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1497
John Cabot
In may of 1497 he attempted to sail to Asia but on the morning of June 24th he landed on Canada and mistakenly believed it was Asia. He came back to England to report that the land was excellent and that there were enough fish to end England’s dependence on the fish in Iceland. That discovery brought fishermen from Europe to Canada. -
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The Fur Trade
In the 16th century the European fishermen had good relations with the First Nations People who were eager to get metal and cloth goods from them. They offered furs and fresh meats in exchange for the metal and cloth. As the furs grew in popularity more and more people came from Europe to begin the Fur Trade. -
The Creation of Quebec
On July 3rd French explorer Samuel de Champlain and his 28 men built the city of Quebec as a colony for the fur traders. Eventually it became a thriving city with the fur trade as the backbone in its economy. By 1754 Quebec grew to 8001 people. -
The King’s Daughters
The king of France began an initiative to populate his country’s colonies in Canada by sending girls with no future in France to overseas to marry settlers in Canada and have children and they were payed based off of how many children they had. There were about 800 of these girls who came to Canada. -
Battle of the Plains of Abraham
The Battle of the Plains of Abraham massively impacted Canadian history because of the French being defeated by the British and the British asserting dominance over Canada. This lead to British citizens feeling more secure about migrating to Canada. This battle also caused the United States to want greater independence resulting in the American revolution and loyalist migration. -
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American Revolutionary War
During the revolutionary war there were people who still didn't want independence from Britain or were still loyal to the crown. These people were loyalists and were very disliked due to the largely anti-British outlook at the time. Due to this they were forced to become refugees during the revolution and around 30,000 of them came to Canada . -
Black refuges of 1812
During the war of 1812 there was an opportunity for African America slaves to escape Virginia and Georgia to find eventual freedom. The enslaved people who escaped went to British colonies primarily Nova Scotia. -
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Great Migration to Canada
The great migration to Canada was a period of high immigration spanning from 1815 - 1850 and involved over 800,000 immigrants mainly British and Irish. -
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Underground Railroad
Within 1840 - 1860 the Underground Railroad had reached its peak. An estimated 30,000 African American people migrated to Canada within this time. -
The Irish potato Famine
During the mid 1840s there was a widespread disease ruining the potato crop throughout Ireland. Because of this lots, of people weren’t able to make their own food and would go hungry. Over a million people emigrated from Ireland and around 450,000 of them came to Canada. -
Sir Clifford Sifton
Sir Clifford Sifton was an MLA in Manitoba born March 10, 1861. He is mostly known for being the man who strongly promoted the settlement of the west after confederation, which brought 1 million immigrants to Canada. In 1899 he established a network of recruiting Agents who were paid to direct farm emigrants towards Canadian ports. -
Canadian Pacific railroad
Canadian Pacific was Canada’s first transcontinental railway completed in 1885. Canada employed 17000 Chinese workers to help build the railway. The construction of the railway also guaranteed that British Columbia become a province of Canada. -
Issei
The first Japanese citizen to immigrate to Canada was Manzo Nagano in 1877, he was 19 at the time. He inspired other Japanese citizens to immigrate to Canada. The people who followed him were the first generation Japanese immigrants and they were known as Issei. -
Canadian West Immigration
Around 1896 the minister if interior Clifford Sifton began an aggressive promotion campaign to attract white and European immigrants by promising them free and cheap land in the Canadian west over 784000 of the immigrants came from the US half of them being returning Canadians and over 500,000 came from European countries like Germany, Austria, Hungary, Scandinavia, Russia, Poland, and Ukraine. Most of these immigrants were farmers. -
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The Klondike Gold Rush
Between 1896 and 1899 a sum of around 100,000 prospectors moved to the western Yukon regions to join in the gold rush and the city of Dawson had a total of 30,000 people. Unfortunately when the rush had subsided the population lost interest in the town and either went to the next gold rush or moved to other areas in Canada. -
World War 1
The highest number of immigrants in 1 year was recorded at over 400,000 in 1913. However during World War 1 due to travel being too dangerous as well as canada putting restrictions on refugees coming from enemy nations. The number of immigrants dropped to 35,000 per year.
