Getting Started with Primary Sources: Canadian History

From The History of Canada
"The British North America Act was a detailed statute that essentially served as Canada's governing constitution from 1867 to 1982. Designed by the so-called “Fathers of Confederation” and lightly modified by the British, its pragmatic language reflected the overriding interests of its architects..."

From The History of Canada
"Prime Minister Diefenbaker's attempts to define a Canadian role in the Cold War led to significant problems for his administration; they also illustrated the delicate balance the country faced as it tried to support its superpower ally and still maintain enough distance from the United States’ more unpopular policies..."

From The History of Canada
"In the late 1940s the federal government created a commission to explore the current state of Canadian culture and to make recommendations for its future development. Chaired by the well-known diplomat, Vincent Massey, the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters, and Sciences issued a detailed report of its findings in 1951..."

From The History of Canada
"The Quiet Revolution affected virtually every aspect of life in Quebec. In addition to the social, religious, and educational changes that became synonymous with its transformative impact, it reinvigorated the old question of the nature of the province's relationship with Canada. A number of politicians, including René Lévesque, put their efforts into building an argument for fundamentally changing Quebec's ties to Canada..."

From The History of Canada
"Clearly the most important addition to the Constitution Act when it was patriated in 1982 was the inclusion of one of the world's most progressive statements of individual rights. In unambiguous terms, the Charter deemed that all Canadian citizens would be able to enjoy the rights enumerated in the new Constitution..."

From The History of Canada
"Many groups in the late twentieth century made concerted efforts to articulate their objectives and advance their agendas in Canadian society. One such organization was the Assembly of First Nations, the country's largest coalition of peoples of aboriginal descent..."

From The History of Canada
"The Depression gave rise to a number of new political parties that promised to tackle the economic crisis more effectively than the Liberals or Conservatives, and some offered controversial plans to alter Canada's reliance on capitalism. The most important of those upstart parties was the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation..."

From The History of Canada

From The History of Canada

From The History of Canada

From The History of Canada
"In the recent past both of the country's main political parties have adopted an aggressive stance in laying claim to Arctic space and asserting Canada's control over the movement of international vessels through northern waters..."

From The History of Canada
"A host of environmental themes reached the public's consciousness in the late twentieth century. These included concerns about the quality of air and water, the finite nature of the earth's resources, and the long-term consequences of greenhouse gases and global warming..."

From The History of Canada
"The Loyalists who arrived in British North America were extremely diverse; they came from all the American colonies, and they represented virtually every class and ethnic group in America. The reasons for loyalty to the Crown also varied dramatically, as did perspectives of a Loyalist ideal..."

From The History of Canada
"Historians typically give Wilfrid Laurier's interior minister, Clifford Sifton, a great deal of credit for putting together a comprehensive design for bringing immigrants to Canada. The full scope of the impact of the substantial immigration during Laurier's administration is still being explored..."

From The History of Canada
"The arguments in support of sovereignty-association and in opposition to the idea were important for setting the stage for the referendum of 1980. They were also instructive because the oppositional groups mustered their evidence in a fashion that was heavily colored by their respective views of history..."

From The History of Canada
"As the Cold War deepened, a growing number of Canadians began to question the country's relationship with its superpower neighbor. In the late 1960s and early 1970s an impressive number of works were published by academics, policymakers, and journalists that had at their core a decidedly anti-American tone..."

From The History of Canada
"As is the case with many rebellions in history, the rationale for violently opposing the existing form of government was presented by literate people with access to the press. William Lyon Mackenzie, Upper Canada's most energetic and articulate advocate of severing the colony's ties with Great Britain, used newspapers and printed handbills to encourage others to join in his cause..."

From The History of Canada
"The Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 provided an opportunity for Canada to host a popular sporting event and showcase the country to the world. By all accounts the Olympics were a tremendous success, despite the anxiety over uncooperative weather patterns that threatened a lack of adequate snow cover for numerous events and the tragic death of a participant in the dangerous luge competition. The event was closely observed by Canadians from coast to coast..."

From The History of Canada
"A diverse number of Canadians disagreed with Borden's government on a host of issues having to do with the war effort. Sparking some of the most contentious debates were the questions of loyalty and the need for conscription. Henri Bourassa, the politician and journalist who was considered by many contemporaries to be one the most indefatigable defenders of francophone interests, spoke and wrote extensively about those questions."

From The History of Canada
"The movement for opening the franchise to women unfolded in the nineteenth century and gathered pace in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Proponents of women's suffrage presented a number of reasons to support their case. Strikingly, some of the most dedicated advocates of suffrage were quite moderate in their predictions of the impact that the female vote would have on politics."

From The History of Canada
"The Second World War was the most documented conflict in history, and Canada's participation in the war provides an excellent illustration of that dynamic. The engagements of Canada's military forces were covered extensively by journalists and often captured on film. There was certainly a tendency to glorify the efforts of the men and women in uniform."

From The History of Canada
"Samuel de Champlain, in addition to being a masterful cartographer, wrote extensively about his various trips to the new world and commented on the indigenous peoples that he and his contemporaries encountered..."

From The History of Canada
"Many French made their way to New France in the seventeenth century to observe the colony or to remain for a portion of their lives. Accounts written by those visitors and colonists were undeniably subjective..."

From The History of Canada
"The British treatment of the Acadians in the eighteenth century stands as one of the most troublesome events in all of Canadian history..."

From The History of Canada
"The treatment of Japanese Canadians during and immediately following the Second World War stands as one of the bleakest episodes in the entire scope of the history of the Canadian government's treatment of its citizens..."

From The History of Canada

From The History of Canada
"Canada's immigration patterns have shifted dramatically since the nineteenth century, but what has not changed are themes having to do with the ways in which immigrants struggle to maintain their cultural identity as they adapt to Canadian society..."

From The History of Canada
"Canada's recent military commitment in Afghanistan has invoked many of the questions that have been asked since Confederation about the advisability of the country's participation in global conflicts..."

From The History of Canada
"Canadians share a deep tradition of enjoying satire that pokes fun at their idiosyncrasies and at the same time makes serious points about society, politics, and Canada's relationship with other countries..."

From The History of Canada
"Although the Roman Catholic church undeniably had a powerful influence on the spiritual and cultural life of virtually all settlers in New France, ample evidence suggests that it was not able to control social behavior as much as the clerics might have wished..."

From The History of Canada
"Many accounts remain that document the challenges that people faced when they emigrated to the interior of British North American, carved out farmland, and constructed homes..."

From The History of Canada
"For many decades historians have explored the inequities in population size and economic might in New France and the American colonies to the south. The complicated internal struggles between the governing representatives and military leaders in Quebec..."

From The History of Canada
"At the same time that Canadians were celebrating their stature as a leading industrialized nation with progressive ideals, critics were uncovering evidence that pointed to the country's profound social and economic inequities..."

From The History of Canada
"An extraordinarily large number of Canadians suffered hardship during the Depression. As the provincial relief programs rapidly became exhausted and the ranks of the unemployed grew, many citizens looked to support from the federal government..."

From The History of Canada
"Late in the winter of 2000 the Molson company sponsored one of the most successful advertisement moments in all of Canadian history. The “Joe Canadian Rant,” as it was instantly dubbed, captured a sense of Canadian pride and nationalism at the dawn of a new century..."

From The History of Canada
"The French imperial powers collaborated with members of the Roman Catholic church to carry out a plan for populating New France with emigrants from France. A typical argument in favor of such a design was articulated by Father Le Jeune..."

From The History of Canada
"As the Great War deepened and the fighting between the Allied and Central powers settled into a virtual stalemate along the killing grounds of a ragged series of trenches that came to be known as the Western Front, the call to supply reinforcements became a thorny political issue..."

From The History of Canada
"The nature and impact of Louis Riel's role in Canadian history continues to spark debate among historians. Particularly contentious and open to interpretation is the sequence of events that led to Riel's execution..."