Grade 8 History
Development of Western Canada Canada: A Changing Society
Historical
Atlas of Canada Online Learning Project
Confederation
If you are following the Confederation sample unit produced by the
Ministry of Education, click HERE for a page of
links directly related to the activities.
Canada's Constitutional Evolution - excellent maps and primary documents from the National Archives of Canada (version française)
Dictionary of Canadian Biography On-line - "meet people who played an important role in the formation of what is now Canada." (English and French)
Canada In the Making - 1867-1931 (version française)
Canadian Confederation - a comprehensive site from the National Library of Canada (version française)
Confederation for Kids - This site was written for young people ages 9 to 13 who are learning about how Canada came to be a country. (version française)
Sir
John A. Macdonald from TVOKids Time Trackers - click on Sir
John's image to watch clips summarizing Confederation from his point of view.
Chronology of
Significant Events Constitution Act of 1791 To Confederation
Charlottetown Conference of 1864
Everyday Life in British North America in the
1860's
Ontario Town Life
(version
française)
The Merchant's House
(version
française)
Fort Henry Adventure
"ATTENTION, Soldier! It is the year 1867. You have just enlisted in the
Fort Henry Guard. This will be your home for the next 10 years. I am Sergeant-Major Rock.
You will be taking orders from me!"
Constitutional Documents
Canadian
Constitutional Documents
The
British North America Act, 1867 from the "Canada
in the Making" web site - background, explanation and original
text
(version
française)
The British North America Act, 1871
The British North America Act, 1886
Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms
(version
française)
Meech
Lake Accord
Charlottetown
Accord
The Development of Western Canada
If you are following the sample unit produced by the
Ministry of Education, click HERE for a page of
links directly related to the activities.
-based student learning activities
The Métis
Personalities of 1885
Advertising for Immigrants Abroad
Chronology of
Significant Events Constitution Act of 1791 To 1885
Dictionary of Canadian Biography On-line - "meet people who played an important role in the formation of what is now Canada." (English and French)
The Canadian West - from the National Archives of Canada - This exhibition explores several aspects of European arrival and settlement in the Canadian West, and provides a glimpse of those people who helped forge the new society and bring the West into Confederation. (version française)
Canada In the Making - 1867-1931 (version française)
Canadian Illustrated News 1869-1883 - a selection of almost 4000 images of people, places and events across Canada and around the world taken from the popular 19th-century magazine (version française)
Pathfinders and Passageways - The Exploration of Canada - from the National Library of Canada (version française)
Life of a Rock Star - Crossing all types of rough ground, braving the climate and the bugs, and even fending off hungry horses, the scientists of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) did work that had a significant impact on the development of a young nation and left a legacy that continues to this day.
The North
West Mounted Police
RCMP Main Page
(version
française)
RCMP History
(version française)
Fort Steele: North-West Mounted Police Post
A Moment In Time: Fort Steele, A
Historical Metaphor
The Aboriginal Peoples and the Metis
Riel
House National Historic Site View the History section and On-line Guided Tour
(version
française)
Batoche
National Historic Site History section
(version
française)
Metis bison hunters
(from Canadian Museum of Civilization)
(version
française)
The Northwest
Resistance - includes a chronology and biographies of key participants
About the North West Rebellion of
1885 (written by a lawyer in Medicine Hat, Alberta with an interest in this
historical period.)
Louis Riel -
Martyr, hero or traitor? - a relatively balanced look at the
issue
Riel, Dumont and the 1885
Rebellion - according to the author, "This account is full of carefully selected high
interest facts which have been edited into the form of a story. Although it was
researched in detail (and includes a biography and notes), this account remains
as interesting and informative light entertainment."
The Railroad
Canada, by Train -
"Ties That Bind" provides a short history of railways in Canada
and how they marketed their passenger services. The "Tracking Time" section
examines the contribution of railways to the growth of Canada, through themes
ranging from urban growth to immigration.
(version
française)
The Building of the Canadian Pacific Railway - an interactive
map from the Canadian Encyclopedia
Canadian National Railway
Historic Photograph Collection - an introduction to the
significant role that railways have played in the development of Canadian
society since the opening of Canada's first steam railway in 1836
English and French
Railways and Immigration in Canada -
A timeline slider (1867
-1914) shows changes in Canadian political boundaries, changes in population and
immigration rates, and developments in the construction of the national railway.
Canadian Pacific
Railway & Canadian Pacific Navigation
Lyrics
to Canadian Railroad Trilogy by Gordon Lightfoot
A Chinese Canadian Story
Post-Confederation Immigration
Klondike Gold Rush -
reading
comprehension and writing skills based on this topic
Yukon
Indians and the Gold Rush
The
Cariboo Gold Rush - from SchoolNet
The
Cariboo Gold Rush - from the BC Archives Time Machine
Canada Hall Tour at
the Museum of Civilization - post Confederation in the Canadian West
(version
française)
Chinese Immigration Policy
-
reading comprehension and writing skills based on this topic
Advertising
for Immigrants to Western Canada, 1870-1930 This
virtual exhibition from the Canadian Museum of Civilization is about the
Canadian government's role in advertising free land in The Last Best West
to farmers and farm workers in Britain, the United States and Europe. (version
française)
Immigration to Western Canada - The Early 20th Century -
includes archival photographs - from the Canadian Museum of Civilization
(version
française)
The
Peopling of Canada 1891- 1921 This tutorial from University of Calgary's
Department of History examines the movement of people into Canada and between regions during one of Canada's
most important migration periods, 1891-1921.
19th
Century Settlement Patterns - Chapter 5 of the Canadian
Heirloom Series
Pier
21 Between 1928-1971, at Pier 21 on the Halifax waterfront, 1.5
million immigrants first set foot on Canadian soil.
Immigrants
to Canada in the 19th Century - The information on these
pages has been extracted from various government records, as well as the odd
shipping record. It contains voyage accounts, emigration information, lists of
ships sailing to Canada, information on the ports, and on the people.
Germany - Canada Migration
- one of the Virtual Museums of Canada
(version
française)
-based student learning activities
Industry, Workers and Unions
Women, Work and Unions
The Women's Movement
Jack Turner's War
Canada at the Turn of the Century: The Impact of Industrialization 1890s-1920s - a "History Quest". You and your classmates will act as historians and use primary sources to learn more about living in these times. Diaries, drawings, maps, newspapers, and business and government records are some of the eyewitness reports that you will examine as your main source for information and analysis.
Dictionary of Canadian Biography On-line - "meet people who played an important role in the formation of what is now Canada." (English and French)
WW I
WW1 - Film records of the
Canadian participation in WWI - from the National Film Board.
Canadian Military History Gateway of the Government of Canada
(version
française)
The Memory Project
- The Globe and Mail, The Dominion Institute and the government
of France launched a national call for letters and photographs from the front
lines of the First World War. The 10 most significant artifacts and an
additional 85 family artifacts were assembled and are presented here.
Over the Top
is an interactive adventure which allows YOU to experience life in the
trenches during the First World War. (version
française)
Canada
and the First World War - This exhibition is designed
to illustrate, through the National Archives of Canada's collections, the many
roles that Canadian men and women played during the First World War, and the
definite mark the war left on our society.
(version
française)
World War I -
Vimy Ridge - from the Writing Den - reading comprehension and writing skills based on
this topic
Courage
Remembered the World Wars through Canadian eyes
(French and English)
The
First World War - History, interviews, diaries and letters. Veterans Affairs
Canada (version
française)
The Canadian Letters and Images
Project - an online archive of the Canadian war experience,
from any war, as told through the letters and images of Canadians themselves.
Canadian War Poster
Collection - a digital collection of McGill University
(English & French)
The Poster War: Allied Propaganda Art of the First World
War - from the Provincial Museum of Alberta
(version
française)
War Artists from the First World War - from the Archives of Ontario.
(version
française)
Canvas of War -
Masterpieces from the Canadian War Museum -
provides a unique opportunity to
appreciate works of art that record the nation’s military history, and changed
the course of Canadian art."
(version
française)
Jack Turner's War
"The experience of the 1914-1918 Great War left a lasting mark
on the youth of Canada. The photographs taken by Jack Turner provide a startling
reminder that that this was a very different experience than that of today's youth. It was
a shared experience, as shown by the pictures of friends from home in a strange and
disturbing landscape but is also a lonely one with photographs showing devastation,
destruction and death - and everywhere there was mud."
The Canadian Great
War Home Page - Canada's Role in World War 1 - from the Canadian Military
Heritage Project
The
Archives of Ontario Remembers Our Canadian War Heroes - a
series of letters written from the battlefront during
World War One by brothers,
Charlie and Wally Gray -
Read
a selection of these letters, listen to excerpts from them and view photographs
and drawings selected from other First World War collections held by the
Archives.
(version
française)
An Archival Look at WW I
- from the archives of Queen's University
Canadian Air Aces and Heroes
WWI Aces of Canada
Atlas of the Great War
- a collection of maps from WWI
For King and Empire - Canada's
Soldiers in the Great War - a companion website for a series
on the History Television
The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century - a
co-production of PBS and the BBC in association with the Imperial War Museum of
London
The Great War -
a "Learning Curve" on-line exhibition of the British
National Archives
World War I
- from BBC History
FirstWorldWar.com
- A Multimedia History of World War One
Conflict Map
- from the Nobel Prize Organization. In the course of the 20th
century, mankind experienced some of the most devastating wars of all times.
Where did these wars take place? Have some regions experienced more wars than
others? Who were the main protagonists in these conflicts? This map gives you
the opportunity to answer these questions. It displays wars with at least 1,000
military battle deaths.
LABOUR
Canadian Labour
History 1850 - 1999 - from the Canadian Museum of
Civilization
(version
française)
Remembering the Winnipeg General Strike - from the CBC
Archives.
The Winnipeg
General Strike - from the Histor!ca website
The
Cradle of Collective Bargaining - the history of labour and technology
in Hamilton and district.
WOMEN'S RIGHTS
The Famous Five -
from the National Archives of Canada - "Until 1929, one
word denied women access to the Senate. The word "persons" in the British
North America Act did not, or so it seemed, include women. In 1927,
five remarkable Alberta women contested, in the Supreme Court of Canada, the
interpretation of the word "persons."
(version
française)
The Famous Five -
from Alberta Heritage - "a multimedia resource dedicated to
chronicling the lives and achievements of the five visionary women from Alberta
who have become known simply as the Famous 5."
The Famous 5 Foundation
- Biographies, Highlights of the 'Persons' Case, International Dimensions,
History of the 'Persons' Case, Commonly Asked Questions
Women in Canadian History
Great Canadian Scientists