Part 1

CANADA AND THE BRITISH IMMIGRANT

C A N A D A AND THE BRITISH IMMIGRANT

BY EMILY P. WEAVER Author of “A Canadian History for Boys and Girls” “Old Quebec: The City of Champlain” “The Story of the Counties of Ontario” “The Trouble Man” Etc., Etc.

LONDON THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY 4 BOUVERIE STREET AND 65 ST PAUL’S CHURCHYARD EC MCMXIV

_The climate has honest heat in summer and honest_ _cold in winter. The sun is seldom hidden, and_ _men see many seasons, and are healthy, strong,_ _and active._—THE MARQUIS OF LORNE, K.T.

PREFATORY NOTE

By the very writing of this book, I am in a measure offering myself as a guide to any prospective immigrant choosing to avail himself of my services. It is well, therefore, to explain that I myself came out from England, a good many years ago, as one of a large family, to settle in Canada, and so know something at first hand, of the difficulties, the trials and the pleasures that await the newcomer in the attempt to “make good” under unfamiliar circumstances.

My father had had no previous experience of farming, but fortunately one of my brothers had had a little training on a Cheshire farm. We settled ourselves on a good-sized farm in a fertile district of Ontario, and there we had an experience probably broadly resembling that of many new arrivals—sometimes amusing, sometimes vexatious, or worse. Of course we made some mistakes and had to pay for them; and we took, I am inclined to think, several years really to settle down. But in the end we all “believe in Canada,” though I dare not say we believe in everything we read about Canada.

After a number of years on the farm, there followed for some of us years in Toronto and in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I may claim, moreover, to know something, still at first hand, of many parts and of all the provinces of the Dominion (save one), while it has been my lot to give for many years much time to the study of Canadian history.

The purpose of this book is, however, neither to set forth the history of the Dominion, nor to relate our own individual experiences, whilst we were “feeling our way,” as a neighbour once expressed it. It is intended rather to give a general idea of the Dominion as a whole, and of each of the provinces a little more in detail, touching their history only as it seems likely to help to the understanding of what they now are, and of the attitude and ideals of the Canadian people.

I have written much of resources and opportunities, but have endeavoured also not to neglect mention of disadvantages, for Canada is no “earthly paradise,” but only “a good land and a large,” where there is scope for many types of human beings to develop physically, mentally and spiritually, as some of them have not room to do in the crowded centres of population in the Old World.

I should like to add that my thought always in every chapter has been of the British immigrant, present or to come; and this must be my excuse for dealing with such a familiar subject as Canada in a way that may seem to those who dwell therein to be marked both by sins of omission and of superfluity.

I have endeavoured to draw my facts and figures from reliable sources only. I have obtained them largely from government reports; but desire to acknowledge my indebtedness also to Mr. Frank Yeigh’s valuable statistical compilation, “Five Thousand Facts about Canada,” and to some of the special numbers of the _Globe_ (Toronto) which, from time to time, publishes comprehensive reviews of conditions in the different provinces.

The black-and-white illustrations, supplementing Mr. Copping’s beautiful sketches in colour, are from photographs gathered from various sources. Not a few of them, however, I owe to the courtesy of the Department of the Interior, Ottawa, the Canadian Pacific, the Canadian Northern, and the Grand Trunk Railway Companies.

Before the reader passes on to the book itself, I should like to add a word of warning. In the short interval between the writing of these pages and the revising of the proofs, conditions in Canada with regard to the demand for certain classes of labour have changed owing to the financial stringency of 1913. I believe the set-back is only temporary, and there is little probability of any decrease in the demand for men to work on the farms, for the prices of all agricultural products are high enough to warrant, if it were possible, a very largely increased output. Moreover, the harvest of the year just passed was extraordinarily bountiful and encouraging for the future.

But, for the next few months at least, persons who propose to seek work in the towns, at building and other constructive trades, or in shops or offices, would be wise to make very sure of employment in Canada, before giving up work at home. The cost of living (including house-rent, fuel, and food) is very high here; and the immigrant who arrives in slack times may have a long season of waiting for work. But he who comes out when work is plentiful is in an entirely different position, as he should be able to lay by something for a time of less general prosperity.

I would say to all prospective immigrants—_make very particular inquiries as to conditions in the special line of work you intend to follow before leaving home_, as this may save much disappointment and even hardship.

In the appendix are addresses of persons from whom further information may be obtained, notes on the government land regulations, and so forth, which it is hoped may prove of practical use to immigrants.

E. P. W. TORONTO, ONTARIO. _January, 1914._

CONTENTS

PAGE PREFATORY NOTE vii I. WHY CANADA IS BRITISH 1 II. THE DOMINION OF CANADA 17 III. CONFEDERATION 26 IV. LANDS AND THE PEOPLE 42 V. INDUSTRIES AND TRANSPORT 65 VI. THE OLD PROVINCE OF NOVA SCOTIA 92 VII. NEW BRUNSWICK, THE LAND OF THE ST. 108 JOHN VIII. PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 127 IX. QUEBEC AND ITS EASTERN TOWNSHIPS 138 X. ONTARIO, ONCE “CANADA WEST” 159 XI. MANITOBA, OLD AND NEW 178 XII. SASKATCHEWAN, THE WHEAT PROVINCE 194 XIII. ALBERTA: WHERE PRAIRIES AND 209 MOUNTAINS MEET XIV. BRITISH COLUMBIA, THE PACIFIC 223 PROVINCE XV. THE YUKON AND NORTH-WEST 239 TERRITORIES XVI. THE MAN WHOM CANADA NEEDS 243 XVII. THE WOMAN CANADA NEEDS 258 XVIII. HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS 276 APPENDIX 295 INDEX 307

APPENDIX.

PAGE NOTE A. ADDRESSES OF DOMINION AND PROVINCIAL 295 OFFICIALS, WHO WILL GIVE INFORMATION TO IMMIGRANTS “ B. SYNOPSIS OF DOMINION LAND REGULATIONS 297 CONCERNING FREE GRANTS, ETC. “ C. REQUIREMENTS AS TO MONEY IMMIGRANTS MUST 298 HAVE IN POSSESSION ON LANDING “ D. COST OF PASSAGE, AND BAGGAGE ALLOWANCE 299 “ E. “SETTLERS’ EFFECTS DUTY FREE” 300 “ F. YOUNG WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS 301 DIRECTORY, ETC. “ G. ENGLISH EQUIVALENTS OF CANADIAN MONEY 305 INDEX 307

ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR

_From Drawings by Harrold Copping_

1. A FRUIT RANCH AT NELSON, BRITISH COLUMBIA 2. QUEBEC FROM THE CHÂTEAU FRONTENAC 3. THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, OTTAWA 4. THE PRAIRIE AT ELSTOW, SASKATCHEWAN 5. THE BIG TREE, STANLEY PARK, VANCOUVER 6. THE OLD SMELTER, NELSON, BRITISH COLUMBIA 7. FROM THE LOOK-OUT, MOUNT ROYAL, MONTREAL 8. THE MOON CHUTE, NEAR BALA, ONTARIO 9. AMONG THE WHEATFIELDS, MANITOBA 10. THE PARLIAMENT HOUSE, REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN 11. HOT SULPHUR SPRING, BANFF, ALBERTA 12. PARLIAMENT HOUSE, VICTORIA 13. LUMBERING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA 14. THE FISH MARKET, VANCOUVER 15. EDMONTON, ALBERTA 16. PAUL, A BLACKFOOT INDIAN

LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS

1. BREAKING PRAIRIE BY TRACTOR, VEGREVILLE, ALBERTA 2. BREAKING PRAIRIE WITH OXEN, THUNDER HILL DISTRICT, SASKATCHEWAN 3. TRANSPORTATION IN THE WEST: SETTING OUT FOR THE NEW HOME WITH OXEN 4. TRANSPORTATION IN THE WEST: GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC CONSTRUCTION TRAIN 5. CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY IRRIGATION DAM AT BASSANO, ALBERTA 6. FISH-CURING, NOVA SCOTIA 7. SIXTY ACRE ORCHARD, NOVA SCOTIA 8. FARM HOUSE, NOVA SCOTIA 9. ST. JOHN HARBOUR, NEW BRUNSWICK 10. HAYING IN NEW BRUNSWICK 11. EVANDALE FARM, NEW BRUNSWICK 12. LUMBERING ON THE ST. JOHN RIVER 13. A FOX FARM IN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND 14. QUEBEC FROM THE RIVER 15. MONTMORENCY FALLS, A WATER-POWER, QUEBEC 16. A DAIRY FARM AT SHERBROOKE, QUEBEC 17. GOVERNMENT DEMONSTRATION FARM IN THE EASTERN TOWNSHIPS, QUEBEC 18. TORONTO UNIVERSITY 19. CANADIAN NORTHERN RAILWAY ELEVATOR AT PORT ARTHUR 20. TORONTO: CORNER OF SPADINA AVENUE AND QUEEN STREET 21. WINNIPEG, LOOKING DOWN MAIN STREET 22. CUTTING WHEAT ON A 4,000 ACRE FARM NEAR SASKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN 23. HASTINGS STREET, VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA 24. JASPER AVENUE, EDMONTON, ALBERTA 25. STOOKING WHEAT IN SASKATCHEWAN 26. PRINCE RUPERT—MAKING A STREET 27. MIRROR—A PRAIRIE TOWN IN ITS FIRST SUMMER 28. PRINCE RUPERT—A SCHOOL HOUSE

Canada and the British Immigrant

I WHY CANADA IS BRITISH

AFTER a pleasant voyage up the St. Lawrence, between the lines of the long French settlements on its banks, each having as its most important feature a tin-covered church spire, glinting in the sun, I remember very well coming at last through the channel between the Isle of Orleans and the northern bank to the point where, in full array, were visible the walls and towers surmounting the mighty Rock of Quebec. It was about sundown, on a glorious September evening, and the city, the river banks, and the shipping in the basin were here lit up with glowing light, there deep in warm shadow. It was in itself one of those scenes, which, for their beauty alone, fasten themselves in the memory.

But we English boys and girls, fresh from school, if we knew little else about Canada, had been thrilled by the brave story of Wolfe’s victory and death on the Plains of Abraham; and so that lovely sunset scene of rock and tower, and shining water, seemed to link the history of the land we had left with the promise of the all but unknown country whither we were bound.

Never again can we see Quebec as we saw it then; yet added knowledge of its place in the story of the Empire and of Canada does not lessen its interest; and there is no spot more suitable for the telling of the reasons why it came to pass that Canada is a British land than that beneath the shadow of Cape Diamond. I am sure that the question is of interest to many a newcomer, who has preferred to emigrate to Canada, just because it is British, rather than to the United States. If, however, he has already given his attention to the subject, it will be easy to pass over this brief sketch of one phase of Canada’s very interesting history to the chapters dealing more particularly with the Canada of to-day.

The name Canada, which now stands for half a continent, once belonged only to a small region, on the St. Lawrence; and at first the Canadians in general were of French race and language. A little over three hundred years ago Samuel Champlain founded Quebec, which for one hundred and fifty years was the capital of New France. Meanwhile the English colonies, which afterwards leagued themselves together to form the United States, were also growing gradually stronger through this century and a half; and almost from the beginning there was great rivalry between the French and English for the control of the eastern part of North America.

The English, neglected by their home government, and having to depend on themselves, proved the better colonizers; advancing gradually, step by step into the wilderness, and generally holding what they gained. The French, on the other hand, though excellent explorers and traders and fighters, pushed far afield, and the population of New France grew slowly compared to that of the English colonies. There was endless fighting between the representatives of the two races, both of which at times sought help from the Indians. The result was a peculiarly merciless warfare, in which women and children were murdered, prisoners tortured, and the little unprotected settlements on the frontiers constantly exposed to dreadful night attacks and the burning of their buildings and crops. The mother countries of both French and English colonists joined frequently in the struggles, and at last (as every British schoolboy knows) Quebec was taken and Canada was conquered.

But it is not so well-known by those who have made no special study of its history that the French in Canada had for years suffered sad misgovernment, many of the officials sent out from France being bent only on making money by fair means or foul. In contrast to these men, the British officers, whose duty it became, on the conquest, to govern the Canadians, seemed eminently fair and just; and the lower classes at least felt that the change was for the better. Many of the gentlemen left the country, but others remained, and the early British governors took great pains to conciliate them and the Roman Catholic priests. By the Quebec Act, which came into effect in 1775, the free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion was secured to the French Canadians as well as the retention of their old system of civil law; but in criminal cases English law was to be followed.

The Act was passed when the “Thirteen Colonies” to the south of Canada and Nova Scotia (which had become a British colony early in the eighteenth century) were on the eve of revolt, and before many months had gone by the United Colonies sent an invading army to try to force Canada to make common cause with them. But the leaders of the Canadian people proved loyal, and the invaders, though they kept up the siege of Quebec through the whole of one winter, were driven out of the country.

At that time the British inhabitants of Canada were very few, but the Revolutionary War was to do a great deal to make it strongly and positively British. Many of the people of the Thirteen Colonies were much averse from the breaking of the ties with England; and numbers of them took up arms on the royal side. When the fortunes of war went against them, many of these United Empire Loyalists were eager to leave a land which had thus cast off the old allegiance that they held dear; and the triumphant revolutionists, partly in fear of their strength, partly in hate born of the long and bitter warfare—in which both sides had been betrayed into many cruel and unjustifiable deeds—were just as eager to thrust them out.

The British government paid vast sums in compensating the Loyalists in some measure for their losses, and in settling them in new homes. Some of them went to England; but thousands made their way to Canada and Nova Scotia, and their coming forms the best answer to the question—“Why is Canada British?”

It is British because its older English-speaking colonies were founded on the idea of “Loyalty” as some of the New England colonies were founded on a demand for religious liberty. The two colonies of New Brunswick and Upper Canada (as Ontario was named at first) owe their existence as separate provinces to the influx of Loyalists towards the close of the eighteenth century; and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island all received large additions to their population. The number of settlers who thus came in from the former British colonies has been estimated at about 45,000.

It should not be forgotten, however, that these people, who had suffered so grievously for their adherence to their old allegiance, were not in the main blind and servile upholders of the throne for its own sake (as many of the royalists of the Stuart times had been), though unquestionably the severance of the Thirteen Colonies from Great Britain had been due in part to the efforts of George III. to become an autocratic monarch. The title bestowed on these Americans who settled in Canada—which is still a matter of pride to their descendants—was that of “United Empire Loyalists;” and always in their minds loyalty to country and empire and their ancient political institutions was associated with their loyalty to the throne.

Not a few of the leaders of the Loyalists had been men of great influence in the older colonies, and it is not surprising that almost from their arrival in what is now the Dominion of Canada, they began to agitate for representative government, and for the British institutions to which they had been accustomed. They were a liberty-loving people; and those who had settled on the St. Lawrence stoutly objected to being obliged to live under the French civil laws, which gave such satisfaction to their Gallic neighbours. They besieged the British government with petitions for a division of the Province, and for the benefit of British law; so in 1791 the old French Province was divided into Upper and Lower Canada. The newcomers thus gained the opportunity to build up a new province on British lines in the almost uninhabited western wilderness; and, having the opportunity, I think they did wonders with it.

In a hundred ways, besides the determination not to accept any limitation of their political liberty, they showed their force and energy of character. The task that faced Canada’s first British pioneers was more strenuous than that which has faced any pioneers since, though the opening and subduing of a new land to the uses of civilized man is always a task that tests to the utmost the manhood and womanhood of those who essay it.

The land was thickly covered with huge trees, and in many places the soil, which the sun’s rays could scarcely ever reach through the shadowy verdure of the woods, was cold and wet and swampy. When the Loyalists came, there were no roads in Upper Canada or New Brunswick. There were no steamboats on the lakes or rivers, no railroads even dreamed of. The monarchs of the forest appeared to those first settlers in the light of enemies, to be put out of the way by axe and fire as speedily as possible, and in many districts the land was savagely stripped bare of woods, in a fashion that those who have come after cannot help regretting. It was only the ashes of the majestic maples and beeches and walnuts which had any value in the eyes of the pioneers. Made into potash these would fetch a little ready money, hardly to be obtained in those early days for any other commodity. Even for wheat, only “store-pay” could usually be obtained, and but a small allowance of that, for the great world’s markets were utterly inaccessible to Canada’s early farmers, and the local demand was very small.

It was the age of home industries, when every man was by turns builder of his own log-house; cabinet-maker of such rude attempts at chairs and tables as he could turn out; farmer of patches of grain amongst the slowly rotting stumps of forest trees; roadmaker, of ways “slashed” through the bush and stretches of corduroy over the swamps.

Meanwhile his wife was not only dressmaker, but spinner and weaver of stout “homespun”; not only housekeeper, but maker of candles and soap; not only cook of the daily meals, but baker of bread, when flour could be got, and contriver of some substitute for it when pounded maize or Indian meal had to be used instead.

And these lists might be extended indefinitely. The people drank tea made from a wild plant growing along the edges of the swamps, and sweetened it with sugar made by boiling the sap drawn in the spring from their own maple trees. Such articles as spoons were cut from bass wood. Shoes were fashioned by the father of the family from the skins of the animals he killed. The arrival, or the making, of the first wheeled vehicle in some settlements was an event, the only kind of conveyance used at first being a rude “sled” drawn by oxen.

Chapters might be written on the means by which the Loyalists came to Canada. Often their journeys from their old homes took weeks. Many came by sea from New York to the Maritime Provinces, and a piteous sight they presented, on their arrival, in worn and often positively ragged clothing. Others came in canoes or heavier wooden boats, making long roundabout voyages up one stream and down another to Lake Ontario, but in places having to carry both boats and goods across a long “portage.” Yet others, of the more fortunate class, who had saved something from the wreck of their fortunes, travelled in big covered wagons, which served for tents at night for the women and children; and some brought in a cow or two as well as the horses or oxen that drew their vehicles.

Many of the Loyalists had lost all, and depended for their new start in life entirely on the bounty of the government. Others had some means of subsistence left, not a few having served as officers during the Revolutionary War and drawing half-pay. They were of all classes, from ex-officials of the revolted colonies, clergymen, doctors, lawyers, and merchants to private soldiers, labourers, Indians and even negro slaves.

Many of them were men and women of good education, and one of the most difficult problems to be faced in the new settlements was the education of the children. Soon many tiny log school-houses were put up, and the demand for teachers was so great that anyone who had a smattering of knowledge had a good chance to be put in charge of a little school. Often, however, it fell to the mother to give her boys and girls their first lessons in reading and writing by the hot light of the great fires that roared up the chimneys on a winter’s evening.

Books in the settlements were few, but generally well read, newspapers were non-existent, and there are traditions in more than one settlement of an obliging postmaster, who used to carry the whole “mail” of a district about with him in his hat, so that he might distribute the letters as occasion offered.