by Valerie Green –
July 1, 1867 was a bright, sunny day in Ottawa. It was also the day Canada was officially born.
At midnight the night before, an order had been given to let church bells ring across Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick, the first provinces to form the Dominion of Canada. The next day, Queen Victoria’s proclamation was read out in all the major centres across the new country, followed by parades and celebrations. A 101-gun salute also shook the area around Ottawa in honour of the momentous occasion. There were bonfires and fireworks lighting up the skies.
Only those four provinces formed the new country, and Ottawa – which took its name from the nearby river – was designated the new capital. That particular site had once been an old logging operation along the Ottawa River.
The first Governor General, Lord Monck, swore in John A. MacDonald (later knighted by Queen Victoria) as Canada’s first Prime Minister, although actual elections were not held until September of that year at which time MacDonald was officially elected Prime Minister. On November 7, 1867, the new parliament convened with John A Macdonald as the victorious Prime Minister. It was the beginning of what became known as the MacDonald era.
At that time, the new country’s population was a little over three million citizens who were mostly living in Ontario. Almost half were of the Catholic faith and of French or Irish descent; the rest were English Protestants. Most people lived on farms and industry was not yet a major part of the economy.
When British Columbia joined Confederation in July of 1871, it was still very remote from the rest of the country and had a small population of around 11,000 Europeans and about 26,000 First Nations people, but it had much going for it with resources of gold, forestry, fur trading, fishing and coal mining. However, there were many who opposed British Columbia joining the rest of Canada. Some people favoured annexation with the United States while others hoped to maintain the British connection which had originated with the Hudson’s Bay Company.
In Victoria this year, we will once again be celebrating Canada’s birthday (the 149th) with many family-friendly events including firework displays and the ever-popular Canada Day Gorge Picnic.
In Sidney, there will also be fireworks displays to be held at Beacon Park at 10 p.m. on June 30 with live entertainment from 7:30 p.m. On Friday, July 1, there will be the annual Lions Pancake breakfast at the Mary Winspear Centre followed by the delightful Canada Day Parade at 11:30 a.m.
It is hardly surprising that we still celebrate Canada’s birthday with pride: looking back in history from today’s perspective, we can only imagine what could have been had we not joined Confederation in 1871.
Valerie Green is an author/historian and can be reached at valgee@shaw.ca.
