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Sep 26, 1500
Aboriginal Trade Network
The aboriginals didn't believe in ownership therefore they used the barter system where the value of objects was determined by how much the person needs the object. The barter system was a way of trading between other families and tribes, but with the Europeans they traded in a more official way. At this time, the men were the hunters / traders, the women were the farmers and the elderly watched the children. -
Sep 26, 1500
Aboriginal Means of Transportation
The Natives had to travel a lot but they faced some difficulties considering they were working against the Canadian winters. During the winter, they'd use snow shoes that they hand crafted and during the summer, or whenever the lakes weren't frozen, they would travel by canoe. The Natives were the inventors of both of these means of transportation. -
Sep 26, 1500
European Fisheries
Even before the French Regime began, the Europeans were fishing in North America. The Europeans caught fish because, back in Europe, fish was in high demand for religious reasons: the catholic church banned meat consumption 150 days a year. One of the first contacts between the Aboriginals and Europeans was when they were both fishing. However, some of the encounters ended peaceful while others didn't. -
Relationship between European and Aboriginals
The French and Algonquins were allies while the English and Iroquois were allies, and they would often fight together against their enemies, even if they didn't want to. They had to prove to their partner that they were good allies, therefore the Europeans would fight in the Aboriginal battles and vice versa. -
New France Economy: Based on Fur Trade
Due to the insufficiently dense population of New France, the Natives had to do all the hunting. They explored and enlarged New France for more beaver fur, which led New France to be constantly expanding. None of the groups realized that they needed to leave some beavers in every area to reproduce, which caused some problems. To trade the furs, 3 trading posts were established: in 1608 Quebec was founded, in 1634 Three Rivers was founded and in 1642 Ville-Marie was founded. -
Mercantilism in New France
It is a financial organization method designed to make the King benefit the most by becoming the richest. They'd import raw materials from the colonies they had control over and export the finished products, charging a tax on them therefore making the country richer than the colony. This method set New France back, while the English colonies were developping -
The Company of 100 Associates
In 1627, the King of France mandated The Company of 100 Associates. They were a chartered company, which meant they were a company based on privileges and obligations: they were the only ones with rights to the fur trade (monopoly) and in return they were suppose to develop the colony. However, they didn't want to populate the colony because people will kill their animals (beavers specifically) and use their fur they need for their company. So, the population was kept small and mostly male. -
New France vs English Colonies
New France grew in size but not in population. It's only purpose to was export furs to France, its mother country. People didn't have the motivation or mentality to populate the land here, but in the English colonies it was very different. Their land remained the same size, but their population grew immensely. They had a different mentality than the population of New France and they knew they needed to populate the land in order to keep it. -
English Economy: Based on Fur Trade and Timber
With the beginning of the British Regime, the English took control of fur trade. They created the North-West company after the American Revolution in 1783 and merged with the Hudson Bay company in 1821. Even though the economy was based on fur trade, it was also based on timber. The British needed timber to build ships because they had the biggest navy in the world. With the need for timber, new jobs like lumberjacks, loggers & sawmills were created as well regions like Mauricie, Outaouais, etc. -
The Reciprocity Treaty
When Britain ends it's protectionist treatment with Canada, they establish the Free Trade. Now, British Merchants don't buy Canadian product because they can get it at their own land for cheaper. This causes Canada to sign the Reciprocity treaty with the US in order to find a new trade alliance. This treaty was meant to last 10 years and benefited Canada a lot because they were producing for a huge market which meant more people were going to buy their production. -
The National Policy
John A MacDonald set a national policy in place with 3 main points: increase custom duties, build railways and encourage immigration. He increased custom duties to protect/promote Canadian industries by ensuring Canadian bought products and goods. If any Canadian wanted to import their products to Canada they have to pay tax. He built railways to unify the large country and increase trade and he encouraged immigration (mostly in West) because a bigger population means a bigger market. -
First Phase of Industrialization in Quebec
At first, skilled craftsmen were using costly/time consuming methods to produce, then the first phase of industrialization came & factories were created to produce the same items faster and cheaper. They were faster due to assembly lines & cheaper due to the fact the workers didn't need to be skilled.Now, the principal product was finished product.Many industries in Montreal did food processing, so, now, the products were fish, fur, timber/wheat and dairy.The factories were steam engine powered. -
Population Changes with Industrialization
The National Policy of John A MacDonald favoured immigration so between 1871 and 1901, the population of Canada and Quebec grew 30-50%. The farms started getting overcrowded, so people were moving to urban centers, even though they were still having children, and unskilled labour was in demand. The rich lived well, while the poor lived horrifically, urban families lived worse than rural families though, they just got better pay. The mortality rate was very high as well, due to child labour. -
Second Phase of Industrialization
The exploitation of resources was very big in the second phase of industrialization, the population needed raw materials. For example, agriculture, forest, mining, hydroelectricity, ore, pulp and paper were all natural resources needed at different periods of time. -
Urban Expansion and Opening of New Regions
The development of cities (and in cities), concentration of services, infrastructure and the development of suburbs started specifically with the industrial revolution. Also, new regions needed to be open because of the need of natural resources. When a resources was exploited in an area, people found new regions in search of more natural materials. For example, Abitibi and Mauricie were found on search for new resources. -
The Great Depression
In 1929, the stock market crashed: people were buying shares in companies with money they borrowed, when the company wasn't doing well, the investors lost the banks money and couldn't get their own money either. People were taking their shares out of the stocks so the stocks plummeted. Many sectors of the economy were hit hard, and for this reason, along with the reason that nobody was spending money (because they didn't have money to spend) the economy was falling badly. -
Government Solutions to the Great Depression
To end the Great Depression, the government took initiative by creating public work projects and work camps to boost the economy, created direct aid like food stamps and encouraged subsistent farming (farming enough for you and your family so at least you can have something to eat and live). -
The Second World War
The second world war happened right after the Great Depression, and, even though it caused a lot of issues, it also solved problems. Jobs were created because war parts (guns, boots, etc) and soldiers were needed to fight. Also, since most of the men were sent away as soldiers or to work in the army, women had a much bigger role by working in the factories. With these new jobs came people getting paid to buy things which ended up making Canada flourish after the war and restarting its economy. -
Post-War Period
Since the war ended the Great Depression, there was a jump in the economy. Everyone is back on track and Europeans immigrate to Canada because it is now easier to restart here than to continue with whatever was left in their country. Immigrants contribute to boost the economy: they were living here, working here and buying here. -
Working in Quebec
In the 1960s, jobs moved away from rural areas and hard labour and the union membership doubled. There were more intelligent people who went to university, as well as women. This time was also considered as the "women revolution" because women were now fully encouraged to go to university and get a job and were in control of when they wanted to have babies thanks to the pill. However, since the battle on the Plaines of Abraham, Francophones struggled more to get jobs than the Anglophones. -
The Quiet Revolution
After the war, there was also the period of traditionalism/conservatism under Maurice Duplessis, which started the Quiet Revolution. Educated people were realizing Quebec was falling behind compared to the rest of the world because of Duplessis, so they started the Quiet Revolution. The educated people wanted 3 things: for the Quebec government to intervene more, to modernize the educational system to catch up with the rest of Canada and to weaken the influence of the Catholic church. -
The Oil Crisis
The energy crisis brought an increase to the price of oil, followed by all prices generally increasing as well and would only get worse. Unemployment grew and interest rates were high. This time was considered a great recession. -
Canadian Trade Agreements with USA and Mexico
Canada entered into trade agreements with the USA and Mexico. I 1988, Canada signs the Free Trade agreement with USA and in 1993, Canada signs the NAFTA with Mexico. Canada and Mexico benefit the most because the USA will have to buy the most considering they have the biggest population so the 2 countries will potentially have 300 000 000 consumers.
