The history of Canada spans thousands of years, from the advent of the Paleo-Indians in North America to the present day. Prior to European colonization, Indigenous peoples occupied the territories that now make up Canada for millennia, each with their own trade networks, spiritual beliefs, and social organization patterns. Some of these previous civilizations had long since disappeared by the time of the first European invasions, but archaeological investigations have uncovered them.
Canada under French rule
In the history of Canada, French and British expeditions explored, colonized, and fought over various parts of North America in what is now Canada beginning in the late 15th century. New France was declared a colony in 1534, with permanent colonies commencing in 1608. Following the Seven Years’ War, France relinquished practically all of its North American colonies to the United Kingdom in the Treaty of Paris of 1763. In 1791, the then-British province of Quebec was split into Upper and Lower Canada.
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia
The Act of Union of 1840, which came into effect in 1841, merged the two provinces as the Province of Canada. Confederation united the Province of Canada with two other British colonies, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, in 1867, becoming a self-governing state. The legal name of the new country was changed to “Canada,” and the title of the country was changed to “Dominion.” Over the next eighty-two years, Canada grew by absorbing other regions of British North America, culminating in the 1949 acquisition of Newfoundland and Labrador. Despite the fact that British North America had had a responsible government since 1848, Britain continued to set its foreign and defense policies until the end of the First World War. The Statute of Westminster, passed in 1931, affirmed Canada’s status as a co-equal with the United Kingdom. The Constitution’s Partition in 1982 signaled the end of legal reliance on the British parliament. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy that consists of ten provinces and three territories.
Canadian culture
Over centuries, aspects of Indigenous, French, British, and more recent immigrant habits have merged to develop a Canadian culture that has been affected heavily by its linguistic, geographic, and economic neighbour, the United States. Since the end of WWII, Canadians have advocated for international multilateralism and socioeconomic development.
Women suffrage
In history of Canada, women were not allowed to vote in federal elections when Canada was created. Women had a local vote in some provinces, such as Canada West, which allowed women who owned land to vote for school trustees starting in 1850. Other provinces followed suit by 1900, and Manitoba was the first to grant full women’s suffrage in 1916. Simultaneously, suffragists, particularly in Ontario and the Western provinces, lent their support to the prohibition effort.
The Military Voters Act of 1917 granted British women who were war widows or had sons or husbands fighting in the military the right to vote. During the 1917 election campaign, Unionist Prime Minister Borden committed to support women’s suffrage. Following his overwhelming victory, he sponsored a law in 1918 to grant women the right to vote. This bill was enacted without a vote, although it did not apply to provincial and municipal elections in Quebec. In 1940, women in Quebec were granted full suffrage. Agnes Macphail of Ontario was the first woman elected to Parliament in 1921.
Recent History
Kim Campbell became Canada’s first female prime minister after Mulroney resigned as prime minister in 1993. Campbell was only in office for a few months, as the Progressive Conservative Party was reduced to two seats in the 1993 election, and the Quebec-based sovereignties Bloc Québécois became the official opposition. Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien was elected with a majority government in November 1993, and was re-elected with larger majorities in 1997 and 2000.
