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Sep 8, 1500
Bering Land Bridge
The Bering Land Bridge is the most popular theory of how the first nations got to the Americas. The land bridge was located in between Siberia and dispersed into North America. It is believed that about 30 000 years ago the Aboriginals migrated from Siberia into North America through the land bridge. The Natives settled in Quebec around 1500. -
Period: Sep 8, 1500 to
Population and settlement
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Sep 8, 1534
Jacques Cartier's Voyages (part 1)
Jacques Cartier was ordered by the King of France to claim new land for him, bring back precious rocks and minerals and to find a route to Asia. Cartier went on three voyages to the Americas, one in 1534, one in 1535-1536 and one in 1541. On his first voyage, Cartier explored the gulf of St. Lawrence. On his second voyage, Cartier went down the St. Lawrence river and encountered Aboriginals in two of their settlements, Stadacona (modern day Quebec city) and Hochelaga (modern day Montreal). -
Sep 8, 1534
Jacques Cartier's voyages (part 2)
On Cartier's third voyage, he tried to settle the land with French people, but failed because the european didn't know how to survive the harsh Canadian winters. -
Attempt to Settle Port Royal
In 1605, a group of men, including Samuel de Champlain, tried to settle Port Royal. The settlement failed because of its location. -
Settlement of Quebec City (part 1)
Samuel de Champlain settled Quebec City in the native village of Stadacona. This settlement was used as a trading post. Quebec was a good location for a trading post because it's on the water and the merchandise can easily be shipped out. Champlain made an alliance with the Algonquin tribe. The Algonquins were nomadic, so they would go out a hunt animals then bring the fur to the French in Quebec. In return the French would protect the Algonquins. -
Settlement of Quebec City (part 2)
At this time the Algonquins and the Iroquois were at war. Since the French were allies with the Algonquins, the Iroquois saw them as enemies. So the French and the Iroquois were at war. -
Company of 100 Associates (part 1)
King Louis the 14th of France wanted to populate the colony of New France. He decided to settle the land by giving the company of 100 associates a monopoly on the fur trading industry. In return the company would have to bring over settlers. The company failed to populate New France as they did not see populating the land as profitable. This is because if they brought over people they would be responsible for those people for a year that would cut into their profit. -
Company of 100 Associates (part 2)
Another reason why the company failed to bring settlers to the colony is because England and France were at war. The British would attack any French ship they could, including ones with settlers on it. This made people not want to come to New France -
Settlement of Trois-Rivieres
Champlain wanted a second settlement in New France because he wanted traders to be able to communicate with each other and he wanted a way to stop the Iroquois from Intercepting their trades. Sieur de Laviolette established Trois Rivieres in 1634. -
Settlement of Ville-Marie
Paul Chomedy, Sieur de Maisonneuve founded Ville-Marie (modern day Montreal) as a place to evangelize the Amerindians. The settlement was in the native village of Hochelage, which didn't exist as of 1642. Even though the purpose of this settlement was to convert the Aboriginals, it soon became a major trading post because it was in the middle of the Amerindian land. -
Jean Talon, Intendant (part 1)
After the failure of the Company of 100 Associates, Jean Talon was hired as the Intendant of New France. His job was to populate the colony, he did this by bring over people and getting people to have more children. Talon brought over three groups of people. The first group was soldiers, who would come to New France for 18 months and protect the land from the British. If they stayed in the colony after their service, they were given free land. -
Jean Talon, Intendant (part 2)
Another group that Talon brought over were the Engagé or tradespeople who worked as an apprentice for 36 months and if they stayed after this time, they got free land. Both of these groups were young men, mostly unmarried. So Jean Talon needed women in the colony, so he brought over orphan girls. These girls would get a free trip to New France, and were given money from the king as a wedding gift. -
Jean Talon, Intendant (part 3)
The intendant also wanted to get people to have more children, so he payed families if they had more children. Fines were given to people who were unmarried past a certain age. -
British Conquest
In 1756, Britain and France began the 7 year war. Their colonies, New France and The 13 Colonies, had to go to war as well. In 1758, Louisbourg surrendered. The British captured Quebec city in 1759, and Montreal in 1760. New France was then taken over by British military rule from 1760 until the Treaty of Paris in 1763, when the colony was officially British. -
British Immigration
Throughout the British regime, British Immigrants slowly would come to the colony. The British really wanted English immigrants to come to the colony so the French would become the minority. They used propaganda to make Canada seem like a better place. -
Royal Proclamation (part 1)
After Britain officially took over, the colony, they wrote the Royal Proclamation, a constitution that turned the colony into what a typical British colony. Firstly, the name of the colony became The Province of Quebec and the land became smaller. French laws and Catholicism were replaced with British laws and the Anglican church to attract British people to the colony. British businessmen came to Quebec to make money off the fur trade. -
Royal Proclamation (part 2)
Britain let anyone living in the colony who wanted to go back to France leave. Mostly French nobility and businessmen left because they had companies or family in France. The people who stayed were poor because they didn't have anything in France. These people who came became British citizens and were given the name "Les Canadiens." -
Quebec Act
People living in the 13 colonies started rebelling against Britain. The King of England didn't want the Canadiens to join the revolts so he gave them more rights by making The Quebec Act. This constitution put Catholicism and French civil law back in place, but kept British criminal law. The Province of Quebec also gained land in the north and around the Great Lake. -
Immigration of Loyalists
The American war of Independence ended around 1783, when they finally became Independent. Many people living in the United States still wanted to be part of Britain, these people were called loyalists. They went to different british colonies, but the loyalists who moved to Quebec settled in Gaspésie, Sorel land South of the Saint Lawrence river, but a lot of them went to the land West of Montreal. The loyalist brought the French to English ration from 99% to 1% , to 90% to 10%. -
Constitutional Act
Loyalists came to Quebec because they wanted to live in a British colony, but Quebec had French civil laws, and Catholicism. They did not like this, so the colony was divided into Upper Canada, where the population was mostly English, and Lower Canada, where the population was mostly French. -
Act of Union
A French Canadian rebel group called the patriots wanted better representation for the French people. The act united Upper and Lower Canada into one Canada in order to assimilate the French. English became the only official language in Canada and the French people became a minority. -
Emigration of French Canadians
In 1840, many French Canadians were moving. This is because of an overpopulation in the countryside of the Saint Lawrence valley, French people moved to Outaouais and western Canada. Canada was also being industrialized at this time so many people were moving to the cities, but there were more job opportunities and higher wages in the U.S. so a lot of French Canadians immigrated to the USA. This stopped in 1920 because the Canadian depression was better than in the one in the States. -
Potato Famine (part 1)
Starting in 1845, Potatoes in Ireland were getting diseases and couldn't grow. This was a huge problem at the time became potatoes were the main food source at this time. About 1 million Irish people left the country due to the famine. At this time, England was trying to get people to immigrate to Canada, so a lot of Irish people came to the colony. They mostly settled in the Eastern townships, the Saint Lawrence valley and Upper Canada because that's where the English people lived. -
Potato Famine (part 2)
Some Irish tradesmen would move to the Canadian cities. When the immigrants would come, they'd travel in large groups on small ships so diseases, such as cholera, would spread. So before they stopped in the Canadian ports, they would be put in quarantine on Grosse-Ile to make sure they weren't sick. The Irish worked for less money, so the French didn't like them because they felt the Irish were taking their jobs. -
British North America Act
In 1867, the British colonies of Unites Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia join together to form the Dominion of Canada. The country, at the time, had four provinces; Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. This new country wanted to settle in the west (known today as British Columbia, Alberta, etc.). Immigration to these areas were encouraged so the Americans wouldn't get the land. John A. MacDonald wanted to make a railroad so immigrating to these places would be easier. -
Indian Act
The Canadian government was exploiting the land and the Native's didn't like it. So the government created Indian reserves where the Aboriginals would live and the governement wasn't allowed to touch it. -
Baby Boomers
After the second world war, there was an economic prosperity which lead to more marriages and more babies being born. Unlike in the past, most children survived because of modern medicine and the babies were born in hospitals. The baby boom made the average age of the population decrease, which made the government fund more hospitals, schools, etc. The boom ended in the 60s,because of the popularization of contraceptives and more women wanted to work so they didn't have time to raise children. -
Immigration Between 1952 and 1976 (part 1)
The Immigration Act contained the criteria used to allow immigrants into Canada. British subjects, U.S. citizens, French citizens and Asians with family living in Canada were allowed in. This act excluded some people like Asians without family in Canada, Indians, Pakistanis, etc. In 1962, racially discriminatory immigration laws were eliminated. In 1967, Canada's new immigration policies were based off of skills, such as knowledge of French and a certain level of English -
Immigration Between 1952 and 1976 (part 2)
This new immigration policy was caused by "The White Papers," written by Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chrétien The Quebec immigration ministry would be established in 1968. The following year Canada helped the refugees from the war. -
Immigration Act 0f 1976
The Quebec government wanted to encourage population growth, enrich cultural heritage, facilitate family reunions, facilitate the adaptation of new residents into society, selection with non-discriminatory criteria and maintain humanitarian attitude towards refugees. So they passed the "Bill 101" which made French the only official language in Quebec and immigrant children had to learn French at school, these were put in place to keep the french language. -
Population From 1980-Today
Women wanted to work so they had less children because they didn't have time to take care of them. The governement wants people to have children, so they put in place some things that will help working women out. For example, in 1980, "office de garde à l'enfance" was daycare established so women can still work if they have young children, tax breaks are given for having childen, established in 1989, $5 a day daycare was put in place, in 1997, etc. -
Oka Crisis
In 1990, a golf course wanted to expand their land. While doing so, they expanded into a Native reserve. The Amerindians didn't like this, so they protested. The Canadian governement had to bring in the army to deal with the protesters.
