
made some mistakes and had to pay for them; and we took, I am inclined
to think, several years really to settle down. But in the end we all
“believe in Canada,” though I dare not say we believe in everything we
read about Canada.
After a number of years on the farm, there followed for some of us years
in Toronto and in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I may claim, moreover, to know
something, still at first hand, of many parts and of all the provinces
of the Dominion (save one), while it has been my lot to give for many
years much time to the study of Canadian history.
The purpose of this book is, however, neither to set forth the history
of the Dominion, nor to relate our own individual experiences, whilst we
were “feeling our way,” as a neighbour once expressed it. It is intended
rather to give a general idea of the Dominion as a whole, and of each of
the provinces a little more in detail, touching their history only as it
seems likely to help to the understanding of what they now are, and of
the attitude and ideals of the Canadian people.
I have written much of resources and opportunities, but have endeavoured
also not to neglect mention of disadvantages, for Canada is no “earthly
paradise,” but only “a good land and a large,” where there is scope for
many types of human beings to develop physically, mentally and
spiritually, as some of them have not room to do in the crowded centres
of population in the Old World.
I should like to add that my thought always in every chapter has been of
the British immigrant, present or to come; and this must be my excuse
for dealing with such a familiar subject as Canada in a way that may
seem to those who dwell therein to be marked both by sins of omission
and of superfluity.
I have endeavoured to draw my facts and figures from reliable sources
only. I have obtained them largely from government reports; but desire
to acknowledge my indebtedness also to Mr. Frank Yeigh’s valuable
statistical compilation, “Five Thousand Facts about Canada,” and to some
of the special numbers of the _Globe_ (Toronto) which, from time to
time, publishes comprehensive reviews of conditions in the different
provinces.
The black-and-white illustrations, supplementing Mr. Copping’s beautiful
sketches in colour, are from photographs gathered from various sources.
Not a few of them, however, I owe to the courtesy of the Department of
the Interior, Ottawa, the Canadian Pacific, the Canadian Northern, and
the Grand Trunk Railway Companies.
Before the reader passes on to the book itself, I should like to add a
word of warning. In the short interval between the writing of these
pages and the revising of the proofs, conditions in Canada with regard
to the demand for certain classes of labour have changed owing to the
financial stringency of 1913. I believe the set-back is only temporary,
and there is little probability of any decrease in the demand for men to
work on the farms, for the prices of all agricultural products are high
enough to warrant, if it were possible, a very largely increased output.
Moreover, the harvest of the year just passed was extraordinarily
bountiful and encouraging for the future.
But, for the next few months at least, persons who propose to seek work
in the towns, at building and other constructive trades, or in shops or
offices, would be wise to make very sure of employment in Canada, before
giving up work at home. The cost of living (including house-rent, fuel,
and food) is very high here; and the immigrant who arrives in slack
times may have a long season of waiting for work. But he who comes out
when work is plentiful is in an entirely different position, as he
should be able to lay by something for a time of less general
prosperity.
I would say to all prospective immigrants—_make very particular
inquiries as to conditions in the special line of work you intend to
follow before leaving home_, as this may save much disappointment and
even hardship.
In the appendix are addresses of persons from whom further information
may be obtained, notes on the government land regulations, and so forth,
which it is hoped may prove of practical use to immigrants.
E. P. W.
TORONTO, ONTARIO.
_January, 1914._
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFATORY NOTE vii
I. WHY CANADA IS BRITISH 1
II. THE DOMINION OF CANADA 17
III. CONFEDERATION 26
IV. LANDS AND THE PEOPLE 42
V. INDUSTRIES AND TRANSPORT 65
VI. THE OLD PROVINCE OF NOVA SCOTIA 92
VII. NEW BRUNSWICK, THE LAND OF THE ST. 108
JOHN
VIII. PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 127
IX. QUEBEC AND ITS EASTERN TOWNSHIPS 138
X. ONTARIO, ONCE “CANADA WEST” 159
XI. MANITOBA, OLD AND NEW 178
XII. SASKATCHEWAN, THE WHEAT PROVINCE 194
XIII. ALBERTA: WHERE PRAIRIES AND 209
MOUNTAINS MEET
XIV. BRITISH COLUMBIA, THE PACIFIC 223
PROVINCE
XV. THE YUKON AND NORTH-WEST 239
TERRITORIES
XVI. THE MAN WHOM CANADA NEEDS 243
XVII. THE WOMAN CANADA NEEDS 258
XVIII. HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS 276
APPENDIX 295
INDEX 307
APPENDIX.
PAGE
NOTE A. ADDRESSES OF DOMINION AND PROVINCIAL 295
OFFICIALS, WHO WILL GIVE INFORMATION
TO IMMIGRANTS
“ B. SYNOPSIS OF DOMINION LAND REGULATIONS 297
CONCERNING FREE GRANTS, ETC.
“ C. REQUIREMENTS AS TO MONEY IMMIGRANTS MUST 298
HAVE IN POSSESSION ON LANDING
“ D. COST OF PASSAGE, AND BAGGAGE ALLOWANCE 299
“ E. “SETTLERS’ EFFECTS DUTY FREE” 300
“ F. YOUNG WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS 301
DIRECTORY, ETC.
“ G. ENGLISH EQUIVALENTS OF CANADIAN MONEY 305
INDEX 307
ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
_From Drawings by Harrold Copping_
1. A FRUIT RANCH AT NELSON, BRITISH COLUMBIA
2. QUEBEC FROM THE CHÂTEAU FRONTENAC
3. THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, OTTAWA
4. THE PRAIRIE AT ELSTOW, SASKATCHEWAN
5. THE BIG TREE, STANLEY PARK, VANCOUVER
6. THE OLD SMELTER, NELSON, BRITISH COLUMBIA
7. FROM THE LOOK-OUT, MOUNT ROYAL, MONTREAL
8. THE MOON CHUTE, NEAR BALA, ONTARIO
9. AMONG THE WHEATFIELDS, MANITOBA
10. THE PARLIAMENT HOUSE, REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN
11. HOT SULPHUR SPRING, BANFF, ALBERTA
12. PARLIAMENT HOUSE, VICTORIA
13. LUMBERING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
14. THE FISH MARKET, VANCOUVER
15. EDMONTON, ALBERTA
16. PAUL, A BLACKFOOT INDIAN
LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS
1. BREAKING PRAIRIE BY TRACTOR, VEGREVILLE, ALBERTA
2. BREAKING PRAIRIE WITH OXEN, THUNDER HILL DISTRICT,
SASKATCHEWAN
3. TRANSPORTATION IN THE WEST: SETTING OUT FOR THE
NEW HOME WITH OXEN
4. TRANSPORTATION IN THE WEST: GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC
CONSTRUCTION TRAIN
5. CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY IRRIGATION DAM AT
BASSANO, ALBERTA
6. FISH-CURING, NOVA SCOTIA
7. SIXTY ACRE ORCHARD, NOVA SCOTIA
8. FARM HOUSE, NOVA SCOTIA
9. ST. JOHN HARBOUR, NEW BRUNSWICK
10. HAYING IN NEW BRUNSWICK
11. EVANDALE FARM, NEW BRUNSWICK
12. LUMBERING ON THE ST. JOHN RIVER
13. A FOX FARM IN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
14. QUEBEC FROM THE RIVER
15. MONTMORENCY FALLS, A WATER-POWER, QUEBEC
16. A DAIRY FARM AT SHERBROOKE, QUEBEC
17. GOVERNMENT DEMONSTRATION FARM IN THE EASTERN
TOWNSHIPS, QUEBEC
18. TORONTO UNIVERSITY
19. CANADIAN NORTHERN RAILWAY ELEVATOR AT PORT ARTHUR
20. TORONTO: CORNER OF SPADINA AVENUE AND QUEEN STREET
21. WINNIPEG, LOOKING DOWN MAIN STREET
22. CUTTING WHEAT ON A 4,000 ACRE FARM NEAR SASKATOON,
SASKATCHEWAN
23. HASTINGS STREET, VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA
24. JASPER AVENUE, EDMONTON, ALBERTA
25. STOOKING WHEAT IN SASKATCHEWAN
26. PRINCE RUPERT—MAKING A STREET
27. MIRROR—A PRAIRIE TOWN IN ITS FIRST SUMMER
28. PRINCE RUPERT—A SCHOOL HOUSE
Canada and the British Immigrant
I
WHY CANADA IS BRITISH
AFTER a pleasant voyage up the St. Lawrence, between the lines of the
long French settlements on its banks, each having as its most important
feature a tin-covered church spire, glinting in the sun, I remember very
well coming at last through the channel between the Isle of Orleans and
the northern bank to the point where, in full array, were visible the
walls and towers surmounting the mighty Rock of Quebec. It was about
sundown, on a glorious September evening, and the city, the river banks,
and the shipping in the basin were here lit up with glowing light, there
deep in warm shadow. It was in itself one of those scenes, which, for
their beauty alone, fasten themselves in the memory.
But we English boys and girls, fresh from school, if we knew little else
about Canada, had been thrilled by the brave story of Wolfe’s victory
and death on the Plains of Abraham; and so that lovely sunset scene of
rock and tower, and shining water, seemed to link the history of the
land we had left with the promise of the all but unknown country whither
we were bound.
Never again can we see Quebec as we saw it then; yet added knowledge of
its place in the story of the Empire and of Canada does not lessen its
interest; and there is no spot more suitable for the telling of the
reasons why it came to pass that Canada is a British land than that
beneath the shadow of Cape Diamond. I am sure that the question is of
interest to many a newcomer, who has preferred to emigrate to Canada,
just because it is British, rather than to the United States. If,
however, he has already given his attention to the subject, it will be
easy to pass over this brief sketch of one phase of Canada’s very
interesting history to the chapters dealing more particularly with the
Canada of to-day.
The name Canada, which now stands for half a continent, once belonged
only to a small region, on the St. Lawrence; and at first the Canadians
in general were of French race and language. A little over three hundred
years ago Samuel Champlain founded Quebec, which for one hundred and
fifty years was the capital of New France. Meanwhile the English
colonies, which afterwards leagued themselves together to form the
United States, were also growing gradually stronger through this century
and a half; and almost from the beginning there was great rivalry
between the French and English for the control of the eastern part of
North America.
The English, neglected by their home government, and having to depend on
themselves, proved the better colonizers; advancing gradually, step by
step into the wilderness, and generally holding what they gained. The
French, on the other hand, though excellent explorers and traders and
fighters, pushed far afield, and the population of New France grew
slowly compared to that of the English colonies. There was endless
fighting between the representatives of the two races, both of which at
times sought help from the Indians. The result was a peculiarly
merciless warfare, in which women and children were murdered, prisoners
tortured, and the little unprotected settlements on the frontiers
constantly exposed to dreadful night attacks and the burning of their
buildings and crops. The mother countries of both French and English
colonists joined frequently in the struggles, and at last (as every
British schoolboy knows) Quebec was taken and Canada was conquered.
But it is not so well-known by those who have made no special study of
its history that the French in Canada had for years suffered sad
misgovernment, many of the officials sent out from France being bent
only on making money by fair means or foul. In contrast to these men,
the British officers, whose duty it became, on the conquest, to govern
the Canadians, seemed eminently fair and just; and the lower classes at
least felt that the change was for the better. Many of the gentlemen
left the country, but others remained, and the early British governors
took great pains to conciliate them and the Roman Catholic priests. By
the Quebec Act, which came into effect in 1775, the free exercise of the
Roman Catholic religion was secured to the French Canadians as well as
the retention of their old system of civil law; but in criminal cases
English law was to be followed.
The Act was passed when the “Thirteen Colonies” to the south of Canada
and Nova Scotia (which had become a British colony early in the
eighteenth century) were on the eve of revolt, and before many months
had gone by the United Colonies sent an invading army to try to force
Canada to make common cause with them. But the leaders of the Canadian
people proved loyal, and the invaders, though they kept up the siege of
Quebec through the whole of one winter, were driven out of the country.
At that time the British inhabitants of Canada were very few, but the
Revolutionary War was to do a great deal to make it strongly and
positively British. Many of the people of the Thirteen Colonies were
much averse from the breaking of the ties with England; and numbers of
them took up arms on the royal side. When the fortunes of war went
against them, many of these United Empire Loyalists were eager to leave
a land which had thus cast off the old allegiance that they held dear;
and the triumphant revolutionists, partly in fear of their strength,
partly in hate born of the long and bitter warfare—in which both sides
had been betrayed into many cruel and unjustifiable deeds—were just as
eager to thrust them out.
The British government paid vast sums in compensating the Loyalists in
some measure for their losses, and in settling them in new homes. Some
of them went to England; but thousands made their way to Canada and Nova
Scotia, and their coming forms the best answer to the question—“Why is
Canada British?”
It is British because its older English-speaking colonies were founded
on the idea of “Loyalty” as some of the New England colonies were
founded on a demand for religious liberty. The two colonies of New
Brunswick and Upper Canada (as Ontario was named at first) owe their
existence as separate provinces to the influx of Loyalists towards the
close of the eighteenth century; and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia and
Prince Edward Island all received large additions to their population.
The number of settlers who thus came in from the former British colonies
has been estimated at about 45,000.
It should not be forgotten, however, that these people, who had suffered
so grievously for their adherence to their old allegiance, were not in
the main blind and servile upholders of the throne for its own sake (as
many of the royalists of the Stuart times had been), though
unquestionably the severance of the Thirteen Colonies from Great Britain
had been due in part to the efforts of George III. to become an
autocratic monarch. The title bestowed on these Americans who settled in
Canada—which is still a matter of pride to their descendants—was that
of “United Empire Loyalists;” and always in their minds loyalty to
country and empire and their ancient political institutions was
associated with their loyalty to the throne.
Not a few of the leaders of the Loyalists had been men of great
influence in the older colonies, and it is not surprising that almost
from their arrival in what is now the Dominion of Canada, they began to
agitate for representative government, and for the British institutions
to which they had been accustomed. They were a liberty-loving people;
and those who had settled on the St. Lawrence stoutly objected to being
obliged to live under the French civil laws, which gave such
satisfaction to their Gallic neighbours. They besieged the British
government with petitions for a division of the Province, and for the
benefit of British law; so in 1791 the old French Province was divided
into Upper and Lower Canada. The newcomers thus gained the opportunity
to build up a new province on British lines in the almost uninhabited
western wilderness; and, having the opportunity, I think they did
wonders with it.
In a hundred ways, besides the determination not to accept any
limitation of their political liberty, they showed their force and
energy of character. The task that faced Canada’s first British pioneers
was more strenuous than that which has faced any pioneers since, though
the opening and subduing of a new land to the uses of civilized man is
always a task that tests to the utmost the manhood and womanhood of
those who essay it.
The land was thickly covered with huge trees, and in many places the
soil, which the sun’s rays could scarcely ever reach through the shadowy
verdure of the woods, was cold and wet and swampy. When the Loyalists
came, there were no roads in Upper Canada or New Brunswick. There were
no steamboats on the lakes or rivers, no railroads even dreamed of. The
monarchs of the forest appeared to those first settlers in the light of
enemies, to be put out of the way by axe and fire as speedily as
possible, and in many districts the land was savagely stripped bare of
woods, in a fashion that those who have come after cannot help
regretting. It was only the ashes of the majestic maples and beeches and
walnuts which had any value in the eyes of the pioneers. Made into
potash these would fetch a little ready money, hardly to be obtained in
those early days for any other commodity. Even for wheat, only
“store-pay” could usually be obtained, and but a small allowance of
that, for the great world’s markets were utterly inaccessible to
Canada’s early farmers, and the local demand was very small.
It was the age of home industries, when every man was by turns builder
of his own log-house; cabinet-maker of such rude attempts at chairs and
tables as he could turn out; farmer of patches of grain amongst the
slowly rotting stumps of forest trees; roadmaker, of ways “slashed”
through the bush and stretches of corduroy over the swamps.
Meanwhile his wife was not only dressmaker, but spinner and weaver of
stout “homespun”; not only housekeeper, but maker of candles and soap;
not only cook of the daily meals, but baker of bread, when flour could
be got, and contriver of some substitute for it when pounded maize or
Indian meal had to be used instead.
And these lists might be extended indefinitely. The people drank tea
made from a wild plant growing along the edges of the swamps, and
sweetened it with sugar made by boiling the sap drawn in the spring from
their own maple trees. Such articles as spoons were cut from bass wood.
Shoes were fashioned by the father of the family from the skins of the
animals he killed. The arrival, or the making, of the first wheeled
vehicle in some settlements was an event, the only kind of conveyance
used at first being a rude “sled” drawn by oxen.
Chapters might be written on the means by which the Loyalists came to
Canada. Often their journeys from their old homes took weeks. Many came
by sea from New York to the Maritime Provinces, and a piteous sight they
presented, on their arrival, in worn and often positively ragged
clothing. Others came in canoes or heavier wooden boats, making long
roundabout voyages up one stream and down another to Lake Ontario, but
in places having to carry both boats and goods across a long “portage.”
Yet others, of the more fortunate class, who had saved something from
the wreck of their fortunes, travelled in big covered wagons, which
served for tents at night for the women and children; and some brought
in a cow or two as well as the horses or oxen that drew their vehicles.
Many of the Loyalists had lost all, and depended for their new start in
life entirely on the bounty of the government. Others had some means of
subsistence left, not a few having served as officers during the
Revolutionary War and drawing half-pay. They were of all classes, from
ex-officials of the revolted colonies, clergymen, doctors, lawyers, and
merchants to private soldiers, labourers, Indians and even negro slaves.
Many of them were men and women of good education, and one of the most
difficult problems to be faced in the new settlements was the education
of the children. Soon many tiny log school-houses were put up, and the
demand for teachers was so great that anyone who had a smattering of
knowledge had a good chance to be put in charge of a little school.
Often, however, it fell to the mother to give her boys and girls their
first lessons in reading and writing by the hot light of the great fires
that roared up the chimneys on a winter’s evening.
Books in the settlements were few, but generally well read, newspapers
were non-existent, and there are traditions in more than one settlement
of an obliging postmaster, who used to carry the whole “mail” of a
district about with him in his hat, so that he might distribute the
letters as occasion offered.
Amongst these pioneers laboured missionaries of different denominations,
whose experience of toilsome journeys and perils by land and water
resembled those of the Apostles. In canoes, on foot or on horseback they
tried courageously to serve the needs of parishes that are now counties;
and great was the rejoicing when at last some little log-church was
built, though it might have no seats but rough boards set on short
pieces of tree trunks.
In these years of hardship the courageous spirit and the useful
experience of the Loyalists triumphed, and well and truly did they lay
the foundation of a new British nation in the north. Some Americans of
adventurous turn of mind, but not of their political creed, early found
their way into the land; but when in June, 1812, there broke out between
the young American Republic and England a war, which had grown out of
the struggle of the last-named nation with Napoleon, it was the old
spirit of the Loyalists which dominated Canada; and in a long three
years’ conflict they again and again beat back the invaders across their
frontiers. They were indeed well aided by the French of Lower Canada,
and by newcomers from the British Isles; but, whoever might falter, the
Loyalists were determined that their new country should remain British.
This, of course, tended to draw other immigrants loyal to the Empire to
Canada. Of these later immigrants something will be said in dealing with
the separate provinces; but Canada as a whole has never lost her
heritage of loyalty, nor of the independence of spirit which has come to
her from the descendants of the men who forced the Great Charter from
the reluctant tyrant John, and of those who extorted the assent of King
Charles to the Bill of Rights.
As the years went on, it was found difficult in practice to evolve a
system by which the new British-American colonies should have the full
liberty they demanded without weakening the tie binding them to the
Mother-land. When Upper and Lower Canada were separated,
Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe congratulated the former province on
possessing a “transcript of the British constitution,” but the measure
of self-government given was much less than that which the men of the
British Isles had attained; and there was difficulty and blundering and
heart burning, there was even an actual rebellion in the Canadas before
a really satisfactory system of colonial government was worked out.
It is interesting that, to a large extent, the political institutions of
Canada, like those of the Mother-land, are not what might be described
as an invention of any statesman, or group of statesmen, but rather
resemble a living organism, which, in order to survive and grow, has had
to adapt itself to its environment. At first, after the rude shock of
the secession from the Empire of the Thirteen Colonies, British
statesmen were nervously apprehensive that the growth of the new
colonies in wealth and power would inevitably result in their separation
from Britain. Then there arose a school of statesmen, who were prepared
to acquiesce with eagerness in any step on the part of the “overseas
dominions” in the direction of independence. But after more than a
century of dangers and vicissitudes the Canadian provinces are British
still; and the politicians in England who wish to bid them farewell are
no longer numerous.
[Illustration: QUEBEC FROM THE CHÂTEAU FRONTENAC]
That they are British (to return to the point whence we started) is due
above all to the sturdy spirit of the brave old Loyalists who formed the
earliest large accession of British immigrants to Canada. They had their
faults; they were not free from the bitterness and cruelty with which
they charged their victorious opponents. They were martyrs of a lost
cause, and as a class were never remarkably patient sufferers; but they
were undoubtedly fine material for the building of a new nation, and the
debt that Canada owes to them is not to be lightly estimated.
When it appeared (as it soon did appear) that the form of representative
government granted to the colonies was only a shadow of the popular
government of the Mother-land, the liberty-loving colonists began a
persistent and long-continued agitation for a change. The flaws in the
colonial form of government were that at first the representatives of
the people had no control over the finances of the several provinces;
and that the government was administered by the officials of what was
called the “Executive Council,” who were appointed, and could only be
removed, by the royal governor representing the Crown, and were not in
any way responsible to the electors of the colonial Assemblies. The
executive councillors were in a position to bid defiance to the popular
branch, especially as the Legislative Council, or Upper House, of the
colonial legislatures, composed of men appointed by the governor,
usually made common cause with them against the Assemblies. In fact, in
the Canadas many men had seats in both councils; and in Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick one council had both legislative and executive functions.
After a short period, even the governors sent out from England were at a
great disadvantage compared with the councillors, many of whom had spent
the greater part of their lives in the colony. A newly-arrived governor
naturally looked to his councillors for advice and information. It was
they and their families who formed the most important part of his little
court, and if he did not speedily fall under their influence, he had
many difficulties thrown in his way. In Lower Canada the political
troubles were aggravated by the fact that almost all the members of the
legislature and Executive Councils belonged to the small
English-speaking Protestant minority.
For nearly half a century the disputes between the different branches of
the government continued; but at last, after the rebellion of 1837-38,
Lord Durham was sent as High Commissioner to Canada, and though his
conduct of affairs was severely criticized at home, he managed to probe
to the bottom the chronic state of discontent in the colonies; and the
remedy he recommended was that the executive in the colonies should be
made, as in England, responsible to the people, and that the body of
officials in the several provinces should only continue to rule while
they could command the support of a majority in the Assemblies. His
advice was followed, and within a few years all the provinces had
“Responsible Government.”
Thus was forged another link which bound the colonies to the Empire, for
at last the people felt that the Mother-land could no longer be blamed
for any blunders and wrong-doing in the administration of the
governments on this side of the ocean; and the electors knew that if the
government was not so good as it might be, it was at least as good as
those who put it into power deserved to have. The system had also, like
its British model, a flexibility and a capacity for readjustment to new
situations or more advanced views, which made it peculiarly suited to a
land where conditions are constantly changing.
The government has remained to this day essentially British in its
underlying principle of the ultimate responsibility of the cabinet to
the electors, though in some respects, since the confederation of the
provinces, it has had in outward appearance a considerable resemblance
to the government of the United States.
[Illustration: BREAKING THE PRAIRIE BY TRACTOR
AT VEGREVILLE, ALBERTA.]
II
THE DOMINION OF CANADA
HISTORICALLY, the Dominion of Canada was evolved from the separate
provinces; but it will be more convenient here to consider it as a whole
before giving some account of each of the nine provinces separately. In
this chapter, and generally throughout the book, when I speak of Canada,
I mean the Dominion of Canada, though the name was first applied to the
French province on the St. Lawrence, which was sometimes also called New
France. Afterwards, for three-quarters of a century, from 1791 to 1867,
the province now known as Quebec was called Lower Canada, or Canada
East; and that now known as Ontario, Upper Canada, or Canada West.
The immense area of Canada is one of its most striking features. Its
size is one of the reasons that it is a land of great opportunity; it is
also the root of many of the most difficult problems of its government
and development. In area it is over 3½ million square miles; that is to
say, it is a little larger than the United States, or than Europe would
be without France. It stretches from the Atlantic Ocean on the east to
the Pacific on the west, and from the United States boundary on the
south to the Arctic Ocean on the north. The distance from Halifax in
Nova Scotia to Vancouver in British Columbia is about 3,660 miles,
whilst that from Halifax to Liverpool is only about 2,820; and the
traveller, wishing to go from Victoria in Vancouver Island to Dawson in
the Yukon District, has to make a journey by land and water of over
1,500 miles.
It is just as well for the intending immigrant to try to realize that
Canada is a land of “magnificent distances”; otherwise, on his outward
journey, perhaps to some point in the far west, it may seem that the
distance he is putting between himself and his old home is interminable.
With modern conveniences of travel, however, the immigrant of to-day can
come from England and cross Canada to Vancouver in a shorter time than
it took the Loyalists to go from New York to Toronto.
The most southern point of Canada, a little islet in Lake Erie, is only
about the same distance from the equator as is Valladolid in Spain,
whilst Toronto is in nearly the same latitude as Florence, and the new
town of Prince Rupert, far up on the Pacific seaboard of the Dominion,
is not much farther north than Liverpool.
The vast extent of country and the variety in its physical features
cause considerable differences of climate; but generally the interior is
rather colder than the same latitudes in the west of Europe, and the
summer, though hot and dry, is shorter than in Europe. The climate in
the region near the Atlantic is colder than the countries on the
opposite side of that ocean, owing to a cold current which flows
southward along its shores from the Arctic regions; but the Pacific
Coast, which has the benefit of the warm Japanese current, has a climate
very much resembling that of the British Isles.
Upon the whole, however, it may be said that one of the strongest points
of the Canadian climate generally is its amount of sunshine and clear
weather. Even in the high latitudes the summer, though short, is warm,
and, of course, as one goes further north, the possible number of hours
of sunshine in the day during the summer increases, so that growth is
extremely rapid. Thus results the ripening of crops of grain and
vegetables and certain kinds of fruit much farther north than a mere
glance at the map would lead one to expect. There has as yet been little
systematic experiment as to what crops can be grown in the higher
latitudes; but for generations vegetables have been cultivated in the
gardens of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s factors, and also at many a
mission station in the northern wilderness; and it is an interesting
circumstance that the imaginary line beyond which profitable farming has
been supposed impossible has again and again been pushed farther north.
Till within the last half century, indeed, the “North-West Territories”
were held by the Hudson’s Bay Company, and as agriculture and fur
trading are hardly compatible industries, it was not to the interest of
this powerful fur trading corporation to advertise the agricultural
possibilities of the country, nor to set right the popular misconception
of British North America as a land of nothing but snow and ice. It is
quite true that it has snow and ice in plenty; but there is a golden
side to the shield as well as a silver one; and Canada might just as
fairly claim the title of “Our Lady of the Sun” as that of “Our Lady of
the Snows.”
A feature of the Dominion, of which the ordinary small-scale map gives
little idea, is the diversity of surface. Every map indeed suggests in
the west the bold line of the Rocky Mountains, but even in that case
scarcely hints at the fact that between the Pacific Ocean and the
prairie regions, the mountain barrier is ranged rank behind rank, peak
above peak.
In the ordinary map, moreover, the eastern provinces look as level as
the prairies; but they are not so. The Maritime Provinces, Quebec and
Ontario, may be described generally as a land of plains and valleys and
hills, which, in some regions, rise to an elevation deserving the name
of mountains—a word which is used somewhat freely in Canada.
The map usually does make clear to a careful student of it the fact that
the Dominion upon the whole is a land of noble rivers and of lakes, some
small, some large enough to deserve the name of inland seas, though they
have neither the salt of the sea nor its tides; and that Canada does
actually possess one great inland sea, a thousand miles long and six
hundred miles broad, in Hudson Bay. This thrusts itself deep into the
heart of the country, and for a couple of centuries was, as it may soon
be again, a recognized gateway to the interior.
Of course, altitude and “the general lie of the land” have a great
influence on climate as well as latitude. The prairie country is more
correctly a series of plateaux than a great plain; and though one hardly
realizes the fact when travelling across it, there is a great difference
of level between the region about Winnipeg, and that where it approaches
the foot hills of the Rocky Mountains. The altitude of Winnipeg is only
seven hundred and fifty-seven feet above the sea-level, whilst that of
Calgary is actually two hundred feet higher than the topmost peak of Sea
Fell, England’s highest mountain; and perhaps the elevation of much of
the country accounts not only for its being colder than some
corresponding latitudes of the old world, but also for the buoyant
atmosphere in the west, and for the characteristic hopefulness and
eagerness and energy of the people.
A great part of northern Canada is still a wilderness, only partially
explored; and at brief intervals comes news from east or west or north
of some fresh discovery of minerals or water powers; or amazingly
fertile soil, in some region where no one had dreamed hitherto of
reaping a harvest.
This kind of thing gives a curious interest to life in Canada. No doubt
it is akin (on a smaller scale) to the spirit of expectancy and
readiness for adventure which reigned in Europe in the years immediately
following the discovery of America.
But it has been proved over and over again that the gifts of the
wilderness are only to be won at great cost of toil, and struggle, and
loneliness; and few men or women are cut out for the _rôle_ of pioneer.
In Canada hundreds of people every year venture to undertake tasks for
which they are not fitted either by knowledge or previous experience or
natural tastes, and the result is a vast amount of unnecessary suffering
and disappointment, and often loss of health and even life; but I shall
have more to say on this matter when dealing with the subject of the
opportunities for immigrants. Here I would only add that there are
numerous openings for people willing to work in the more settled
communities as well as on the very frontiers of civilization; and that
Canada has a great variety of opportunities to offer on easier
conditions than actual pioneering.
If any one is attempting to obtain a true idea of the resources and
opportunities of the Dominion, he should be very particular to bear in
mind exactly what part of the country his informant is discussing. It is
so large a country that persons talking loosely of what there is or is
not “in Canada,” though their remarks may be perfectly accurate with
regard to one district, may be totally misleading with regard to
another. For example, in the Eastern Provinces, ivy and holly and broom
are never seen growing in the open air, though the first-mentioned plant
is often grown in pots as a house plant; but in Vancouver and Victoria
ivy-covered buildings are as common as in England, and so are hedges and
bushes of glossy holly. It is the same in matters other than vegetation.
There are differences of manner and custom in different localities.
French Canada is a quaint old-world land—how old-world the visitor must
penetrate into the country to discover. But the “habitants,” speaking
their French patois, scarcely differ more in many of their
characteristics from the “go-ahead” English-speaking “Westerners” and
the stalwart Nova Scotian fishermen, than do these two latter types
differ from each other. You may find that your copper coins will not
pass current in a new prairie town, but even a little further east a
“cent” will buy a few things, including an enormous morning newspaper,
excepting on the train.
It is not indeed surprising that there are many cases in which you
cannot judge fairly or accurately of one place by another two thousand
miles or more distant, even if both happen to be in Canada. Perhaps,
indeed, one of the most general characteristics of the country is what
some people might call its incongruities. Take a few instances at
random. Canada has cities, where its richer folk live in luxury, and its
poorest inhabit genuine slums (more’s the pity). It has, too, small
villages and backwoods settlements and country communities, where class
distinctions are of little account. In some towns you may see a smart
up-to-date motor car, cheek by jowl with an ox wagon. It has a goodly
list of well-equipped hospitals, but there are many remote settlements
where a doctor is hardly to be had in direst emergency for love or
money.
The observation that is true in some well-settled districts may not hold
in the depth of its unbroken unexplored woods. One may know “Canada” as
a land of quiet hills and valleys, but perhaps the name stands to his
brother for a “sea of mountains,” with hundreds of “unconquered peaks”
luring the Alpine climber to triumph or disaster. It may be that your
Canada is the wide, open prairie country far inland, beautiful in its
season, with a wealth of bright flowers or square miles of waving wheat;
while the name for me means a rugged coast, where the great Atlantic
rollers beat on cliffs of granite, or toss the white-sailed fishing
boats in too-rough jest or fury.
“Canada” means all these things and many more. Its life is too complex,
its resources too various to be presented satisfactorily in a single
sketch; and yet behind all diversity the name does stand for a real
unity and a growing national consciousness.
[Illustration: 1. BREAKING THE PRAIRIE WITH OXEN,
THUNDER HILL DISTRICT.
2. SETTING OUT FOR THE NEW HOME IN THE WEST.]
III
CONFEDERATION
NOW and for many a year past the whole vast country has been under one
government, and this is a fact that is of a good deal of importance
outside merely political circles. Unlike the Federal Government of its
great neighbour, the several states of which united to resist pressure
from the mother country without, “Confederation” in the case of the
Dominion resulted largely from troubles within the provinces.
After the rebellion of 1837-38, the two provinces of Upper and Lower
Canada were united under one government, with one legislature in which,
though the population of the latter province was considerably larger
than that of the former, each province was represented in the House of
Assembly by forty-two members elected by the people, and in the
Legislative Council by ten councillors appointed for life by the
governor. The French naturally objected to this arrangement. They also
objected to the assumption by the new province of the debts of both
older ones, when the debt of Lower Canada was much smaller than that of
Upper Canada; for, though part of the debt of the latter had been
incurred in making canals and other improvements likely to be of
advantage to the country generally, the French Canadians had, of course,
never been consulted about the spending of the money.
In process of time, however, the relative position of the
uneasily-yoked-together provinces altered.
In 1853 a bill was brought in, increasing the number of members of the
Assembly from forty-two for each province to sixty-five. By this time
the population of Upper Canada had outstripped that of the Lower
Province, and there arose a demand amongst the English-speaking people
for representation in proportion to population.
It is not surprising that the French Canadians, who had at first been
the party to suffer by the forced equality of membership, resented and
resisted the agitation for “Rep. by Pop.,” as it was often called. At
that time it seemed as if the long-desired boon of responsible
government were going to prove a failure in Canada, for the
representatives of the people were split up into so many different
groups—French and English; Reformers and Conservatives, both moderate
and extreme, none of whom could arrive at any means of working
harmoniously together. Any one of the numerous parties, standing alone,
was sure to be outvoted; and it sometimes happened that opponents would
unite to drive a third party from power, but not to give strength to any
government.
The rivalry between the representatives of the French and English
provinces was most dangerous to the principle of responsible government,
for it could, and did happen, that measures affecting only one of the
provinces were forced upon it by a majority drawn chiefly from the other
province; and this caused very bitter and angry feeling. For instance,
in this way a number of separate public schools for the Roman Catholics
were firmly established in Upper Canada. Some people asserted,
therefore, that it was the duty of a government to resign office if
outvoted on a particular measure by the representatives of the province
chiefly concerned, even though the majority of the whole House might be
with it.
Another grave difficulty was that it led to grievous waste of the public
money, for if money were voted for some public work in one province, an
equal amount, whether needed or not, was usually voted for the other.
These complications absolutely paralysed the working of the system of
Party Responsible Government. Ministers rose and fell; dissolution of
parliament succeeded dissolution; but there was no sign of any end to
the confusion.
In different parts of British North America the plan of a Confederation
of the Provinces, with one central government to control matters common
to all, and provincial legislatures to manage local affairs, was
advocated from time to time. The Maritime Provinces of Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island had their own problems and
difficulties, and in 1864 their statesmen agreed to meet at
Charlottetown, in Prince Edward Island, to discuss the question of a
union amongst themselves.
By that time affairs in United Canada (was there ever a greater
misnomer?) had reached a positive deadlock. At the beginning of the
year, in succession to a reform ministry, which had only weathered the
political tempests for a few months, Sir Etienne Taché and Mr.
(afterwards Sir) John A. Macdonald had formed a Conservative government.
Even at first they had a bare majority and presently they were outvoted
by a majority so narrow that there was not any reasonable ground for
hope that if they resigned, their opponents would be less helpless, or
that if parliament were dissolved parties would be less evenly balanced.
A dissolution seemed inevitable, however, when there arose a sudden
light in the darkness.
George Brown, the leader of the English-speaking reformers, came to the
rescue and promised the support of himself and his party to the
ministers, if they would seriously set themselves to find a way out of
the difficulty. Macdonald and his coadjutors met their old opponents
half way. A coalition government was formed, and it was decided to try
to form a federal, in place of a legislative, union, including all the
provinces or the two Canadas alone. It is needless here to dwell on the
delays and difficulties with which the project was beset. In October,
1864, representatives of Upper and Lower Canada, and of the Maritime
Provinces, including Newfoundland, met at Quebec to formulate a scheme
of confederation; but neither of the two island provinces made part of
the Dominion of Canada, as it commenced its existence on July 1, 1867.
Prince Edward Island came into the union six years later; but
Newfoundland stands aloof to this day.
The British North America Act of the Imperial parliament, which finally
gave effect to the desire of the provinces for union, embodied, with
little alteration, the scheme agreed upon at Quebec in 1864. The act
provided for the admission into confederation of other provinces besides
the original four, and, as has already been mentioned, the Dominion of
Canada now consists of nine provinces besides some large tracts of
unorganized and sparsely populated territory in the north.
The Dominion parliament has power to make laws for “the peace, order and
good government of Canada,” except with regard to certain matters put
under the jurisdiction of the provincial legislatures. The parliament
consists of the King (represented by the Governor-General), an Upper
House, or Senate, and a Lower House, or House of Commons.
The Senate consists of eighty-three members, who are appointed for life
by the Governor-in-Council, but no man who is under thirty years of age,
or not by birth or naturalization a British subject, is eligible for
appointment. He must also be possessed of real or personal property
worth $4,000 (£800), and must be, and continue to be, a resident of the
province for which he is appointed.
The House of Commons consists (at present) of two hundred and fourteen
members, elected with regard to a fair representation of the relative
population of the different sections of the country by the following
plan:—The province of Quebec has always sixty-five members, and the
other provinces have a number of members bearing the same proportion to
their populations as sixty-five bears to the population of Quebec. The
representation is adjusted after every decennial census—the last census
being taken in 1911. The population of the West naturally increases much
faster than that of the older provinces, and consequently every census
requires a readjustment in favour of the West. For instance, during the
decade following the census of 1891, Ontario had ninety-two members and
Manitoba had only seven, but since 1901 the number of Ontario’s members
has dropped to eighty-six, while that of Manitoba has risen to ten, and
the next readjustment, which is already overdue, will show an even
greater change in the balance of population.
In the Dominion, as in the provincial parliaments, the principle
followed is that of responsible cabinet government; and in this
important respect it resembles the British system, and differs from the
government of the United States. In the latter country, the appointment
of all the chief executive officers rests with the President, subject to
the consent of the Senate. Thus, as Professor Goldwin Smith puts it,
“instead of a ministry responsible to the legislature and dependent for
existence on its vote, America has a ministry independent of the
legislature and irremovable during its term of four years.” But, in
Canada, when a man takes office in the ministry he must go back to his
constituents for re-election; and though the normal life of the House of
Commons is five years, it may be dissolved at any time by the
Governor-General on the advice of his ministers. Of course, if a cabinet
is defeated it must resign and give place to one which has the
confidence of the House. In this way, the will of the people (or it
would be more correct to say of the men, for women have as yet no voice
in the election of members to parliament) is supreme in Canada; and they
must, in the last resort, hold themselves responsible for the doings of
the men whom they put or retain in office.
[Illustration: THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, OTTAWA]
The qualifications entitling persons to vote are the same with regard to
the Dominion House of Commons and the provincial legislatures. Women are
excluded from voting on any but municipal elections, and males must be
of the age of twenty-one years and be British citizens by birth or
naturalization. In Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British
Columbia the vote is given after a term of residence varying from six to
twelve months (practically to every adult male citizen, though he may be
utterly illiterate and ignorant of either the English or French
tongues). In the Maritime Provinces even an adult male citizen cannot
vote, unless he has been resident for twelve months in the province, and
has qualifications “based” on ownership of real property, position as
teacher or clergyman, personal property or income. The same applies to
Quebec, except that in that province the would-be voter may qualify in
one month’s residence.
By the British North America Act, the Dominion parliament has control of
all matters not specially assigned to the provincial legislatures. This
is another respect in which the Canadian constitution differs from that
of the United States, where “the residuum of power” was retained by the
States which entered into the Federal Union. In other words, in the
United States all matters not specially put under the jurisdiction of
the central authority remain to be dealt with by the individual states;
while in Canada the authority of the Dominion parliament extends to all
affairs not specially reserved to the jurisdiction of the provinces.
In general terms, the Dominion parliament has power to make laws
regarding affairs that concern all the provinces, but a number of
matters are specially enumerated as being within the jurisdiction of the
central government. These are as follows:—Public debt and property;
trade and commerce; taxation (any system) and the borrowing of money on
the public credit; the postal service; the census and statistics;
militia, military and naval service and defence; the fixing of salaries
for government officers; lighthouses and coast service; navigation and
shipping; fisheries; quarantine; currency and banking; weights and
measures; interest; legal tender; bankruptcy, and the general financial
and commercial system; patents and copyrights; Indians and reserves for
Indians; naturalization; marriage and divorce; the criminal law and
penitentiaries; the territories not within the boundaries of any
province and the establishment of new provinces.
The matters put under the control of the provinces are:—The amendment
of the provincial constitutions (except as to the lieutenant-governor);
direct taxation and borrowing of money on the provincial credit for
provincial purposes; provincial officials; management and sale of
provincial public lands and forests; regulation of asylums, hospitals,
charities, reformatories and jails; municipal institutions; shop, tavern
and other licences; solemnization of marriage; property and civil
rights; constitution and maintenance of provincial courts of civil and
criminal jurisdiction; the appointment of magistrates and justices of
the peace; education, with certain exceptions as to the separate schools
of religious minorities; and local works and matters of a merely private
nature in a province.
With regard to immigration and agriculture, both Dominion and provincial
parliaments may legislate, but in case of conflicting legislation the
Dominion Act overrules the provincial. The Governor-in-Council of the
Dominion may disallow an Act of a provincial parliament, within one year
of its passing, and the Imperial government in like manner may disallow
an Act passed by the Dominion parliament within two years after its
receipt by the Secretary of State for the Colonies; but the power of
disallowance is used very rarely. If an Act passed by the Dominion or a
provincial parliament exceeds, as sometimes happens, the powers given
under the British North America Act, the courts may declare it _ultra
vires_—that is, “beyond the powers” of the legislature which enacted
it. The provinces may neither organize nor maintain a provincial
military force; and here again the constitution of Canada differs from
that of the United States, under which each State may have a military
force.
The revenue of the Dominion is obtained from taxation (largely in the
form of duties on imported goods), “from receipts from the sales of the
crown lands, from the post office, from railways, canals and other
sources.” Upon their entrance into confederation each of the provinces
resigned its right to levy indirect taxes; and in place of this each
province receives a subsidy from the Dominion.
The Dominion at the time of Confederation took over the public debts of
the several provinces; and further debts have been incurred in the
building of canals, railways, and other public works. To set against
these the Dominion possesses immensely valuable assets in her millions
of acres of ungranted lands and in her state-owned railways, canals, and
public buildings for various purposes.
Since Confederation the provinces have also incurred public debts,
largely in constructing works to improve communication, and in the
erection of public buildings.
The capital of the Dominion is the city of Ottawa, beautifully situated
on the right bank, or Ontario side, of the Ottawa river, which forms a
considerable part of the boundary between the provinces of Quebec and
Ontario.
Ottawa was founded by a gallant English officer, Colonel John By, after
whom the original little village built at the point where the Rideau
river falls into the Ottawa, was called Bytown. The name—quaintly
suggestive of the _Pilgrim’s Progress_—would not have been as
euphonious a title for the metropolis of the Dominion as is Ottawa; but
one cannot help regretting that this tribute to By should have been
swept from the map, for he certainly deserves remembrance. He came to
Canada in 1802, when he had just reached manhood, and was stationed for
nine years in the picturesque old capital of Quebec. He was recalled to
serve in the Peninsular war, but in the spring of 1826 received orders
to go again to Canada to superintend the construction of the Rideau
canal. The experiences of the war of 1812 had made the authorities
desirous to open another route for the transportation of troops and
supplies to the upper country than that by the St. Lawrence, which was
much at the mercy of the Americans, and so it was decided to construct a
system of canals and dams and locks to connect and improve the natural
waterways and give communication between the Ottawa river and Kingston
on Lake Ontario.
The task was a difficult one. The country was then scarcely inhabited,
and the work had to be carried through tracts of swamp and morass, where
the surveyors and workmen frequently contracted fever and ague; but By
refused to be discouraged. For six years his stalwart, soldierly figure,
often mounted on a coal-black charger, was a familiar sight in the
mushroom village which sprang up on the southern bank of the Ottawa or
Grand river.
Besides civilian workmen, he had at his command a company of sappers and
miners, a fact recalled to-day by the name of the “Sappers’ Bridge” at
Ottawa; and traditions still linger of his perseverance, his
determination to accept no scamped work, and his kindness of heart. One
all but completed dam went down before an ice-jam, and a new bridge was
swept away by a spring flood; but the indomitable colonel took these
disasters merely as a challenge to build more strongly, and at last the
whole waterway, one hundred and twenty-six miles in length, with its
twenty-four dams and its forty-seven locks, was open for navigation.
In the same year the colonel was called home, not to receive praise and
honour for his achievement, but to serve, it has been said, as “a
scapegoat” for the government, which had been attacked for spending
public moneys without the authority of parliament. The blow was
crushing, and falling into “low spirits,” the gallant gentleman could no
longer triumph over misfortunes, but died a few months later in his
fifty-third year.
But Bytown prospered. Till the St. Lawrence canals were completed the
whole trade between Upper and Lower Canada passed through the rough
little village, and to visitors it seemed that Bytown folk were too busy
to pave their streets or to think of gardens or flowers. The Upper and
Lower towns on either side of the hill, then crowned by the barracks,
now by the parliament buildings, were separate villages. Then, as now,
it was a great lumbering centre, and there were wild doings when gangs
of lumber-jacks came down from the woods for business or pleasure.
Whiskey was deplorably cheap, and the woodsmen often fought savagely
amongst themselves, or with the Irish “shiners” who rafted the lumber
down the river; and sometimes they made “felonious assault” on
unoffending citizens. But despite the rude accompaniments of the lumber
trade, it was building up Bytown, which was incorporated as a town with
six thousand inhabitants fifteen years after the completion of the
Rideau canal. Eight years later it became a city, and changed its name
to Ottawa.
In the fifties, there was an inconvenient arrangement, by which the
cities of Toronto and Quebec served alternately for four years each as
capital of Upper and Lower Canada (then united), but in 1857 Queen
Victoria was asked to name a permanent capital. On account of its
central position with regard to the two provinces, its distance from the
international boundary line; and above all, perhaps, because of
descriptions which she had heard of the striking beauty of its site, Her
Majesty made choice of Ottawa. The erection of the beautiful parliament
buildings was soon afterwards begun, and at Confederation the city
became the capital of the Dominion, whilst the rank of provincial
capital was restored to the larger city of Toronto.
Ottawa, with its suburbs, now has about one hundred and twenty-five
thousand people and its chief interests are still lumber and
legislation. A little army of its breadwinners finds employment, in some
capacity or other, in connection with the business of government. Each
of the departments of state has, of course, a large staff, from experts
of various descriptions down to clerks and office boys.
The official residence of the Governor-General is Rideau Hall. This
long, low, rambling erection is hardly picturesque, though it is
decidedly old-fashioned. It stands in pleasant grounds, and its nucleus,
“the Castle,” as it was called, was built in 1838, by a Scottish member
of parliament, named McKay. The original house had a score of rooms, but
the present-day Hall has over a hundred, which have been added from time
to time to suit the convenience of its noble occupants. For instance,
the great ballroom dates from Lord Dufferin’s time; while the racquet
court was built by the Marquis of Lorne, a studio by the artistic
Marchioness, and the chapel by the Earl of Aberdeen.
Other places at Ottawa of national interest, either for what they are or
for what they may become, are its museums, its National Art Gallery, its
Royal Mint and the Archives Building, which houses a collection of
extremely valuable historical documents.
IV
LANDS AND THE PEOPLE
IN my last chapter I mentioned the ungranted public lands as amongst
the assets of the Dominion. Apart from the vast area of land north of
the limits of the provinces, the Crown, according to a recently
published official estimate, still holds the title to many millions of
acres of “ungranted, surveyed public lands in Manitoba, Saskatchewan,
and Alberta in addition to a vast quantity of good land yet unsurveyed.”
The public lands in the Eastern Provinces are owned by the provinces,
but in every section of Canada lands may be obtained by the _bonâ fide_
settler, either as free grants, or at a very small rate of payment. This
matter will, however, be referred to again later.
Lands offered for settlement in the provinces of the middle west are
laid out in blocks six miles square, called townships. Each of these
townships is divided into thirty-six sections of one mile square. The
sections are again divided into quarters; and the homesteads offered as
free grants by the Dominion government on certain conditions as to
residence upon and improvement of the land; each contain one-quarter
section, or one hundred and sixty acres. (For the land regulations as to
free grants and pre-emptions, see Appendix, Note B, p. 297.) Within a
certain area two sections in each township have been allotted to the
Hudson’s Bay Company, two are reserved for the support of schools,
sixteen are held for sale or have been given as land grants in aid of
colonization railways, and the remaining sixteen are, or have been, open
to homesteaders.
During the fiscal year of 1911-12, over thirty-nine thousand heads of
families, or single men, made homestead entries, taking up over six and
a quarter millions of acres. In the same year the railway companies and
the Hudson’s Bay Company sold between eighteen and nineteen million
acres of land; and it is predicted that before another decade has gone
by “Canada’s balance of population will be west of Lake Superior.” This
may or may not be true, for there is no province in Canada that is not
well able to support a much larger population than it has at present;
and in every province new opportunities are offering themselves.
In connection with its ownership of the crown lands, the Dominion
government assumed at Confederation the guardianship of the Indians,
descendants of the ancient lords of the soil. In the drama of Canadian
history, especially in its earlier scenes, the Indians play a part that
is tragically interesting, whether regarded from the point of view of
the settlers, or from that of the wild people themselves, as they were
driven deeper into the wilderness, and sank gradually from the position
of being reckoned with and feared into that of a comparatively feeble
folk, bewildered by the necessity of adaptation to new conditions.
The Canadian Indians, though of many different tribes, have been placed
by ethnologists in three or four chief groups. The largest group
numerically, and the most widespread, was the Algonquin, to which belong
the Micmacs of Nova Scotia, the Ottawas and Ojibways of Central Canada,
the Crees of the Middle West, and many other tribes.
A second group—the Huron-Iroquois—was, in many respects, remarkable.
The Iroquois tribes are notable for having entered into a confederation
from which they were often called “The Five Nation Indians.” This
alliance gave them a vast advantage over isolated tribes in their savage
warfare; and made them for the best part of a century a menace and a
terror to the French. They occupied a very advantageous position in what
is now New York State, upon a “Height of Land” from which flowed streams
in every direction, serving as waterways for their canoes and enabling
them to descend with ease and rapidity into the enemy’s country. They
were usually friendly to the English colonists; but again and again
during the early days did their utmost to destroy the infant settlements
of the French and to annihilate the latter’s Indian allies.
Many years later the famous Mohawk, Brant, and others of the Iroquois
sided with the English in the Revolutionary War, and at its close were
granted lands like other loyalists in Canada. The city of Brantford, on
the Grand River, was named after the chief, and near to it is the
“Mohawk Reserve,” comprising over forty-three thousand six hundred
acres, where some four thousand Indians still dwell.
[Illustration: THE PRAIRIE AT ELSTOW, SASKATCHEWAN]
Akin in race and language to the Iroquois, but in a constant state of
hostility to them, were the Hurons, living near the Georgian bay.
Amongst them, in the seventeenth century, the Jesuit fathers from France
established, at great sacrifice of ease and comfort, a flourishing
mission, but in 1648-49 the mission villages were swept out of existence
by hordes of Iroquois; many of the missionaries were martyred, and the
Hurons, utterly broken, were driven to seek refuge near the French
towns.
The Iroquois and Hurons were in some respects more advanced than the
Algonquin tribes. They had the art of making strong palisades about
their towns, of several concentric rows of tree trunks planted upright
in the ground, and they used shields of skin and a curious armour of
twigs interwoven with cords, which formed a great protection against
arrows. They also cultivated the ground to some extent, grew maize and
sunflowers, and kept hogs. The Algonquins, on the other hand, trusted
for food entirely to hunting and fishing, and to what they could gather
in the woods.
None of the Indians had a written language, but some practised
picture-writing, that is, making rude drawings on bark or skins for the
conveyance of information; and they used also to weave shell beads,
called “wampum,” into collars and belts of curious devices, which
represented certain ideas. These belts were used as mementoes and
records of matters of importance, such as a treaty made with another
tribe; and were given into the custody of old men who were expected to
remember and explain their signification.
In this connection it is interesting to recall that about the middle of
last century, a Methodist missionary, Evans, invented a method of
writing the Indian languages, which can be learnt by an Indian of
ordinary intelligence in a very few lessons. The signs represent
syllables, not letters to be combined into syllables. This system of
reducing the languages to writing has made possible a very large
circulation of the Bible, or parts of it, amongst Indians, who would
have had no opportunity of learning to read by such methods as our own.
Liberal provision, however, has been made for the education of the
Indians dwelling in the more settled regions.
A third great group of the aborigines of Canada comprises the Indians of
the western mountains and the Pacific Coast and islands. These tribes
were generally fierce and warlike; and were remarkable for their huge
canoes, each made from the trunk of a single tree; for their enormous,
grotesquely-carved totem poles; and for many singular customs.
Scattered along the thousands of miles of Canada’s northern coasts are
the Eskimos—“eaters of raw flesh”—or Innuits—“the People” as they
call themselves. From a consideration of some of the resemblances in
their implements and ornaments, made of bone and antlers and teeth of
animals, and decorated with spirited drawings of men and beasts—some
scientists believe them to be akin to “the Cavemen,” of whom traces have
been found in France and Great Britain. Their hovels (often half
underground) of earth and turf resemble caves; but they have been known
to turn bones to account for building material, and everyone knows of
their habit of making a temporary shelter of snow built up in blocks
into a curious beehive-like shape. They are a stout, sturdy people, who,
living under conditions which the white races find almost unendurable,
are remarkable for cheerfulness and good humour.
In 1871, when the first Dominion census was taken, it was estimated that
the Eskimo and Indian population numbered a little over 102,000. In
1912, the number of Indians was returned at 104,956, an increase of
nearly 1,300 since the census taken in the previous year. In some
districts the Indian population is decreasing; in the older provinces,
where the Indians are more civilized, there is an increase. That it is
very difficult to form an exact estimate of the numbers of the wild
people of the Dominion is shown by the very recent discovery of a
hitherto unknown tribe of Eskimo, in the Coppermine River district, east
of the mouth of the Mackenzie.
Upon the whole the early French settlers and rulers treated the Indians
with more consideration and generosity than did the English colonists.
In many instances, indeed, the French bushrangers and their leaders
(though the latter were not infrequently of gentle birth and education)
carried their complacency to the Indians so far as to adopt their
manners and habits of life, sinking themselves almost to a state of
savagery. The better aspect of the situation, however, appealed to the
men who conquered Canada, and the British government of the country has,
in the main, like its predecessor, treated the Indian with consideration
and justice.
As the land has been required for white settlement, the government has
entered “into treaty” with its Indian possessors, setting apart reserves
for them and making allowances of money for their support and education.
The Indians of the Dominions are in very different stages of
civilization; in fact, a small minority are still pagans, practising
polygamy, and various heathen rites. There are in different parts 325
Indian schools, having on their rolls the names of 11,300 pupils. A few
of the more progressive Indians have taken advantage of provisions in
the law by which they may obtain the electoral franchise; but many are
still content to remain “the Wards of the Nation,” a position which some
people think not wholly desirable for adults of any race.
From the consideration of the ancient people of the land, it is a
natural transition to the newcomers. In the history of the Dominion
there has been a recurrent high and low tide in the coming of settlers.
But its flood has never before reached such proportions as within the
last decade; and the most recent year for which the figures are
attainable shows an immensely larger number of new arrivals than ever
before. Of the total number of immigrants in the sixteen years ending
March 31, 1912, nearly three-quarters were English-speaking people from
the British Isles and the United States; but the remaining quarter
represents an amazing number of nations, peoples and languages, the
absorption of whom is one of the most difficult problems which Canada
has to face. In the year of 1911-12, 82,406 foreigners came into the
country.
In every large city it is coming to pass that there is a markedly
foreign quarter; and many of the older people remain foreigners to all
intents and purposes. The women especially, mixing less with their
neighbours than the men, are usually slow to learn English; but the
children pick it up quickly, and with it some at least of the ideas
(good and bad) of the new land. Some of the foreigners come to Canada
with the hope of making money and returning to their native countries;
but many are anxious to remain. An alien, before making entry for a free
grant of land, must declare his intention of becoming a British subject;
and is obliged to be naturalized before he can receive a legal patent to
the land upon which he has done homestead duties. But he must live three
years in Canada before he can be naturalized.
The American immigrants are usually of a class which the Dominion
particularly needs, many of them being farmers, who have had experience
under somewhat similar agricultural and climatic conditions in the
north-western States. They frequently bring not only experience, but a
considerable amount of capital and stock; and altogether, being in a
position to make the best of the country, they win success for
themselves and demonstrate the capabilities of the land, in a fashion
which the man from the “Old Country,” especially if he be town-bred, can
rarely at once attain. Their methods have the advantage also of giving
an object-lesson to other less experienced immigrants, which save the
intelligent and those willing to learn from making blunders.
As to the political view of the matter, the coming of these farmers from
across “the line” does not as a rule give much anxiety to Canadians with
regard to its effect on the permanence of the British connection, for
the newcomers generally are satisfied that they have as much liberty
under the Canadian system of government as under the American; and the
most restless of them are more keenly occupied with money-making than
with politics. Sometimes, however, the galling of the protective tariff,
which presses unequally on different classes, provokes loud protests
from the agricultural populations, particularly in the West; and there
are signs that these protests will grow more vigorous and insistent with
time.
The city-bred British immigrant is distinctly at a disadvantage with
regard to experience, but if he is willing to take measures to learn
before embarking in farming or any other enterprise with the details of
which he is unfamiliar there is no reason why he, too, should not
succeed. If the British immigrant has the appearance of being likely to
“make good,” no one is more gladly welcomed than he; but no immigrant of
any nationality unlikely to succeed gets a welcome at all.
The question, “Are Canadians loyal?” with reference to such matters is
sometimes much discussed. From long experience in the country, I should
answer the question broadly in the affirmative. I should be even
inclined to think that the Canadians value the British connection more
highly to-day than twenty or thirty years ago; and that the strength of
sentiment towards the British sovereign and “the Empire” has increased
with the increase of the liberty granted by the Mother-land to the
Dominion to work in her own way towards her ideal of nationhood.
Whatever may have been the case in the past, at present I firmly believe
that that ideal is one of a free nation within an Empire, bound together
by those ties of kinship and similarity of ideal and sentiment (let us
not blush to use the word) without which the coarser ties of common
governmental institutions and commercial enactments become very brittle
and often vexatious.
As a nation, Great Britain has long ceased the attempt, which ended so
disastrously with her older American colonies, to exploit her
“possessions” in the interests of her merchants and shipowners, and, of
late years, she has adopted a very sympathetic attitude towards the
natural desire of the free-born British peoples in the “overseas
dominions” to be permitted to come of age nationally, and to have at
least some control over their connections with the outside world. That
this desire for control of their own affairs should involve
responsibility for their own defence, Canadians are beginning to
realize; but what direction the acceptance of this responsibility will
take is yet undecided.
But to return to the immigrant. Strenuous efforts are made to bar the
Dominion’s doors against undesirables, including the physically and
mentally unfit, and those so poor as to be in danger of becoming a
burden on the community. Some people feel that the immigration
regulations are too stringent, and are sometimes applied to individuals
in an over-drastic fashion. It may be that in the anxiety to avoid
possible burdens, the doors are sometimes shut against those who, given
a chance, would prove a source of benefit to the new land, whose vast,
empty acres cry aloud for people.
But whether or not the existing regulations could be improved upon,
while they are in force, no wise man intending to settle in Canada will
neglect to find out before starting what they are, and whether he can
satisfy the requirements.
Many Canadians view the rapid influx of immigrants with anxiety, lest
the Dominion should fail to assimilate these streams of new arrivals
pouring in annually; and in a measure the severe restrictions on
immigration are due to this anxiety. It is true in every land that the
mistakes or successes of one generation may profoundly affect the
well-being of generations to come; but in a country like Canada the
public-spirited feel that blunders of to-day, possibly only affecting a
mere handful of people, may be bringing misery on populations multiplied
a thousandfold to-morrow. Happily it is not only blunders that are
subjected to the process of multiplication and magnification; and in
quietness and patience (scarcely noticed amidst the buzz of advertising
and boasting of the great things to be) some people are earnestly
labouring to begin the building of the new nation well; and perhaps are
actually building better than they know. In the social freedom of the
new lands, men and women of strong character count for much in either
good or evil.
Upon the whole, the people of the Dominion are law-abiding. Unlike the
republic to the south, the punishment of criminals has been made a
matter of Dominion (instead of provincial) concern. The criminal law is
one for the whole country, and justice is administered with a steady
hand. In the prairie provinces, the North-West Mounted Police force,
organized in 1873, has proved its efficiency in maintaining law and
order through leagues of wilderness, in the lumber camps, and in the
mines which draw together the roving and adventurous from every part of
the globe. In 1913 the force consisted of some 50 officers and 576 men,
distributed in 73 detachments in Alberta, 83 in Saskatchewan, 8 in the
Yukon and several in the North-West Territories.
Compared to many European nations, Canadians are a temperate people, and
in many municipalities there is “prohibition.” Setting the present
situation with regard to drunkenness against the state of things sixty
or seventy years ago, the comparison is immensely in favour of the
present day; for, in that early time, whiskey was manufactured in rude
distilleries all over the country, and could be bought by the gallon for
a few cents. Strong drink was expected by men working in the harvest
fields or coming together in a threshing or raising “bee”; and many were
the tragedies which resulted from this pernicious custom. Gentlemen
counted drunkenness no disgrace, and it was a common fault of the
officers of the garrison at Halifax and elsewhere.
In comparison, however, with conditions a few years ago, the showing is
not satisfactory. In fact, it has been stated recently that “Canada’s
drinking and criminal record is increasing faster than the population.”
Some observers think that this is owing in part at least to the number
of newcomers from less temperate countries, and “to the concentration of
population in the large cities of the Dominion,” but, at the same time,
“progress towards the general adoption of prohibition is certain and
rapid.”
Taking Canada as a whole, excellent provision is made for education. The
systems vary a little in the different provinces, but the common schools
are everywhere free; and there are comparatively few native-born
Canadians who cannot at least read and write.
In 1910-11 Canada had over 1,197,000 pupils in her schools, and a small
army of thirty-four thousand teachers, a very large proportion of whom
are women. The schools are the chief of all the forces for the
Canadianizing, if not of this generation of adult foreign immigrants, at
least of their children. The central government spends hundreds of
thousands of dollars annually on the education of the Indians, and in
each province a very considerable proportion of all money devoted to
public uses is spent for education. In the prairie provinces millions of
acres of land have been reserved by the Dominion government to be sold
gradually for the support of schools. All schools below the grade of
High Schools are free to children between the ages of five and fifteen;
and High Schools in all the cities and large towns are free to resident
pupils. The number of children for whom a school district can be
organized in the western provinces varies from eight in Alberta to
twenty in British Columbia.
With the exception of Prince Edward Island, which can take advantage of
the universities in neighbouring provinces; and of British Columbia,
which has colleges at Vancouver and Victoria affiliated with McGill
University, and has recently set apart two million acres of public land
for the endowment of a provincial university—each province has one or
more universities. The University of McGill at Montreal is the richest
of Canada’s universities; and that of Toronto, with over 4,100 students
in 1913, is the largest.
An interesting fact in connection with all Canadian universities is that
a large proportion of their students are drawn from classes by no means
wealthy; and numbers of the undergraduates are “putting themselves
through,” as it is sometimes called. Many of these, having been engaged
as teachers or in some business, have saved a sum of money for the
payment of the expenses of part of their course. To eke this out, they
seek employment in the long summer vacation, which, happily for them,
coincides with the busy season, when men are in demand for every form of
work; and a resolute student usually finds something to do. If he is not
of the physique to go into the harvest fields, he may find employment as
a timekeeper over a gang of foreign labourers, a waiter in a summer
hotel, or a teacher in some scattered settlement which can only aspire
as yet to a summer school. Given reasonably good health, a determined
man will usually find or make a way to earn something in the summer; and
such are the men who make the most of what can be gained from their
hard-won courses of instruction in the winter.
At intervals people lift up their voices in protest over the readiness
with which poor men’s sons can rise into the professional classes, and
imagine that it accounts, in part at least, for the continuous movement
townward from the country districts; but there would surely be more loss
than gain to Canadian life in general if any class of young people could
be shut up by lack of wealth or other disability to the vocation of
their fathers. Canada, though it has a growing wealthy class, and, alas,
a growing submerged one, is a long way yet from the fixed “caste” idea.
The healthier recognition of a possible connection between the
aspiration for college education amongst country-bred youths and the
deserted farms in some of the older provinces, is the attempt made to
lift agriculture to its true position amongst the great industries as a
scientific profession. For long years agricultural societies have been
working to stimulate the ambition of farmers in their own line of work.
But this was not enough. It is possible for a dullard and an ignoramus
to pick a meagre living from amongst the weeds of a neglected farm; but
it takes not only brains, but cultivated brains, to farm well. No man is
too good, whatever a “smart” lad may think, for the foundation industry
of the world; and no farmer can have a too good educational equipment
for this work. Perhaps the people of the Dominion, when reviewing what
has been done in this country for education, have a reasonably good
right to look with pleasure on the effort to bring well-trained minds to
bear on agriculture. At sixteen different points in the Dominion, there
are Government experimental farms, and the result of their work in
testing seeds and methods suitable to various soils and conditions,
finding out good stock and so forth, are at the free service of the
farmers. Nor is this all. For nearly forty years Ontario has had in the
Agricultural College at Guelph, a school, at once practical and
scientific, for farmers; and this is only one of several agricultural
colleges, while in the new University of Saskatchewan, one of the first
departments to be organized was that of agriculture.
In connection with the colleges and universities are short courses—in
England they would probably be called “University Extension”
lectures—on agriculture and subjects related to the farm, especially
designed for the benefit of dairymen, threshermen, housewives,
beekeepers, etc., etc. The imparting of the special knowledge to make a
scientific instead of a blundering amateur “thresherman” fits in oddly
at first sight with one’s preconceived notions of a university; but why
should the extension downward in such utilitarian directions—the
striking deep of its roots into the common earth—prevent a great
educational institution flowering freely in the higher realms of science
and art and philosophy?
There is another aspect to the case. I was much interested, a few months
ago, on a chance conversation in a train with an old western farmer of
rugged aspect, by his remark that the institution of college and
university courses in agriculture would tend to raise the young fellows
of the farming classes in their own eyes and in those of other people,
and would also enable them better to hold their proper place in the
country. (I give the substance of his remarks, not his words.) Now, it
is a fact that the Canadian farmer is, as a rule, a much less
self-assertive and a more retiring being than his brother—the doctor,
the merchant, the manufacturer, the lawyer or the politician, as the
case may be; and sometimes his interests suffer on account of his
modesty. Nevertheless, there are not a few men amongst the farmers who
are of excellent intellectual capabilities. They are men who think,
moreover, and some day, now that they are beginning to organize
themselves, the result of their thinking will have considerably more
effect on the public life of the Dominion than it has had hitherto.
In the various provinces there has been a widespread movement of late
years in the direction of the formation of farmers and country-women’s
clubs or institutes, which not only serve as a means for the
dissemination of information, but give a much-needed stimulus to the
social life of thinly settled districts, where hitherto (in the case of
the women especially) the churches have been the chief social factor.
The churches will continue, both in town and country, to be of account
in the social side of life, apart from their primary importance as
definite religious agencies. According to the latest census there were
in Canada over 2,833,000 adherents of the Roman Catholic church, which
gains immense strength from its solidarity. The Protestants, on the
other hand, though stronger numerically, are split up into numerous
divisions, and in hundreds of little villages throughout the Dominion,
there are three or four churches of different denominations, whilst
numberless other places have no church at all. This over-lapping adds
immensely to the toils, and perhaps detracts from the efficiency, of the
country ministers and missionaries as a body. But projects of union are
in the air, and there is hope that the several great Protestant churches
may devise some plan of working together much more than has been done
hitherto, even if they do not accomplish the corporate union which many
of their adherents desire. In numerical strength the Protestant churches
come in the following order:—Presbyterians, Methodists, Anglicans,
Baptists, and a large number of smaller organizations. Apart from
definite efforts by the churches themselves to arrive at some basis of
union, there are numerous inter-denominational associations which are
tending towards unity. One of the most notable of these is the organized
effort, known as the “Laymen’s Missionary Movement,” to arouse the
interest of business men in missions. This organization, first started
in the United States, has resulted in largely increased giving for
missionary purposes.
The immense immigration to Canada of foreigners and others necessitates
constantly increasing effort on the part of the churches to keep abreast
of their duties and opportunities; and amongst the numbers of newcomers
there is much call to foreign missionary work within the borders of the
Dominion, if it is to remain, in anything more than name, a Christian
country. For instance, Montreal and Toronto each have thousands of
Jewish citizens, many of them from Russia and other foreign lands.
Galicians, adherents of the Greek Church, are numerous in the prairie
provinces; and there are over fifteen thousand Mormons in Canada,
chiefly in Alberta and Ontario. As farmers they are said to be excellent
settlers; whether or not they will be equally successful in sowing the
seeds of their distinctive tenets, so degrading to women and to the
sanctity of home life, yet remains to be seen. It is, however, only fair
to add that the Mormons in Canada do not, as in Utah, practise polygamy
openly.
In British Columbia, and to a less extent throughout Canada, are to be
found numbers of quiet, industrious Chinamen, working on the railways,
in the hotels of the West, in the canning factories of the Pacific
Coast, and in laundries from Victoria to Halifax. Despite the heavy head
tax of $500 (£100) on each newcomer, no less than 6,083 Chinamen came to
Canada in a recent year. Amongst them are very few women; but a number
of young boys have recently been brought out by their relatives to
attend the public schools, with a view to their learning English and the
“Western learning” that goes with it.
The records of the British and Foreign Bible Society are suggestive in
connection with the influx of foreigners into the Dominion. In 1912
sales were made of the Bible, or portions of it, in 44 languages in
Toronto alone; and of 110 languages in all Canada. The earliest foreign
version of the Scriptures issued by the Bible Society in its first
year—1804—was, by the way, that intended for the Mohawk Indians in
Canada. Many organizations, such as the Women’s Christian Temperance
Union, the Young Men’s and Young Women’s Christian Associations and the
Salvation Army are doing their useful work all over Canada. There is
indeed great scope for such organizations, for the Dominion is full of
young people and friendless strangers, who in their loneliness are in
great need of a helping hand.
But constantly fresh districts open beyond the reach of the churches and
philanthropic agencies, and here the need is for individuals whose
Christianity is deep enough to stand the hard test of isolation. Many
immigrants (so-called Christian), when deprived of church services and
the influences of old days, seem to forget their faith. But to those who
hold fast their religion under the new trials may come the reward of
giving an uplift to, and stamping a Christian character upon, a whole
community. Indeed, a neighbourhood often reflects for years the type of
its earlier settlers.
[Illustration: THE BIG TREE, VANCOUVER]
V
INDUSTRIES AND TRANSPORT
THE most important industry of Canada is, of course, agriculture,
which employs nearly twice as many people as any other class of
industries, and has a greater annual product. With comparatively few
exceptions, the farmers of Canada own their own land. Considered from
the point of view of its returns, the greatest crop is wheat.
Saskatchewan ranks first as a wheat-growing province; Manitoba and
Alberta coming respectively second and third. In the older provinces the
farmers are going in to a great extent for mixed farming, and for the
raising of apples and other fruit. British Columbia is also giving much
attention to the fruit industry. At present many of the prairie farms
are devoted solely to the growing of grain; but already the leaders of
the agricultural world of the Dominion are urging the extension of
“mixed farming,” for the sake of saving the fertile soil from exhaustion
and for the simplification of the labour problem, which is aggravated by
the crowding of all the work of the farms into a few brief weeks of
summer.
The second great industry of those depending directly on natural
resources is lumbering. When the French settled on the St. Lawrence,
they perceived at once the value of the forest wealth of the land,
reporting to the home government that the colony would prove a rich
source for the supply of masts and spars for the royal navy; and soon
“stringent regulations were issued for the preservation of the standing
oak.” The early British governors were also instructed to take measures
for the preservation of lumber likely to be useful for the navy.
The export of Canada’s forest products began, it is said, in 1667, when
the first shipload of lumber was sent to Europe. For years forest
products came first in value on the list of exports. During the earlier
part of the nineteenth century, Canada’s lumber went chiefly to Great
Britain; but during the last forty years much has been exported to the
United States. This has, however, been offset in part by considerable
imports of American lumber into Canada.
In Canada there is, of course, an immense domestic demand for wood. Over
half the people live in wooden houses, immense quantities of wood are
still used as fuel, our thousands of miles of railway tracks are laid on
wooden ties or “sleepers;” fleets of wooden ships and boats still ply on
our coast and inland waters—in fact, it has been said that “our
civilization is built on wood. From the cradle to the coffin in some
shape or other it surrounds us as a convenience or necessity.” Our
childhood’s toys, our furniture, the very paper on which the news of the
day is printed, are forest products strangely transmuted. No sane person
would dispute the value of the forests, and Canada is richly endowed in
this respect; though, perhaps, hardly so richly as some estimates would
lead us to believe.
In time past there has been most reckless waste of the Dominion’s forest
wealth. In early pioneering days, perhaps it was unavoidable that the
immigrants, far from markets, and hemmed in by great woods, should treat
the trees as natural enemies, and clear them off the face of the earth
as rapidly and as thoroughly as they could. So, in Ontario, were
destroyed millions of magnificent trees; in many instances of kinds that
would now be of immense value for the making of the better kinds of
furniture; but black walnut trees were used to make fences of, and
beeches and maples, too heavy to raft down the lakes to the seaports, as
was done with the pine, were drawn together and burned in great heaps so
that the settler could plant his first little crops of corn and
vegetables amongst their stumps, and could turn an honest penny by
selling the potash he made from their ashes.
Not only the pioneers, however, have been responsible for the
destruction of trees. The Indians and hunters of game in the woods, the
lumbermen, leaving their great heaps of dry brush and other inflammable
refuse, only needing a chance spark from the lighting of a pipe, or a
camp fire carelessly left burning, to turn it into kindling, ready laid
for a great conflagration; the railways with the unguarded smoke stacks
of their engines, have all had their share in the destruction of the
forests; and it has been estimated that more timber has been destroyed
in the Dominion by fire than by the axe. The nation is, however,
awakening to the seriousness of the situation. For the last fourteen
years the Canadian Forestry Association, with branches all over the
Dominion, has been doing excellent work in disseminating information and
rousing public interest concerning the preservation of the forests, and
a new governmental policy has been inaugurated. Large areas of land have
been set apart in Ontario and other provinces and by the Dominion
government, where it has direct control, as “Forest Reserves.”
In 1909 there was established the non-partizan “Conservation
Commission,” upon which each province is represented in the person of
the cabinet minister most definitely connected with the administration
of natural resources. Ontario’s representative, for instance, is the
Minister of Lands and Mines. The several universities of Canada are also
represented. The functions of the Commission are advisory and
educational, and its members are carefully studying the various natural
resources. But it is recognized that the people are the greatest asset
the country possesses; and while the Commission endeavours to devise
plans for avoiding wasteful methods in lumbering and mining, to prevent
the depletion of the fish in the waters and the game in the woods, it is
concerned above all to discover means of stopping the fearful waste of
human life by industrial accidents, unhealthy conditions, preventable
diseases, and the ignorant treatment of infants and young children,
which last results in such appalling mortality in the first five years
of life.
It must not, however, be inferred from this reference to infant
mortality that the climate of Canada is by any means unhealthy. The
experience of immigrants from the British Isles and from all European
countries shows that it is well fitted for Europeans; and, as a general
rule, the children especially enjoy the cold months, finding delight in
the sports that winter brings. Often the snow is too firm and powdery
for that favourite sport of British youngsters—snowballing! But little
ones who have not long learned to toddle alone can find amusement with
their small sleighs, and for bigger children and young boys and girls
there are the endless delights of “coasting” and toboganning and skating
and snow-shoeing and ski-ing.
Of course, here the country children have the best of it. But if one
wants to realize the delights offered by a brisk winter’s day, he cannot
do better than visit some open hilly spot within the limits of one of
Canada’s cities—especially on a Saturday afternoon when the fathers
have time to join in the fun. Then the white hillside is fairly alive
with children in gay blanket-coats (often of scarlet) and knitted
French-Canadian “tuques” ending in saucy bobs on the top, or long
bag-like arrangements finished with dangling tassels; but it is the
eagerness of the children and their quaint attitudes which give the
picture its chief interest. A favourite way of making the descent is
prone on the little sleighs, head foremost, legs stuck stiffly up from
the knees, or trailing out behind, as an excellent rudder. Sometimes two
“bob-sleighs,” connected by a long board, form a more ambitious vehicle
for half a dozen boys and girls at once, and loud are the shrieks and
the laughter, as the “bobs” jolt over some rough bit of the track or
shoot their passengers off at last into some heap of snow. As a rule,
the mothers see that the youngsters are warmly clad in woollen garments
from head to heel, and then no one is hurt by a roll in the soft snow.
But all this is, I am afraid, a long digression from the serious subject
of industries. Canada’s mineral products come next after those of the
forest, and make a various list. It includes gold and silver, copper,
nickel and lead; coal and iron; petroleum, natural gas, cement, clay
products and building stones. These are widely distributed, and every
day fresh discoveries are being made of deposits of useful minerals. In
several instances the cutting of railways has led accidentally to such
discoveries. This was the case with the copper ores at Sudbury and the
silver at Cobalt; but scientists sent out by government and prospectors
are always busily searching for new mineral fields. The central
provinces of Canada import immense quantities of coal; though both in
Nova Scotia to the east, and Alberta and British Columbia to the west,
there are immense coal beds, which are being worked at the present time.
Government has made great efforts by the giving of bounties and by
protective legislation to stimulate the manufacture of iron in this
country. The result is that Canada, which in 1883 had only three or four
small blast furnaces, had in 1913 eighteen furnaces, many of them large
and of an up-to-date type, employing 1,778 men.
The fisheries of Canada are one of her greatest assets. In fact, it has
been claimed that they are the most extensive in the world. But here, as
with lumber, untold recklessness has reigned for generations, with the
result that in some of the great lakes the fisheries are of much less
value than they used to be. It is so with Lake Ontario, in which case
the Americans must share the responsibility of depletion with the
Canadians. Accounts of the catches of salmon and white fish made in the
lake in the pioneer days read now like fables.
But the coast waters of the Maritime Provinces and British Columbia, and
hundreds of the lakes in the interior, still abound with fish, and for a
number of years “conservation” of the fisheries has been receiving
careful attention. There are close seasons in fishing, regulated by act
of parliament, to prevent reckless destruction, and there are now
forty-one fish-breeding hatcheries.
Government has endeavoured to stimulate the fishing industry by a system
of bounties; by establishing intelligence bureaux, with reporting
stations along the coasts of the Maritime Provinces, which give “timely
warning to the fishermen of a strike in of fish, of the weather and of
other facts, early information about which is important to success.”
Cold storage establishments at different places for the keeping of
supplies of bait have also been helpful to the fishing industry.
In the year 1911-12 the value of the fish taken and of fish exported was
greater than ever before, but the figures of the returns do not by any
means represent the whole value, for fish is used extensively as food,
wherever it is caught. In order of value, salmon, caught chiefly on the
Pacific Coast, comes first on the list of Canadian food fishes, the
worth of the catch last year amounting to $10,333,000 or about
£2,067,000. Next in order come cod, lobsters (of which fifty millions
were caught in the year), herring, halibut, and oysters. In addition to
fish, 1,244 whales were taken in Canadian waters. Canada’s inland
sea—Hudson Bay—is said to be one of “the richest whaling grounds in
the world.” It is also believed to be richly supplied with valuable fish
of many kinds, but its fisheries are yet inaccessible to markets and are
undeveloped. The great northern lakes are full of valuable freshwater
fish. Nearly a hundred thousand men, including those who work on shore,
find employment in the fisheries.
From the fisheries the next step is naturally to the shipping interests.
1912 was a year of great expansion in the industry, and Canada moved
from the tenth to the ninth place in the list of shipping nations; but
she was fifth in the year 1874, at which period many ships were built in
her yards. The reason for the falling off was the change from wooden to
iron and steel ships. But the shipbuilding industry is beginning to
revive, and at seven different points on the Atlantic, the Pacific, the
St. Lawrence, and the Great Lakes, there are large dry docks for the
construction and repair of vessels. In this connection it may be of
interest to remark that the first vessel to cross the Atlantic under
steam the whole way was the “Royal William,” built at Wolfe’s Cove, near
Quebec, in the winter of 1830-31. Her historic voyage was made in 1833
from Pictou, in Nova Scotia, to London.
If the tonnage of vessels owned in Canada shows a decrease from the
figures of forty years ago, it is hardly necessary to say that this is
by no means the case with the tonnage of vessels required for the
transportation of freight and Canadian passengers. In fact, little over
one-tenth of Canada’s exports is carried in Canadian vessels. The
shipping employed is divided (so far as statistics are concerned) into
three branches, according to whether it is employed in the overseas
carrying trade between Canada and other countries; the inland lakes and
rivers transport service; and the coasting trade, which, oddly enough,
includes the activities of vessels voyaging from a Canadian port on the
Atlantic, round Cape Horn to another Canadian port on the Pacific. The
opening of the Panama Canal will enable these “coasters” to shorten
their journey from Montreal to Vancouver (for example) by 7,221 miles.
Perhaps no nation is more favoured than Canada in the possession of
inland waterways—though to take advantage of them to the present extent
(and great expansion is possible) has required the construction of
numerous canals and locks, to overcome differences of level; and, in
some instances, to connect natural systems of navigable water. There is
one great inland waterway in Canada, from the mouth of the St. Lawrence
to the head of Lake Superior, by which large steamers can make a voyage
equal to that from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to Liverpool. In this
distance of two thousand two hundred miles there are only seventy-three
miles of canals, with forty-eight locks overcoming five hundred and
fifty-one feet of height.
Already, it is stated, the tonnage passing through the Sault Ste. Marie
canals to avoid the rapids between Lake Superior and Huron is in amount
three times that which passes through the Suez canal. By this route
immense quantities of grain are brought to the ocean ports; and it is
anticipated that within a short time when the deeper Welland canal is
completed, ocean-going steamers will be able to carry their cargoes,
without transhipment, all the way from the Lake Superior ports to those
of Great Britain.
What this will mean to the Canadian West is evident, when one considers
the cheapness of water-carriage compared with railway transport. The
advantage of the former is indeed so great that, when time is not a
primary consideration, freight from Liverpool for Vancouver or Victoria
is carried all the way round by Cape Horn in preference to sending it by
the more direct route to St. John or Montreal, and thence by rail across
the continent to its destination. The first attempt to improve
artificially the inland navigation was made in 1779, when canals were
begun to overcome the rapids immediately above the Lachine rapids. But
there are miles upon miles of navigable lakes and rivers in the Dominion
which have needed no improvement.
Nevertheless, though the importance of the inland waterways can hardly
be over-estimated, it is perhaps not too much to say that the Dominion
of Canada has been made by her railways, for it was these which made
possible a real union between the widely separated provinces of her
earlier years; and the American description of “the Canadian Pacific
Railway” as the “Dominion on wheels” expressed a most interesting fact.
The building of railways began in 1836—with a sixteen-mile line (on
which horses instead of locomotives were first used) between Laprairie,
near Montreal, and St. John’s on the Richelieu. Three years later
another short line of six miles was made in Nova Scotia, upon which a
steam-engine was used to draw coal from the Albion mines to New Glasgow.
It was not till the fifties that railway building in Canada was begun in
earnest; but before that decade had half gone by, there were five
hundred and sixty-three miles of railway, and by 1867 this length was
multiplied by four. Since Confederation Canada’s miles of railway have
been multiplied almost by twelve, exclusive of sidings. Piling up
figures, however, is a tiresome way to tell what is really a very
interesting chapter in the history of Canada.
The railways linking Canada together have, indeed, cost the people and
the Dominion and the provincial governments millions of money; and in
early days, many municipalities, for the sake of having railways,
seriously embarrassed themselves with debt. But the need seemed great.
Lord Durham advised the building of the “Intercolonial Railway”—the
line owned and operated by the Dominion government—to knit together the
Maritime Provinces with the Canadas; but the difficulties and delays
over this railway were endless, and it was not completed till 1876. For
many years it was operated at a loss, but it has developed the country
through which it passes and has greatly increased the trade between the
several eastern provinces.
Before the era of railways, dwellers in New Brunswick who wished to go
to Quebec used not infrequently to go on foot through the intervening
wilderness in the winter time. So the first Lieutenant-Governor of New
Brunswick once tramped through the snowy woods to visit his brother the
Governor-General, Lord Dorchester; and so in 1813, when the war with the
United States was raging, some companies of New Brunswick troops marched
on snowshoes to the aid of their hard-pressed brethren in Canada. Much
later, if a traveller wished to go from Nova Scotia to Toronto, it was
the easiest way to take ship to Boston, and go thence through the
“States” by rail to “Canada”—as the Nova Scotians continued to call the
provinces touching on the St. Lawrence for long after the name was
extended to the whole Dominion. This journey to “Canada” was quite an
adventure to an untravelled person who had been born and brought up
almost within sound of the sea. But the long-delayed construction of the
“Intercolonial” gradually changed that condition of affairs.
The Grand Trunk is the pioneer of the several great company-owned
railway systems, having absorbed many of the smaller railways begun in
the fifties. For years it was not a profitable undertaking to its
shareholders; but now its lines make a regular network in the older
portions of Canada; and the Grand Trunk Pacific is being rapidly pushed
to completion north of its older competitor in the West, the Canadian
Pacific Railway. It is expected that when this “National
Transcontinental Line” is finished it will shorten the trip round the
globe by a week.
It is helping, moreover, to give Canada breadth from south to north.
Already settlers are going into the so-called “Great Clay Belt” of good
agricultural land in Northern Ontario. Already a string of little towns
has sprung up along the Grand Trunk Pacific in the western provinces.
Already its new seaport—“Prince Rupert”—five hundred and fifty miles
north-west of Vancouver, and five hundred miles nearer to the east than
any other Pacific Coast port, is an accomplished fact, where a
population of four or five thousand is impatiently awaiting the uniting
of the two portions of the railway which are being built westward and
eastward, to meet in the mountains. Prince Rupert is close to some of
the best fishing grounds in the world; and when the Grand Trunk Pacific
line is completed it will put the fisheries of the North Pacific Coast
in touch with a host of new markets.
It is difficult for people who have lived always in small well-settled
countries to imagine what the opening of a great new railway means to
the Dominion.
Over seventy years ago the people who see visions and dream dreams were
prophesying a new trade route between east and west, by which the teas
and silks of China and Japan would be brought by steam power along
rivers, canals and railways across what is now the Dominion of Canada.
In 1846 Sir Richard Bonnycastle, lieutenant-colonel of the Royal
Engineers, predicted “We shall yet place an iron belt from the Atlantic
to the Pacific—a railway from Halifax to Nootka Sound—and thus reach
China in a pleasant voyage.” Three years later another officer of the
Royal Engineers, Major Carmichael Smith, published a pamphlet urging the
construction of an “Inter-oceanic railway from Halifax to the mouth of
the Fraser river,” with a map upon which he traced a line almost
identical with the routes ultimately adopted for the Intercolonial and
Canadian Pacific Railways. But it was not until 1870, when British
Columbia agreed to come into Confederation on condition that the
inter-oceanic railway should be built, that any definite step was taken
towards the construction of Canada’s first “transcontinental line.”
In the following year surveys for the line were begun under Mr.
(afterwards Sir) Sandford Fleming. But the end was not yet in sight. The
construction of the line was an immense task to be undertaken by a
country so young and so sparsely settled as Canada, and fourteen
strenuous years of political strife and struggle against all kinds of
difficulty were to pass before the last spike of the railway was driven
by Lord Strathcona (then Sir Donald Smith) at Craigellachie in the Eagle
pass.
To the company, which finally built the line, the government gave
$25,000,000 (£5,130,000) in cash, an even greater value in portions of
the road already constructed, and twenty-five million acres of land,
scattered through the prairie provinces, and the Canadian Pacific
Railway is now a very wealthy corporation, which carries on numerous
enterprises outside the actual business of railway transportation. For
instance, there is a fleet of seventy-three Canadian Pacific Railway
steamships, most of which are large vessels sailing the Atlantic, the
Pacific, and the Great Lakes. These ships carry annually over half a
million passengers and give employment to over twelve thousand men. The
company also owns a number of luxurious hotels, including the
happily-named “Château Frontenac,” which the new arrival from Europe,
coming up the St. Lawrence, can scarcely fail to notice, crowning the
rock of Quebec, near to the spot where old Count Frontenac, from his
little “Château St. Louis,” lorded it over the rough bushrangers and
determined churchmen of New France.
The company still owns some ten or eleven million acres of land in the
four western provinces; and during recent years has inaugurated a policy
of irrigating some naturally rather arid lands in Alberta and preparing
there what are known as “ready-made farms,” for suitable immigrants.
This experiment has inspired the governments of some of the provinces to
make similar preparation for immigrant farmers. The preparation of the
farms for their future owners is, of course, a business enterprize; none
the less it has smoothed the way for many newcomers.
Looking at the map of the country served by the Canadian Pacific, we see
no longer a line but a network of lines (even in the West) where fifty
years ago it was generally supposed that nothing would grow. It is
Canada’s vast wheat fields, which have made possible her huge railway
systems, and while new lands are year by year being brought under
cultivation, the railways will continue to add to their mileage. On the
other hand, every year the new lines of railway open fresh lands to
settlers.
Another Canadian railway that has a remarkable record is the Canadian
Northern, which claims to have grown at the rate of a mile a day for the
last sixteen years. This railway also has obtained most liberal
government assistance and is a transcontinental system in the making. In
fact, contracts are let for the completion of the whole distance between
the city of Quebec and Port Mann in British Columbia; but it has gone on
the plan of building short lines in different districts, to be
afterwards combined and connected to form the whole system. Already it
has run many branch lines from Winnipeg—westward and northward and
southward—into the great grain-growing districts, and in 1912 it hauled
no less than sixty million bushels of wheat.
There are as well a number of smaller railways, and also a number of
lines (1,308 miles in length in 1912) in which electricity is the motive
power. Many of these are, of course, the street railways of cities and
towns.
There is much of human interest connected with a great railway,
dissipater of romance, destroyer of the picturesque, as it is generally
asserted to be. Consider it from the large point of view of its
inception, its planning, its organization; the political fight to gain
for it a legalized existence and the support of public funds and grants
of land. It may be that Canada has time and again been recklessly
generous in the price she has given for her transportation schemes, and
that she has paid too highly for the services of the forceful men able
to overcome the difficulties of such enterprises—but railways and yet
more railways is still her cry; and the Napoleon of finance who can
organize the company to build them is counted worthy of a reward so rich
that he and his associates may be tempted to grasp at more than their
share of the good things that their line opens to the world, and to use
their power not always for the public good. Canada needs the great
organizers of industry and more of them; but she needs, too, statesmen
ever watchful of the public interests, who shall know how to economize
as well as how to spend, and shall be strong enough to keep control
over, and use for the good of all the people, the different human forces
which are engaged, blindly or wisely, selfishly or nobly, in making out
of several comparatively weak provinces a big nation, which patriots
hope and trust may be also a great nation.
From the other point of view, the subject of railways—as it touches the
life and well-being of individuals in Canada—is also intensely
interesting. Not long ago I talked with a man who had done well in the
West, but had gone into a district ahead of the railway, expecting it to
be made in a year. With this hope he had settled forty miles from his
next neighbour, seventy-five miles from a post office, and fifty miles
from the point where he had to market his grain; but instead of one year
he had to wait ten for the promised line. No wonder that the dweller in
the country places loves to see the train pass by. It means in illness,
possibility of getting skilled help of doctor and nurse, in health,
opportunity of intercourse with friends and neighbours; for the young
and old, a fuller social life; for the farmer, access to markets and
oftentimes prosperity instead of failure. In one word, it means
opportunity in a thousand ways.
Of course, the railways employ a great army of men upon their
construction on the one hand, and their operation on the other. In 1912
the C.P.R. alone had 85,000 employees on its pay rolls. The numbers
finding employment in connection with the transportation systems in this
“country of magnificent distances” as it has been called, would be
vastly increased if those engaged in the subsidiary trades were taken
into account, such as the making of iron rails, the construction of cars
and engines, the cutting of railway ties and so forth.
A great change has taken place in Canada recently in the occupations of
the people. Sixty years ago there were only twenty-eight or thirty
different kinds of manufactures carried on in the country, and of the
manufacturing establishments the chief were—shipyards, saw, grist,
carding, and woollen mills; distilleries, tanneries, breweries and
foundries, several of which are very closely connected with agriculture.
The great woollen mills and the tanneries, for instance, are all closely
dependent on farm products, as the saw mills are on the natural crop of
wood, and all these with distilleries, in addition, were very early
established on a small scale in the several districts to supply local
demands.
By 1891 there were three hundred different kinds of manufactures,
instead of thirty, and the number of workers employed had multiplied
five-fold. Since then the capital invested, the value of their output,
and the importance of Canada’s manufacturing, has continued to increase,
the development during the last decade being the greatest on record.
Manufactures of wood and manufactures connected with food are still
specially important.
Manufactures have been artificially encouraged by the so-called
“National Policy,” or tariff, arranged to protect home industries. One
result of this has been the stimulation of the growth of the towns and
cities. In Ontario the last census showed a considerable increase in the
population as a whole, a greater increase in the urban population and a
falling off of over 50,000 in the rural population. No doubt this is due
in part to the exodus to the West, but the towns of Ontario can well
support more than their old quota of population, and there are excellent
markets near at hand for all the fruit, vegetables, and other farm
products that can be raised. The same story comes from New Brunswick and
that peaceful little agricultural community, Prince Edward Island.
The fact that Canada is becoming a manufacturing as well as an
agricultural country is, however, in a large degree a natural
development. There is no question that its opportunities are not
confined to agriculture. It is, indeed, singularly favoured by nature
with water powers, from which electricity for light and power can be
developed readily and cheaply, and can be conveniently transmitted for
hundreds of miles for use by great cities or by single farms.
As England’s great coal fields determined that she should become a great
manufacturing nation, Canada’s immense number of cataracts and rapids
promise that she, too, shall be great in the same line. Everyone has
heard of the “harnessing of Niagara”; but not everyone realizes how much
electricity is used in Canada. Many a little town, only a few months
old, has stepped at once from the stage of lighting with lamps to that
of brilliant electrical illumination. But if facilities for obtaining
power are the first necessity for manufacturing, Canada has
opportunities also in the variety of her natural products, from field,
forest and mine. A third reason, strongest of all, perhaps, is that her
people are ambitious, and rightly or wrongly feel that it is necessary
to the realization of their nationhood that a proportion of their
population should be engaged in manufacturing.
There is at least this strong excuse for such a position, that always
there will be people to whom agricultural pursuits will not be
congenial, and, if there were no opportunities apart from cultivation of
the soil in Canada, many of her young people would continue to go
elsewhere. At the present day, there are over a million Canadians in the
United States, who have been attracted thither by the opportunities
offered by its cities and industries. Some of these are now
returning—drawn home to a great extent by the opening of new industries
in their native land.
Unquestionably the prosperity of Canada rests mainly upon agriculture;
and legislation that has any tendency to foster the growth of the towns
at the expense of the country must in the long run prove injurious.
Canada is, however, only following the example of older lands, when she
rejoices in her big towns, and in the consequent massing of wealth in
restricted areas, for the absence of these (at least as society is now
constituted) limits the sphere of human activity; and, if Canada desires
anything strongly, it is, perhaps, to be an all-round nation, possessing
not only these material advantages of which we all hear so much, not
only the chances for the honest worker, but also opportunities at least
for the cultivation of science and art, literature and music. Now the
cultivation of these is not easy in little frontier towns and hamlets
and solitary farms deep in the country. But the manufacturing industries
build up the towns, and the towns make possible a kind of co-operation
in the things of the mind, that has been almost unheard of in the
country.
Hasty visitors sometimes sweepingly and condescendingly accuse Canada of
being “crude” and utilitarian, and of being in earnest chiefly about the
pursuit of the “Almighty Dollar,” and assert as a matter of course that
the finer side of life is neglected, but often these critics would
discover, if they stayed in the land a little longer, that much patient
cultivation of the higher interests of humanity is going on beneath the
surface, as it were. Moreover, if much and rich flowering has not
occurred, the field—of human beings—is at present extremely small. The
newcomer often expects at once much too much and too little, and makes
his comparisons, forgetful of the fact that outstandingly great poets or
painters, altruists and heroes are rare everywhere, and that they cannot
be expected to be numerous in half a century of time, amongst a
population of three or four or even seven millions. At Confederation,
less than fifty years ago, Canada had only three and a quarter millions
of people, and, for several decades after that, the growth was very
slow.
Often, I would venture to say, that the “crudeness” complained of is as
much in the surroundings as in the people themselves; and the critic
from the Old World should not forget that, so far as the environment of
the colonists is concerned, they often have nothing about them in the
way of the refinements of life which they do not owe to themselves;
whereas the beautiful city or house or church with which he contrasts
their deficiencies of comfort or beauty was probably largely a heritage
from past ages.
But the reverse idea applies to the people themselves. Though they are
dwellers in a new country, many overseas Britons are extraordinarily
conscious of their own and their national past. They are more keenly
conscious of what it stands for than many of the stay-at-home folk, who
have some dim feeling that “colonists” (though their own sons and
daughters) are people without a history and without a link to the great
days and great deeds of their ancestors. His past is the cherished
possession of many a Scot and many an Englishman, who has done brave
work in building up the new country, and it seems rather like giving him
“the cold shoulder” when a new arrival, flitting rapidly through the
country, or even intending to cast in his lot with it, talks always of
everything British as “ours,” and of everything “colonial,” as
“_yours_.” As Kipling suggests, the overseas Briton looks back to “the
abbey” and much else that in the old land “makes us we,” with no less
love and veneration than the Englishman at home.
[Illustration: 1. CONSTRUCTION TRAIN ON THE GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC RAILWAY.
2. CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY IRRIGATION DAM AT BASSANO.]
[Illustration: THE OLD SMELTER MINE, NELSON.]
VI
THE OLD PROVINCE OF NOVA SCOTIA
I NOW propose to give some account of the nine provinces in
succession, with regard to their extent, physical features, climate,
natural resources, and the conditions and pursuits of the people. I
shall also endeavour to give information as to the prospects in each
province for immigrants from the British Isles. Of course, in the space
at my disposal, I can touch but slightly on any of these points. I will
begin with Nova Scotia, the province that lies nearest to England,
though curiously enough it is little-known by English people compared to
many of the more westerly regions. Except in winter, when the Canadian
mail steamers cannot go to Quebec, and so land their mails and their
cabin passengers at Halifax, Nova Scotia seems somewhat off the line of
tourist and immigrant travel, which passes up the Gulf of St. Lawrence
to the north of the little group of Canada’s three “Maritime Provinces.”
It is possible for anyone to live long in another part of Canada without
getting much idea of the history, resources or characteristics of the
“Provinces down by the Sea,” but it adds immensely to one’s interest and
pride in the Dominion when one realizes that Quebec and Ontario—wealthy
and important as they unquestionably are—are now only a part of Canada,
and that for a comprehensive understanding of the country as a whole,
there is needed at least some knowledge of the prairie provinces, and
British Columbia to the west, and of the little old less restless Lower
Provinces to the east.
The story of Nova Scotia is full of interest from the days early in the
seventeenth century, when the first little company of French colonizers
tried so gallantly to found Port Royal, down to the present time. The
long struggle of the French and English for the possession of the land,
the frightful deeds of their Indian allies, the coming of the Loyalists
and other pioneers, the gallant fight for British liberty and
“responsible government,” all furnish incidents not less worthy of the
poet’s song than that pitiful deportation of the Acadians, which
inspired Longfellow’s pathetic but rather misleading poem of
“Evangeline.”
I can spare little space for history, but before I go on to tell what I
can of Nova Scotia—and for seven years quaint old Halifax was my
home—I should like to say that whatever else this smallest, save one,
of the Dominion’s nine provinces fails to produce, she has been
singularly successful in the producing of men. Upon the roll of her
“notables” are the names of Haliburton—“the father of American
humour”—Inglis, who defended Lucknow; Cunard, founder of the line of
great Transatlantic steamships; Sir Provo Wallis, Admiral of the Fleet;
Dawson, of geologic and educational fame; whilst other well-known names
of men still at work might be added to the list.
The very name—Nova Scotia—forces comparison with old Scotland, but the
former is not quite three-quarters the size of the latter, nor has it
much more than one-tenth of the population. It is also far south of its
namesake; in fact, there is almost eight degrees between the latitudes
of the north of Nova Scotia and the south of Scotland, but the Arctic
currents in the West Atlantic have their influence on the climate,
making the Nova Scotian winter cold, and the spring late, though the
extremes of heat and cold are not so severe as farther inland. During a
recent year at Halifax, for instance, only once did the mercury fall to
“zero,” and only once in the hottest month, July, did it travel up to 98
degrees Fahrenheit.
On the Atlantic coasts there is a good deal of rain, fog and “Scotch
mist,” but summer and autumn are often delightful seasons of bright,
clear, not too hot, weather. In the inland and western parts of the
province the climate is drier and not quite so variable.
Like her namesake, Nova Scotia turns towards the ocean a deeply
indented, forbidding coast; but the interior lacks “Old Scotia’s” grand
mountains, though it has a backbone of sterile hills running through the
province, beside the Cobequid Mountains, in Cumberland County, and many
a high rugged cliff in Cape Breton Island. This new Scotland has also
its stretches of wild moorland and its lakes, set amongst dark spruce
firs. But between “the barrens” of the Atlantic Coast, there is here and
there a fertile valley; and on the Bay of Fundy side, but sheltered from
its cold mists and winds by the long ridge of the North Mountain,
stretches the far-famed Annapolis valley, where in spring the whole
landscape seems one vast white orchard, save for the pretty little
houses, half hidden amongst the bloom.
That side, too, is the region of the salt marshes, formed by the action
of those phenomenally high tides of the Bay of Fundy, which were amongst
the few remarkable features of Canada thought worthy of mention in the
“Geographies” put into the hands of British children a generation ago.
In course of ages these mighty tides have left vast level deposits of
marine mud—the salt marshes—liable to invasion of the waves at spring
tides, but easily turned by a little labour into pastures and hay
meadows and grain fields of almost inexhaustible fertility. All that is
necessary is to build dykes or embankments of tree trunks and clay to
keep back the highest tides; and this work was begun long ago by some of
the early French immigrants, who had been accustomed to reclaiming land
from the sea in their own country. If, at any time, the fields should
show signs of exhaustion, the fertilizing waters may again be let in for
a short season; indeed, farmers living near undyked marshes are
accustomed to haul loads of the precious sea-mud to their upland fields.
Of something the same character as the dyked lands are the “intervales”
along the rivers, which are said to be “invariably rich and productive.”
The abundance of pasturage and hay makes good dairying, and Nova Scotia
is emphatically a country of mixed farming. Almost all crops suited to a
temperate climate can be grown in some part of the province. But, during
a recent year, of all agricultural products, hay brought most money into
the farmers’ pockets; then came live stock products, potatoes, apples,
oats, “garden truck,” and so in a descending scale.
[Illustration: FISH CURING AT GUYSBORO, NOVA SCOTIA. NOTE THE SPLIT
COD-FISH DRYING IN THE FOREGROUND.]
Not only the farming can be described as “mixed” in Nova Scotia. The
occupations of her people (in number somewhat under half a million) are
also mixed; and though agriculture takes first place, fishing,
lumbering, mining and manufacturing are of importance, all the great
industries setting “new records” last year.
In fishing, Nova Scotia was long the leading province of the Dominion,
but in 1912, British Columbia, with her immense catch of salmon, stepped
before her. In the Atlantic province, though the lobster fishery is
valuable and is to the dwellers on the sterile southern coast the chief
source of ready money, the cod fishery is worth most of all, a fact
quaintly recognized by the habit of the shore people of referring to a
cod as “a fish,” and to all others of the finny tribe by their specific
names of haddock, halibut and so forth.
The fishing hamlets consist of little whitewashed cottages dotted at
random about the weather-beaten rocks, beside the fine natural harbours
or little coves where the boats run in for shelter, alongside ramshackle
stages where the cod are dried in the open air, and by fish-houses,
often emitting the peculiarly horrible odour of over-kept “bait.”
Despite all drawbacks, there is a fascination in the jumble of boats and
nets and lobster traps, whilst the fisherfolk themselves,
fresh-complexioned, clear-eyed, sturdy-limbed, simple, kindly and
straightforward, are a good stock one would fancy to set against the
threatening degeneration of the race by the unwholesome crowding into
towns. Some 30,000 men find employment, on sea and shore, in connection
with the fisheries. The fishermen are generally rather poor, but the
more enterprizing members of the fraternity often pass from the sailing
of a fishing boat to that of a coasting vessel.
In the coast villages tiny stores, with stock small in quantity, great
in variety, are plentiful, and some of the fishermen attempt to add to
their incomes by farming, often in a rather haphazard, amateurish
fashion. Along the shore east of Halifax horses are scarce, and in the
little hay-fields even a one-horse mowing machine is an unusual sight,
and it is quite common to see two men, or it may be a man and a girl,
carrying the cured hay to the barn on two stout poles. In those parts
the fisherfolk take little pains even to improve their own fare by
growing vegetables, but the soil is discouraging. In fact, one resident
of a coast village near Halifax complained, “There ain’t no soil.
There’s nothing but grits!”
Some of the fishermen prosecute their craft only “inshore,” using small
boats, remaining out but a few hours and fishing with hand lines as well
as with trawls from the dories. These men are very dependent on the
weather; but gasoline motor boats are coming into use, enabling them to
go out when it would be impossible with sailing boats. The “bank
fisheries,” chiefly of cod, are carried on by schooners of about 100
tons, manned by twelve to twenty men, who go out, two by two, in dories,
using trawls upon which are thousands of hooks. In the rivers, smelts,
salmon, trout and eels are taken; and there are natural oyster beds, now
yielding a few hundred barrels of oysters annually, which it is said,
with improved management, may yield thousands. In fact, better methods
may do much to make all the fisheries of Nova Scotia much more
productive.
Of the forests of the province, something under one and a half million
acres remain ungranted, and four or five times as much is owned by
farmers and held or leased by lumber and pulp companies. As everywhere
in the Dominion there has been untold loss from fires and wasteful
methods, but the idea of “conservation” promises better things in
future. Pine, of which there used to be large quantities, has become
scarce; but spruce (of more recently discovered value) and birch, a good
furniture wood, are extremely plentiful. The saw mills are generally
situated on the rivers, near tide water; thus their product can be
loaded directly into vessels, which carry it far and wide.
In several counties, a quantity of timber is used in the building of
schooners and fishing boats, but the palmy days of shipbuilding in the
province have passed. It may be, however, that there will be a revival,
and that Nova Scotia will soon be sending forth iron (instead of wooden)
ships to plough all seas, for she is richly endowed with mineral wealth.
In fact, like Massachusetts, she seems to have every gift of
nature—coal, iron, magnificent harbours, and not a little water power,
all awaiting development—to make a great manufacturing region. Through
her northern counties and Cape Breton Island stretches a rich and
enormous coal field, and iron ores (scarcely touched as yet) are found
in every county save one.
Nova Scotia ranks third of the provinces in manufactures, following the
larger and much more populous provinces of Ontario and Quebec, but the
value of her manufactured products (which include foods, textiles,
chemicals, paper, vehicles, vessels and a variety of manufactures of
iron and steel) has more than doubled in a single decade. Nova Scotia is
said to have the “largest individual self-contained steel-making plant
in the world,” but the growth of the iron and steel industry is due not
only to natural advantages and to the genius of different “captains of
industry,” but to the bounties and protective duties granted in its
interests by successive governments of the Dominion.
Amongst the valuable minerals of the province are limestone, granite,
gypsum and gold. The mining of the last-named metal has been carried on
by rather primitive methods for nearly half a century. The yield for the
record year was worth about $600,000 (£120,000), and at present three
hundred men are employed at twenty-five different mines. There is one of
these small mines in Guysborough County, on the edge of a vast stretch
of “barrens”; but, despite its sounding name, “Goldenville” is a sorry
little hamlet, of dingy, unpainted buildings, that seem to mock at the
“prospector’s dazzling dreams.” But one does not usually go to an
industrial place, large or small, in search of the picturesque. One may
chance upon it there, however, as when at night the outpouring of molten
slag from Sydney’s black giants of blast furnaces suddenly lights up the
wide beautiful harbour with a ruddy glow.
Halifax, the capital, containing nearly a tenth of the population of the
province, is undeniably picturesque, with its old Citadel and churches,
its wharves and its vessels, its odd outdoor market, its “redcoats” (now
Canadians) and its coloured folk. Though on the eve of a great
development of its port, which will doubtless revolutionize its business
life, till very recently it has been a quiet old-fashioned place, its
dinginess relieved by lovely water-views from many a point of vantage,
and its dignity secured by such fine old stone buildings as the abode of
the British admiral, Government House and the Province Building, where
still, as in one other case, an Upper as well as a Lower House
deliberates on the affairs of the province.
The Assembly of Nova Scotia, by the way, is the oldest representative
body in the Dominion, having been convened for the first time in 1758.
There was a long fight for the boon of responsible government, won in
1848; and the name of Joseph Howe, the Reform leader, son of a Loyalist,
is renowned throughout the Dominion. During the last half-dozen years
several imposing new buildings, including the Anglican cathedral and the
Memorial Tower (commemorating the calling together of the first
Assembly) have been erected in Halifax. The city is the terminus of the
Intercolonial and two provincial railways, and has a variety of
manufactures.
I cannot give space, as I should like, to descriptions of any of the
smaller towns; but, though someone described Nova Scotia as “the
province that was passed by,” it is as truly a land of opportunity as
any of the regions further west. The opportunity does not come in the
shape of “free grants” of land, but a farmer who knows his business and
has two or three hundred pounds of capital can soon own a good farm.
There are farms of from fifty to three hundred acres of which the price
is from $1,000 (£200) up. Some of these have been thrown on the market
by the death or infirmity of their owners, some through the desire of a
younger owner to go to the west or to take up work in a town. Amongst
them are “run-down” farms, which can be obtained for little more than
the cost of the buildings upon them, and a thoroughly capable farmer may
sometimes find it pay to buy such a farm cheap and bring it back to good
condition.
Within the broad realm of agriculture, to say nothing further of the
other possible avenues to success in woods and mines and city and sea,
there is variety of opportunity. Let a man decide to go into dairying,
market-gardening, the raising of sheep, hogs or poultry, the culture of
apples, or the growing of small fruits, and there is some part of Nova
Scotia in which each one of these pursuits may be followed with special
hope of success; moreover, the provincial government (which is frankly
desirous of good immigrants of the right stamp) has made arrangements to
help the new arrivals to find what they want. (For names of officials
who will give information, see Appendix, Note A, page 295.)
With regard to the very profitable business of apple-growing, it is
stated that not one-tenth of the land in the Annapolis valley and
elsewhere suitable for orchards, has yet been planted.
As to the question of markets—the home market alone is an excellent one
for practically all food supplies, for the constant influx of immigrants
and the armies of non-producers engaged in mining and other industries
create a demand in many lines of foodstuffs not easy for the farmer to
overtake. Nova Scotia imports much that she might just as well grow. But
aside from the home market, she has easy access to those of the other
provinces, and to those of the United States and of Great Britain, for
every one of her counties touches on the sea, which is the best possible
highroad for freight. As to her internal means of communication, roads
are improving and new railways are being added to the old.
With few exceptions, Nova Scotian farmers own the land they till, and to
assist still more to do so, including newcomers, the provincial
government makes arrangements with loan companies to lend as much as 80
per cent. of the appraised value of farm property on mortgage. The
government is also authorized to buy “real estate in farming districts,
subdivide this into suitable-sized farms or lots, erect buildings and
fences thereon, prepare the land for crops and sell this improved real
estate to newcomers on satisfactory terms.” This opportunity to obtain
ready-made farms will no doubt prove attractive to many newcomers.
In the fruit districts of Nova Scotia, owing to the smaller holdings,
people are settled comparatively near together, and this is a great
advantage so far as church and social life and the education of the
children is concerned.
The elementary and high schools, supported by government grants and
local rates, are free. In isolated communities it is sometimes difficult
to obtain teachers; but a hopeful movement is the introduction of
“consolidated schools,” each of which, having several teachers, replaces
the little “one-teacher schools” of a considerable district. There are
now over twenty of these, to which the children are taken in vans.
Nova Scotia has several universities, supported by different religious
bodies, in addition to the non-sectarian Dalhousie University at
Halifax. The oldest of these institutions is King’s College, at Windsor,
which dates from 1790. A comparatively new institution is the
Agricultural College at Truro. Here instruction is given free of cost to
farmers, farmers’ sons and new settlers intending to farm. Besides the
full two years’ course, there are short practical courses of two weeks,
including one for women on dairying and poultry keeping. In connection
with the college is a fine Model Farm, where excellent stock is kept.
The government also maintains experts to give instruction in various
branches of agriculture, and endeavours in a variety of other ways to
improve the methods and conditions of farming in Nova Scotia.
There is a demand always for good farm workers and capable domestic
servants. Even inexperienced young people have little difficulty in
getting work, if they are strong and willing to learn, but they must not
expect high wages till they are competent. For competent farm men the
wages offered are usually from $20 (£4) to $30 (£6) the month, with
board and lodging for a single man, and with a rent-free house and
certain allowances of milk and vegetables for a married man. In the
latter case, the wife, if willing to assist the farmer’s wife, can often
make a considerable addition to the family income. For day labour in the
country a man might expect from $1 (4_s._) to $1.50 (6_s._), with board.
In the towns wages are higher, even for unskilled labour, but in Halifax
at least rents are very high, and a man who is looking forward to
getting a little land of his own would usually be wiser to settle from
the first in a country district where living is cheap, and where the
experience gained would be of definite value in farming operations.
Moreover, if he is able to keep a few fowls, and a pig, and have a
garden of his own, it very much lessens the cost of living. There are
many prosperous farmers in Nova Scotia who landed a few years ago with
scarcely a shilling in their pockets, but these have been hard workers.
The population of Nova Scotia is chiefly of British descent, though not
a few of the early settlers came by way of New England in Loyalist and
pre-Loyalist days. Scottish names are common in many parts of the
province, especially in Cape Breton Island. The ancient Acadians are
represented by something like fifty thousand French people, and the Nova
Scotians of German descent are not much fewer.
Of religious bodies, the Roman Catholics are the strongest, but the
Presbyterians make a good second, then come in order the Baptists, the
Anglicans and the Methodists. In the country places there are a few
union churches, but there is a good deal of “over-lapping,” which
aggravates the difficulty of ministering adequately to communities so
scattered, as they are, for instance, on the south coast.
[Illustration: 1. SIXTY ACRE ORCHARD, NOVA SCOTIA.
2. FARM HOUSE, NOVA SCOTIA.]
VII
NEW BRUNSWICK, THE LAND OF THE ST. JOHN
THE Province of New Brunswick is in shape almost a square, and in
extent has an area of about 28,000 square miles. In other words, it is
smaller than Scotland, but has a much larger proportion of land that can
be cultivated than that rugged little country which has sent forth such
masterly farmers to till larger and richer fields than those of their
own stern land. It is bounded on the east and south by the Gulf of St.
Lawrence and the Bay of Fundy, which are separated by the narrow neck of
land from which Nova Scotia thrusts itself like a great breakwater into
the Atlantic surges. Northward it reaches to Chaleur bay and the
Province of Quebec. Westward it is bounded by Maine, which (thanks to
the efforts of a British diplomatist to settle at all costs a
long-standing dispute) comes in like a wedge between New Brunswick and
Quebec. In latitude New Brunswick lies almost entirely between the 45th
and 48th parallels, which also, it may be noted, run across the central
portion of France.
Upon the coast there is, as might be expected, a good deal of rain and
mist and white sea fog; but the climate of the interior is more dry and
clear; and there is no lack of sunshine. Compared with England, the
winters are cold, and the farmer has a shorter period each year in which
he can work upon his land; but in one of the government publications is
given an interesting quotation bearing upon this point from a Report on
New Brunswick, written in 1850, by a great English agricultural expert,
Professor J. F. W. Johnston:—
“On the whole,” he says, “I think we must allow that though the
period for out-door labour is shorter in New Brunswick—as it is
in the Canadas, Maine, and the Northern States—than in England
and in some parts of Scotland, yet that the action of winter
upon the soil is such as to materially lessen the labour
necessary to bring it into a proper state of tilth.”
Moreover, while in Great Britain the work of the farmer is often
interfered with by rain, and his expenses “considerably increased by the
precarious nature of the climate in which he lives,”
“In New Brunswick the climate is more steady and equable. Rains
do not so constantly fall, and when they do descend, the soils
in most parts of the province are so porous as readily to allow
them to pass through. Thus the outdoor operations of the farmer
are less impeded by rain, and the disposable time he possesses,
compared with that of the British farmer, is not to be measured
by the number of days at the disposal of each.”
The climate of New Brunswick, the professor concludes,
“does not prevent the soil from producing crops which, other
things being equal, are not inferior in quantity or quality to
those of average soils in England; while, as for its health, it
is an exceedingly healthy climate. Every medical man I have met
in the province, I believe without exception, and almost every
other man I have conversed with, assures me of this, and the
healthy looks and the numerous families of the natives of all
classes confirm these assurances.”
To this day the people of New Brunswick certainly have a healthy
appearance, and rosy cheeks and clear complexions are common, especially
on the coasts.
[Illustration: ST. JOHN, NEW BRUNSWICK.]
The winter of the interior is often described by the inhabitants, even
in moments when they cannot be suspected of any thought of advertising
the province, as a “good steady one.” The fact is that most Canadians,
either native-born or those who have lived long in the country dislike
damp weather above any other kind. If the cold is only dry and clear,
they do evidently from their behaviour feel it bracing, as they say; and
it is the same with the summer heat, the days to be dreaded (if any?)
are the days in which the atmosphere is humid as well as hot. The spring
is late, and often almost before one realizes that winter is past one
finds that summer is upon one.
New Brunswick is an amply-wooded land of pleasantly-diversified hill and
valley, though its highest eminence, Sagamook or Bald Mountain, is only
2,604 feet above the sea. It is well watered by the Restigouche, the
Miramichi and the St. John rivers, with their tributaries, and many
smaller streams. The last-mentioned river is nearly five hundred miles
in length from its sources in the wilds of Maine to its mouth. It is
navigable for almost its whole length through the province, though in
one place its course is broken by the “Grand Falls.” Large-sized
steamers go up as far as Fredericton, eighty-five miles from St. John;
but there a change is made to smaller boats. The river flows for many
miles through a fertile and beautiful valley; but as it approaches the
city of St. John its banks become higher and bolder, and the stream
widens out to a fine broad basin.
The gateway to the sea lies through a narrow gorge of less than five
hundred feet, and here the current of the river makes fierce and
constant struggle with the force of the famous tides of the Bay of
Fundy. At St. John the normal rise is twenty-seven feet, and the result
is the curious, but not quite happily-named phenomenon—the “Reversing
Falls.” At low tide the river tumbles and races in fierce haste down a
sharp rugged slope to reach the bay; but the pressure of the incoming
sea piles up the water of the harbour in the narrow channel to greater
and greater heights, till, at the flood, the current of the St. John
seems turned backward, and the tide water, as it comes plunging through
the rock gateway, is at a distinctly higher level than the more peaceful
surface of the river within. Happily at half-tide—four times in the
twenty-four hours—there comes a brief truce in the everlasting
struggle, and vessels can pass with safety to bear their freight of
humankind and of all manner of merchandise up the grand natural highway
of nature’s making deep into the heart of the country.
I do not propose here to dwell at any length on the history of New
Brunswick; but I should like to say that, in common with every other
province of the Dominion, it has a history—short in years, perhaps, but
not devoid of human interest. If one were attempting to tell it,
moreover, it would be impossible to do so without frequent references to
the St. John. This river received its name three centuries ago because a
little company of gallant French explorers, amongst whom was Samuel
Champlain, afterwards founder of Quebec, discovered it upon St. John the
Baptist’s day.
In those old days, the broad bosom of the river was often flecked with
the canoes of Indians, bound on some hunting or fishing or fighting
expedition; and in 1635 a picturesque French trader—such a one of
gentle birth, gift of leadership, and bold, adventurous spirit, as Sir
Walter Scott might have loved to portray—built a huge wooden castle,
bastioned and palisaded, on the banks of the St. John. There was enacted
a fierce, confused drama, in which Indians and priests and rival
gentlemen-traders took part; nor did it want a heroine, and to this day
the noble courage and tragic end of Lady La Tour—wife of the lord of
the castle—fascinate the imagination of every student of the annals of
old Acadia.
In La Tour’s lifetime an expedition sent out by Oliver Cromwell captured
the fort on the St. John, and for some fifteen years the English held
the river, restoring it to France by the Treaty of Breda. After that,
great grants were made to French seigniors, but they contented
themselves with trading with the Indians instead of improving the land,
and the French settlements in what is now New Brunswick were of little
account till after the expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia in
1755.
To-day the descendants of French colonists of different periods number
something over eighty thousand. About 1762 some families from New
England settled at Maugerville, Sheffield, and Gagetown, and hither in
the Revolutionary time came emissaries from the American “patriots,”
only just failing in the attempt to bring the St. John country under the
“Stars and Stripes.” But they did fail, and along the banks of the river
there settled a few years later a host of the defeated, but not subdued,
Americans, who held that true liberty was still possible within the
circle of the British Empire.
These set to work with energy to tame the wilderness, and build the new
British state of New Brunswick; and still all along the river and in
many another district of the province are to be found their descendants,
bearing the old names written a century and a quarter ago on the
muster-rolls of the Loyalists. Hardships they had to endure in plenty,
but they were happy at least in the fact that their country of refuge
was a land richly blessed of nature. In fact, it has been calculated
that New Brunswick could well support seventeen times her present
population, which is about equal to that of the city of Bristol.
The three chief industries of the province are farming, fishing and
lumbering. Masts were the first article of export, and for years the
people almost lived by the timber trade. Even not very long ago this
industry brought $10,000,000 (nearly £2,000,000) into the province
yearly, of which one-third was paid out in wages; and upon its
prosperity depends the well-being of many not directly engaged in it.
Since the introduction of iron vessels, the dependent industry of
shipbuilding has declined, but new uses are continually being discovered
for wood, increasing the value of all sources of supply. These have been
recklessly reduced by greed, blunders and largely preventible accidents,
but New Brunswick still possesses noble forests, and, perhaps, since the
new day of deliberate “conservation” has dawned, may continue to possess
them indefinitely.
The provincial government owns over 10,000 square miles of forest; but
the greater part of this has been rented upon certain conditions for the
cutting of timber, and the rents and dues thus collected bring in a
considerable revenue to the public coffers. In 1906 it amounted to
$250,000 (£50,000). Originally almost the whole of the province was
covered with magnificent trees. For long, white pine was the only wood
valued for export, and now little pine remains; but since the
manufacture of paper from pulpwood began, a new value has been put upon
the once despised spruce which, it has been said, grows in New Brunswick
“like a weed,” on lands where farmers would be predestined to failure.
Nowadays, however, immigrants are not permitted to settle on such lands,
for it is realized that their doing so will be of benefit neither to
themselves nor to the province.
Spruce is exported as “deals” and boards, and is used for railway
sleepers, fence posts, and building materials, as well as for pulpwood;
but fir, tamarac, maple, elm, birch, ash, butternut, poplar and hemlock
also abound, and serve many useful purposes.
One great advantage of New Brunswick as a lumbering region is that its
rivers everywhere form excellent waterways, down which the logs can be
“driven” to market. The St. John and its tributaries drain nearly
one-half of the province, and the Miramichi has a “watershed embracing
about five thousand square miles.” Most of the forest exports go to
Great Britain.
The lumbermen work in gangs of fifty or more, living in log camps built
in the forests. The work is heavy, the life is rough, and accidents are
somewhat frequent. For instance, when the logs going down stream get
caught at some point and form a “jam,” it is often a risky business to
“break” it; but work in the woods is healthy, and the lumbermen are well
fed. In fact, the cook in a lumber camp is a most important functionary.
Fishing is another old industry in New Brunswick, which has a sea-coast
of about six hundred miles. Considerably over twenty thousand persons,
including lobster canners, are employed. In 1909-10 the herring fishery
proved most valuable of all. Next in order came the catches of lobsters,
sardines (said to be equal to the Norwegian sardines), smelts (of which
enormous numbers are caught in the Gulf of St. Lawrence), cod and
salmon, which are exported fresh and frozen, smoked, salted or pickled.
A variety of other fish are taken in smaller quantities.
Owing to ice the Gulf fisheries cease during the winter, but those of
the Bay of Fundy are carried on all the year round. The old-time oyster
fishery has suffered here, as in the neighbouring provinces; but steps
are being taken to preserve and increase the productiveness of the
fisheries, as of the forests, and to educate the fishermen. With the
latter object, the Dominion government a few years ago brought to Canada
“a Scottish expert,” in the curing of herrings, “with a steam trawler
and crew complete,” and with a view to the former they established
several hatcheries of young salmon and lobsters, from which 122,000,000
of the last-named were distributed in a single season.
In addition to these commercial fisheries, New Brunswick finds a source
of profit, as well as pleasure, in her trout streams and salmon rivers,
which attract hundreds of anglers and holiday-makers to the province, as
the vast woods of the interior, stretching through a district eighty
miles wide by a hundred long, bring in sportsmen in search of red deer,
moose, caribou and wild fowl. This region, too, is the haunt of many
valuable fur-bearing animals. The game laws aim at preserving the supply
of game, and outsiders have to pay twenty-five times as much as
residents for a hunter’s licence, though in both cases the number of
animals that may be killed is strictly limited. The province annually
reaps a considerable harvest from licence fees, whilst the settlers in
the wild districts to which the hunters go find the profits of the
tourist trade a very welcome addition to incomes which are usually
somewhat meagre.
There is not much mining, and of manufactures many depend on wood as
their raw material. There are consequently many saw mills, pulp and
paper mills, furniture and carriage factories. But this province, by the
sea, is in a position to obtain readily and cheaply raw materials from
other lands, such as cotton from the Southern States and sugar from the
West Indies, so she has several cotton mills and “candy factories.”
Other manufactures that may be mentioned are those of boots and shoes,
nails and other ironware, brass goods, soap and woollen cloths. Finally,
in 1911, there were in operation twenty-four cheese factories and
sixteen creameries, which bring us back all the way round the circle to
agriculture, the most important industry of all.
Throughout New Brunswick there is much excellent land, suited for
different purposes. Like Nova Scotia, the province has its salt marshes
and dyked lands on the Bay of Fundy, and its “intervales” along the
rivers, both famous for their enormous crops of hay. It has, too,
districts as well adapted, it is said, for the culture of apples, as the
Annapolis valley itself. In fact it, also, is a mixed farming region,
where grains of all kinds will grow; where one man pins his faith to
dairying; another urges the profits to be made from sheep or poultry or
pigs; and a third points triumphantly to his enormous and excellent
crops of potatoes. The fact is that practically every branch of
agriculture could be made far more productive with better methods and
more labourers, even on the farms now being worked—to say nothing of
the land that might be cultivated, and is not, at present, for want of
population.
The consequence is that while New Brunswick has a ready welcome for good
workers—especially those ready to labour with their hands, and having
enough in their pockets to tide over the time of seeking for the right
niches—the people she wants above all are people to till her fertile
soil.
One vast advantage the modern settler on the land has over the old-time
pioneer. He will find it easy to get good prices for his produce, either
in the local markets or in the more distant but still (owing to railways
and steamship lines) easily accessible ones of other provinces or
countries.
In common with the other Maritime Provinces, New Brunswick appears to
have been somewhat overlooked as a field for immigration from the
British Isles, perhaps because, in spite of its possessing seaports of
its own, the general line of travel has been by Montreal or New York, or
possibly because these provinces have been slow to advertise themselves.
“Why did we never hear anything about New Brunswick when we were making
inquiries about coming to Canada?” asked a lady, whose settlement with
her family in Ontario thirty years ago was due to the excellent report
of that province made by a number of Scottish farmers. “If we had only
known what a good country it is,” she added, “I daresay we might have
stopped there, because it is so much nearer England.”
Nearness to the British Isles is one incontrovertible advantage for
settlers leaving behind them friends in the old land; and I must say
that the part of New Brunswick that I know best—that is the sunny
valley of the St. John—has a pleasantly homelike look to eyes
accustomed to England’s green hills and well-tilled fields. The sweeping
lines of the low hills, the freshness of the mighty river, the great
green woods massed here and there, the shady elms and willows of the
little capital, the comfortable-looking farmhouses dotted along the
slopes, all have a friendly familiar look of quiet content.
But I would not imply that this province is devoid of life and energy.
The commercial capital, St. John (and there are many smaller towns like
it), is much alive and “up-to-date,” with its good railway connections
and its numerous steamships plying both to American and British ports,
and it will be still more busy when its great dry docks and shipbuilding
plant are finished. St. John is the Atlantic terminus of the Canadian
Pacific Railway, which takes a short cut to Montreal across a corner of
the State of Maine, and of one of the two great branches into which the
Intercolonial Railway divides. The new National Transcontinental Railway
has its Atlantic terminus at Moncton; and altogether it is said that New
Brunswick has more miles of railway in proportion to its population than
any other country in the world. The province has about thirteen thousand
miles of roads, but these generally stand in need of improvement. Of
course the numerous rivers necessitate a large number of bridges; and
there are nearly four thousand, ranging in type from the quaint old
covered bridge, looking like a barn with its ends knocked out, to the
great modern erection of steel. The capital, Fredericton, has a bridge
about half a mile long, but a few miles higher upstream the St. John is
crossed by a primitive-looking ferry.
In some districts population is much scattered. In others the people are
“comfortably close together”; but everywhere there is ample room for
more people. In fact, there is still land to be had, on certain
conditions, for the asking, or “improved farms” may be bought at low
prices. Many of these are very good farms; but a few years since the
local markets were comparatively poor, work was scarce, and the young
people went west or south or to the cities—it is the same story as in
Nova Scotia—in search of better opportunities.
With regard to the “free grants,” ten thousand acres have been laid out,
in Restigouche county, in hundred-acre lots, and to obtain a title to
one of these, the applicant must pay a fee of $5 (about £1) for
surveying, reside on the land for three years, clear four acres, build a
small house, and do $30 (£6) worth of labour on the roads, or pay an
additional $20 (£4) in cash. Besides these free grants, the government
has opened to settlement the Blue Bell Tract in Victoria county, between
the C.P.R. and the St. John river, on the one side, and the new
Transcontinental Railway on the other. This district, watered by the
Tobique river, is “a rolling upland, covered with a fine growth of
trees, free from underbrush.” Here hundred-acre lots, on a colonization
road, are offered for sale at $1 the acre, one-fourth of the money to be
paid on taking possession, and the remainder in four equal instalments.
For settlers with a little more capital, the government of New Brunswick
has another proposition. A year or two ago a “Farm Settlement Board” of
three commissioners was established by Act of Parliament, for the
purpose of buying and improving suitable lands, erecting houses and farm
buildings upon them, and selling them again to _bonâ fide_ settlers upon
easy terms, at cost price. The payment for these may be spread over ten
years, and in special cases the Board is empowered to give two years’
further grace; but the title “remains in the Board” till all payments
have been made. (For addresses of persons from whom information may be
obtained, see Appendix, Note A, page 296.)
In the ordinary way, farms may be bought in New Brunswick from $10 (£2)
to $25 (£5) the acre, according to their size, the character of the
soil, the condition of the buildings, their nearness to church, school
and markets, and the proportion of land under cultivation. Most farmers
in the province own the lands they occupy.
Not every man who might do well on an improved farm is suited to the
“roughing it” involved in clearing a free grant; but if a newcomer, with
little or no capital, is content to work for a time on wages, he can
often put by enough to enable him to start to buy a farm for himself.
Wages for a good man run from $10 (£2) or $15 (£3) monthly in the winter
months to $20 (£4) in the summer, with board and lodging for a single
man and a free house for a married one. Sometimes the farmers hire men
only for the busy season, but work may often be obtained by a strong man
in the lumber camps, even though he may not have had experience of the
work. Of course it means hard, long, patient work to obtain success by
such means; but the opportunities in New Brunswick are sufficiently
great to ensure that thrift and industry usually have their reward.
The right of every child to a good sound education is recognized in New
Brunswick, though in some of the country districts the salaries offered
are so small that it is difficult to obtain fully qualified teachers. In
this province also, the consolidated school has been tried with success.
There is provision for a grammar school in every county, and at
Fredericton (which is also the seat of the Provincial University) there
is a Normal Training and a Model School for teachers.
The newcomer to New Brunswick may obtain much useful information as to
the classes of fruit and stock likely to do well in his particular
district, and advice on kindred subjects, if he chooses to write to the
Department of Agriculture at Ottawa. Or, if he wishes to obtain
instructions from specialists in bee-keeping, poultry-raising or
apple-growing, he may write to the provinicial government at
Fredericton. In 1904, by the way, the latter began, through experts, the
planting and direction of “illustration orchards” in different
districts. These are managed on an interesting plan of co-operation, the
government supplying the young trees and the expert knowledge, and the
farmer supplying the labour and the land and reaping the fruit, on
condition that for ten years “he will cultivate and care for the orchard
in accordance with the directions of the Department of Agriculture.” The
newcomer may also gain much help from his neighbours, especially if he
joins the Agricultural Association of his district and shows willingness
to make himself one with them generally.
These and other associations formed for serious purposes, as well as the
churches, have a great social value in sparsely settled districts; but
though the farmers and their families are generally industrious they do
not believe in all work and no play, and in the winter especially they
find some time for visiting and recreation.
At present by far the greater proportion of the people are natives of
the province, chiefly of British stock. Of the remainder, some thousands
were born in the British Isles, and several thousands more have come in
from the United States. More than a quarter of the people are French;
there are also a number of Germans, Dutch, Scandinavians and other
foreigners.
In religion more than a third of the people are Roman Catholics; but
this body is surpassed in number of church buildings both by the
Baptists and the Methodists. Of Protestant denominations, the Baptists
are strongest, then follow the Anglicans, Presbyterians and the
Methodists. Of course there is no “established church” here, nor in any
part of Canada; and the chaplain of the legislative assembly (New
Brunswick has only a single chamber), who opens the proceedings with
prayer, is chosen in rotation from the Baptists, Anglicans,
Presbyterians and Methodists.
[Illustration: 1. HAYING IN NEW BRUNSWICK.
2. A FARM NEAR EVANDALE.
3. LUMBERING ON THE ST. JOHN RIVER.]
VIII
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
THIS, by far the smallest of the Canadian provinces, seems to exercise
a peculiar charm on all who visit or dwell within it. “Abegweit”—“Rest
on the Wave”—was the poetic name bestowed upon it by its Indian
inhabitants; and rugged Jacques Cartier, the Breton explorer, described
the country in glowing terms as “the most beautiful it is possible to
see . . . full of beautiful trees and meadows . . . of pease, white and
red gooseberries, strawberries, blackberries and wild grain like rye,”
and having “the best temperature it is possible to see.”
In shape Prince Edward Island bears some resemblance to a crescent with
the two horns turned northwards, and the outer curve lying from nine to
fifteen miles away from the corresponding curve of the mainland shores
of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Its greatest length is about one
hundred and forty miles, and its greatest breadth thirty-four miles, but
its shores are so deeply indented with bays and inlets that the distance
between water and water is in places only two miles.
Its soil is peculiarly fertile; and compared with the other
provinces—all of which have large stretches of wild land, either
uncultivated or uncultivable—it may well claim the title of the “Garden
of the Gulf,” for 86 per cent. of its surface is occupied by farms, and
very little of the remaining 14 per cent. is actually worthless for
agriculture.
It has no mountains or wild, rugged hills, no great forests, and of
course no great rivers; but the land is pleasantly undulating,
vegetation is usually richly green, contrasting with soil of a warm
reddish hue, with glints of shining water, or with lines of snowy
breakers, roaring on the sands. In general the character of the scenery
is mild and gentle and smiling; with a glad wealth of colour when the
orchards are breaking into bloom, or when the first touch of frost is
kindling a magic glow amongst the maples and sumach trees. But the
wildly-beating surf on the reefs of the north shore forbids that even
here nature’s majesty and strength and terror should be forgotten.
The climate is milder than that of the mainland near by, neither so
sharply cold in winter nor so fiercely hot in summer, though all writers
have praise for the “Island’s” clear blue skies and plenitude of
sunlight.
Prince Edward Island is reached by steamers from Point du Chêne in New
Brunswick to Summerside; and from Pictou in Nova Scotia to
Charlottetown; or from Pictou to Georgetown, when the strait is full of
ice. Strongly-built ice-breaking steamers, however, usually manage to
keep open communication with the capital of the little province; and in
winter there is an “ice-boat service,” by which the adventurous can
cross from Cape Tormentine to Cape Traverse. The ice-boat is contrived
to travel either in water or on the ice by means of “twin keels,” which
in case of necessity serve as “runners.”
The people, however, have for long demanded improved means of
communication with the mainland, and at last a “car-ferry” steamer
(powerful enough to force its way through the worst ice) is to be
constructed to connect the railway on the island with the Intercolonial
line on the mainland. Both are owned by the Dominion government. “The
island railway is of a narrow gauge, but it is to be changed this year
to the standard gauge (4 ft. 8½ ins.) of the Canadian and American
lines.” When this is done, Prince Edward Island will be very happily
situated in the matter of transportation service, for into her three
counties, all with easy water-communication, is packed a well-branched
railway line of two hundred and sixty miles.
Prince Edward Island was first called the Island of St. John, but
historians are not agreed as to who bestowed this name upon “the right
little, tight little island.” Some people think it was John Cabot; some
Samuel Champlain; but, at any rate, it bore the name from the time its
history began until 1799, when it was re-christened in honour of Queen
Victoria’s father. In 1663 it was granted by the “Company of New France”
to a French naval officer, Doublet, and a few fishing stations were
established. As late as 1728 it had only three hundred inhabitants; but
after the deportation of the Acadians from Nova Scotia in 1755, a good
many of these hapless people took refuge in the peaceful island. It was
annexed by the British the year before the capture of Quebec, and was
amongst the territories formally ceded to England by the Treaty of Paris
in 1763.
In 1767 the soil of nearly the whole island was disposed of in one day
to officers and other gentlemen, who agreed to settle the country, and,
by paying small “quit-rents” for their lands, to provide for the cost of
government. Small reservations were made for the support of churches and
schools; but the plan, it may be said, was an utter failure, saddling
the island for many years with a class of absentee landlords, who did
practically nothing for the country. For more than a century the
cultivators of the soil remained in the position of tenants.
In 1873, when the province agreed to enter into Confederation, the
Dominion government granted $800,000 (£160,000) to aid in buying out the
land-owners; but many would not sell, till an Act was passed in 1875
obliging them to sell at a fair price to the Provincial government,
which in turn sold to the tenants.
Many years earlier, in 1851, the Islanders had secured responsible
government. At that time the Parliament consisted of a Governor and
Legislative Council, appointed by the Crown, and an elective Assembly.
Later, the Council also was elected by owners of leasehold and freehold
property worth $325 (£65) and over. Finally, in 1893, the unusual
arrangement was made of amalgamating the two branches of the
Legislature; and now fifteen councilmen, chosen by the property-owners,
and fifteen assembly men, elected by the men of the Province, on a
property qualification so low that scarcely any man is excluded, sit and
vote together.
The legislature of Prince Edward Island, which first met in 1773, is
housed in a fine old, grey stone building in Charlottetown, fronting on
Queen Square, about which are other public buildings, including the Law
Courts, the General Post Office, the Custom House, and the market
building, which every Tuesday and Friday, when the country people come
in to dispose of their produce, presents a very animated scene.
But to return to the government. The expenditure on the salaries of the
Lieutenant-Governor, the cabinet ministers and the members of the
assembly; the administration of justice; the support of schools and
public works and some other charges amount to $420,000 (about £84,000).
Three-fourths of this is met by the subsidy from the Federal government,
and the remaining quarter is raised by provincial taxes, which are very
low. The province is represented in the Dominion parliament by four
senators, and four members of the House of Commons.
The population, despite the prosperity of the island, diminished by over
nine thousand between 1901 and the next census year, 1911. It has been
suggested that this was due in part to the “lure of the West,” and
perhaps in part to the fact that many of the people are descended from
that race of wanderers and excellent pioneers, the Scotch. During the
great migration of the American loyalists northward, the Island of St.
John obtained a considerable addition to its population. These were of
various races; but in 1803 Lord Selkirk brought out eight hundred
Highland crofters, and after a short time of hardship these colonists
settled down happily. Many of their descendants still dwell in the
island.
There are a few manufacturing establishments at the
capital—Charlottetown—and at others of its small centres of
population, but chiefly of a description depending directly on the
industries of fishing and farming.
The island is naturally a favourable place for fishermen. Its fisheries
of cod, mackerel, herring, lobsters and oysters are important, the
latter fishery being the most valuable of its kind in Canada. The
“Malpeque oyster,” from the bay so named, is widely famous, and the
provincial government is taking steps “to extend and develop this
industry by the replanting and cultivation of an area estimated at one
hundred thousand acres.”
The tourist trade is such an important branch of the island’s industries
that, in this connection, it is matter for congratulation that the
summer visitors can find trout in the numerous streams and can enjoy
sea-fishing from boats. As for game, moose and bears need not be looked
for in the “Garden” province; but wild fowl are plentiful in the season.
After all, however, the soil is the chief source of wealth, and the
island possesses “a fertilizer of singular value and potency” in the
mussel or oyster mud found in vast quantities in all its bays and river
mouths, and consisting of “the organic remains of countless generations
of oysters, mussels, clams and other bivalves.” This is a veritable
“mine of wealth to the island,” enriching the poorest soils, so that
they grow excellent crops of clover, turnips and potatoes.
In times past the settlers of Prince Edward Island made the
mistake—common in farming virgin soils—of continuing year after year
to raise the same crop, without taking any measures to secure the
continued fertility of the soil. Happily, through private enterprise and
government encouragement, more scientific methods are coming into
fashion, and the farmers are going extensively into dairying. In
consequence, many farms have gone up 50 per cent. in value and
productiveness during the past two decades; and, in the last census,
little Prince Edward Island could point with pardonable pride to a much
greater product from her dairy factories than could be shown by either
of the far larger provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
In proportion to size this province has the largest population of any,
but there is room still for many a good farmer. It is not a land of free
grants, but there are farms for sale at reasonable prices which could be
farmed to great advantage by men with a little capital, trained in good
English methods. Of course the prices depend on situation and worth of
buildings, as well as on the quality of the land, but farms of different
sizes ranging from ten to two hundred and fifty acres may be bought at
from about £2 the acre (in the case of good-sized farms) to £16 the
acre.
[Illustration: A FOX FARM IN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.]
In Prince Edward Island such a large proportion of the people are
farmers that their importance to the community is recognized more
readily than where the mercantile classes predominate and have the ear
of the government. Great efforts are now being made to give an education
in the public schools suited to the needs of the rural population. At
the Teachers’ College and Normal School in Charlottetown courses of
lectures are given in agriculture. At several places school gardens have
been introduced with good results, and in others one “consolidated
school,” with different teachers for different classes, has taken the
place of six ordinary schools, the children being taken to and from the
centre in vans. Steps have also been taken to arrange for better
salaries for teachers.
The farmers and their families work hard, but usually find some time for
reading, music, or other recreations, and social gatherings, especially
in the “slack” winter season, and as a rule they live well. They are
rarely addicted to indulgence in any liquor stronger than tea. In fact,
the sale of intoxicants, unless prescribed by a doctor, is prohibited in
Prince Edward Island, and, though the law may be sometimes evaded, the
consumption of strong drink is much less than it was a generation ago.
There are many churches in Prince Edward Island. Considerably over
one-third of the people belong to the church of Rome, and of the
Protestant denominations the Presbyterians are much the strongest. The
people support their own churches, largely by congregational
subscriptions, supplemented in poor districts by grants from the
“Mission Funds” of the particular religious body. Of course the churches
are a very important factor in the social as well as the religious life
of the people. In this connection, societies and organizations, such as
the “Sons of Temperance” and the “Foresters,” are also of importance.
There is a demand in Prince Edward Island for farm workers, and though
the wages are not quite so high as in some parts of Canada, it has the
advantage for British immigrants of being nearer to England, and of
conditions more closely resembling those of the “Old Country.” Wages for
an experienced man, with board and lodging, range from $12 (£2 8s.) a
month in the winter to $16 (£3 4s.) a month through the busy season, of
about eight months; a married man can often obtain a cottage rent free.
In any notice of Prince Edward Island one industry must by no means be
forgotten. This is the breeding of black foxes, of which the fur is
immensely valuable. It began in 1896, when a man living in Tignish
bought three black foxes caught near Bedeque for $300 (£60); but the
price of a good pair has now gone up to $20,000 (£4,000). Black foxes
have been imported from Labrador, and now “fox ranches” in the island
can be counted by hundreds. In 1911 the value of this curious branch of
stock-raising was estimated at $2,000,000. In the early part of 1913 the
capital invested, by some six thousand shareholders, reached $6,000,000.
In that year, on the opening of the Provincial Legislature, the industry
was mentioned in the “speech from the throne,” and during the session
forty new companies were incorporated.
IX
QUEBEC AND ITS EASTERN TOWNSHIPS
ALIKE in its scenery and its history, Quebec, which was the first
“Canada,” is one of the most picturesque provinces of the Dominion.
In the year 1534, the Breton mariner, Jacques Cartier, sailed up the St.
Lawrence till he could see land on both sides. Next year he came again
with three well-appointed vessels (none over one hundred and twenty tons
burden) to colonize and to trade. It was he who called a small bay, in
which his vessels lay upon the Saint’s day, St. Lawrence, a name
afterwards extended to the “Great River of Canada,” and to the gulf into
which it flows. It was he, too, who, penetrating later in the year far
up the river, bestowed the title of “Mont Royale”—now anglicized to
Montreal—upon the “Mountain” beneath which, over a century later, the
devout and gallant Maisonneuve began the settlement destined to grow
into Canada’s greatest city. Cartier himself spent one winter at the
point where the St. Charles enters the St. Lawrence, near the Indian
village of Stadacona.
But a greater man than he was to have the honour of founding Quebec.
Cartier’s men suffered horribly from the cold and from scurvy, against
which ills they did not know how properly to protect themselves, and in
the spring the remnant of the company sailed for home, carrying off with
them the chief, Donnacona, and nine other Indians. Two or three other
attempts to establish French settlements on the St. Lawrence were made
by Cartier, Roberval and La Roche, but it was not till 1608 that
Champlain at last “well and truly laid” the foundations of Quebec.
Of his company also two-thirds died, during the first winter, of scurvy,
but this time the French were there to stay, and for a century and
a-half Quebec was both the head and heart of Canada.
The proud little city, clinging to and climbing upon the rock, was the
seat of the French rulers, the centre of the colony which—despite
government restrictions, despite its own early limitations as a mere
trading post and mission station, despite the terrible hostility of the
Iroquois and the frequent attacks of the English, despite the
“wanderlust” of its own more energetic sons, which led to a dissipation
of the strength of New France as a whole—struck its roots so deep into
the soil, that through all vicissitudes it has preserved to this day its
own peculiar type of civilization.
To old Quebec, Canadians, whether of French or British descent, turn
with much the same feeling that thrills an English heart at the thought
of Westminster Abbey. There is something strangely satisfying in the
beauty of rock and river, of distant blue hills and shining water, of
ancient gabled roofs, grey walls, and antique, harmless-looking cannon;
something stirring in memories of the heroes of two races, which mingle
at Quebec; and inspiring for the future in the peaceful outcome of the
grim struggles of the past.
But if one would really learn to know the French-Canadians of to-day, he
must not be content to observe only the brisk city men in their offices
and stores, nor the dainty little maidens who on Sundays promenade in
gay attire on Dufferin Terrace, before that great modern hotel, the
“Château Frontenac.” He must visit the markets, where the country people
drive their trade in eggs and butter, poultry and small pink pigs,
knitted goods and queer homegrown tobacco. He must go into the country
beyond and around Quebec, and penetrate, if possible, into the quaint
little wooden or stone houses, where all kinds of old-world employments
are carried on by the busy mothers of families, which not infrequently
number ten or a dozen children.
The French-Canadians generally are credited with being a thrifty,
industrious folk, but it looks to an outsider as if the women do the
heavier share of the work, for, not content with those tasks of sweeping
and cleaning, cooking and milking, spinning and sewing, nursing the
babies and all the house mothers’ other miscellaneous duties, the women,
in their flat, black mushroom hats, are constantly seen with the men,
hoeing root-crops or working in the hay-fields.
[Illustration: VIEW OF QUEBEC, SHOWING CITADEL.]
The “habitants,” as the country folk call themselves, are a conservative
people, following customs much the same as those of their ancestors who
first settled in Canada. But the conditions under which they live are
greatly changed. During the last years of the French régime, Canada was
neglected by her mother-land, and amongst the officials sent out to
govern the country were not a few bent on enriching themselves at any
cost. The last Intendant of New France—an official charged with the
administration of justice, and the management of the finances of the
colony—was a clever scoundrel named Bigot, and his devices for
diverting the public funds to his own pockets, and squeezing all manner
of corrupt profits from the people, were endless and shameless. In those
days there was no such thing as municipal government in Canada, and the
affairs of the settlement were managed chiefly by the Intendant; and
appeals to the king—three thousand miles away—were difficult and often
ineffective.
The system of land tenure in New France has been described as “a mild
form of feudalism.” The king gave large grants of land under certain
conditions to a number of seigneurs, usually of good family, who in turn
made grants to tenants or “censitaires,” who were expected to clear and
farm the lands, paying to the seigneur a small rent, sometimes in money,
oftener in kind. The seigneur might also demand a certain portion of the
fish caught by his tenants, and require them to use, and pay for the use
of, his mill and his oven. But if they fulfilled the stipulated
conditions, they could not be dispossessed.
No steps were taken till the nineteenth century to relieve the habitants
of the burdens of seigneurial tenure. In fact, the rents had become
heavier; but, in 1854, an Act of Parliament was passed abolishing the
feudal rights and duties, and granting compensation to the seigneurs.
Not all the tenants took advantage of this measure, and in some
instances the annual rent is still paid.
But the English conquest was the beginning of a new era of freedom for
the French-Canadians. As one of the race, the well-known writer, Mr.
Benjamin Sulte, says, it “abolished the paper money of the old régime,
and substituted cash payments; enabled the habitants, who formed
nine-tenths of the population at the time, to purchase where they
pleased and what they pleased, instead of being obliged to go to the
company’s or government store; gave greater freedom for trade and
abolished unjust monopolies; and paved the way for those legislative
measures which, at a subsequent date, conferred local self-government
and schools upon the French subjects of Great Britain.”
At first, indeed, there was some confusion in the province as to whether
the French or English system of law was in force, but by the Quebec Act,
enacted in 1774, the French laws regarding property and civil rights
were definitely restored to Canada, and the free exercise of their
religion was secured to the adherents of the Roman Catholic church. A
few years later, in 1792, it was determined that in the parliament of
Lower Canada both the French and English languages might be used. This
arrangement was naturally continued when the provinces of Upper and
Lower Canada were united, and is still in force in the Dominion
Parliament.
The Provincial Legislature of Quebec has two chambers: a Council of
twenty-four members, appointed for life; and an elective Assembly of
seventy-four members.
Taxes are light. The revenue of the province is derived chiefly from the
subsidy paid by the Dominion; from the sales and leases of the crown
lands; and from fees for licences of various kinds. Between March, 1905,
and June, 1910, the provincial debt was reduced by over $9,000,000.
Quebec, with the recent addition of Ungava (of which the value cannot
yet be estimated), now stretches on the north to Hudson Strait, and is
the largest province of the Dominion, containing nearly 707,000 square
miles, or five times the area of the United Kingdom. Even the older part
of the province is still largely undeveloped, and will remain so till
there are vast additions to the population.
The climate is healthy, though admittedly cold in winter. “During the
four coldest months of the year,” I quote from an official publication,
“the average temperature i
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