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Thetford Mines, Quebec, incorporated as a city in 1905, population 26,072 (2021 census), population 25,403 (2016 census). The city of Thetford Mines is located on the Bécancour River in the Appalachian Mountains, 107 km south of Quebec City. It was named after the town of Thetford in Norfolk, England. During the 20th century, it was one of the world’s largest asbestos mining and production centres.

Orangeville, Ontario, incorporated as a town in 1864, population 30,167 (2021 census), 28,900 (2016 census), is a town just north of the western end of the Greater Toronto Area. Located at the southern border of Dufferin County, it is surrounded by the townships of Amaranth and East Garafraxa, and the towns of Caledon and Mono.

Throughout history, the Caledon area has been home to different Indigenous groups, namely the Wendat (Huron), Tionontati (Petun), Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabeg, including the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. The land is part of Treaty 18 (Lake Simcoe-Nottawasaga Treaty) and Treaty 19 (Ajetance Purchase).

In 1905 a rail line finally reached the area, but the Canadian Northern Railway had chosen to bypass Battleford, an event that eventually led to the creation of the adjacent community of North Battleford.

The Cree and Saulteaux signed Treaty 4 at this site in 1874, and a year later a North-West Mounted Police outpost was established near the present townsite.

Innisfail, Alta, incorporated as a town in 1903, population 7876 (2011c), 7331 (2006c). The Town of Innisfail is located on the CP Rail line 121 km north of Calgary.

Rooster Town was a largely Métis community that existed on the southwest fringes of suburban Winnipeg from 1901 until the late 1950s. While there were numerous urban Métis fringe communities on the Prairies and in British Columbia, their history has been relatively forgotten. (See also Métis Road Allowance Communities.)

Road allowance communities were home to Métis families throughout the late 1800s until the mid- to late 1900s. Métis peoples used the road allowances as new home communities after experiencing relocations, migrations and dispossession from their homelands. After resistance and violence in a period during and after the Riel Resistance of 1869–1870 and the North–West Resistance in 1885, Métis were marginalized and labelled as rebellious or troublesome by the government of Canada and the provinces.

The Red River Resistance (also known as the Red River Rebellion) was an uprising in 1869–70 in the Red River Colony. The resistance was sparked by the transfer of the vast territory of Rupert’s Land to the new Dominion of Canada. The colony of farmers and hunters, many of them Métis, occupied a corner of Rupert’s Land and feared for their culture and land rights under Canadian control. The Métis mounted a resistance and declared a provisional government to negotiate terms for entering Confederation. The uprising led to the creation of the province of Manitoba, and the emergence of Métis leader Louis Riel — a hero to his people and many in Quebec, but an outlaw in the eyes of the Canadian government.

Ponoka, Alta, incorporated as a town in 1904, population 6773 (2011c), 6576 (2006c). The Town of Ponoka is located approximately 100 km south of Edmonton in rolling, rich parkbelt land. The Methodists established a mission to the Stoney at the nearby Samson Reserve in the late 1870s.

The colony of British Columbia was founded in 1858 in response to the Fraser River Gold Rush. (See also The Fraser River Gold Rush and the Founding of British Columbia.) The colony established representative government in 1864 and merged with the colony of Vancouver Island in 1866. In May 1868, Amor De Cosmos formed the Confederation League to bring responsible government to BC and to join Confederation. In September 1868, the Confederation League passed 37 resolutions outlining the terms for a union with the Dominion of Canada. The terms were passed by both the BC assembly and the federal Parliament in 1871. The colony joined Canada as the country’s sixth province on 20 July 1871. The threat of American annexation, embodied by the Alaska purchase of 1867, and the promise of a railway linking BC to the rest of Canada, were decisive factors.

New Brunswick became one of the founding members of the Dominion of Canada on 1 July 1867 when it joined Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec in Confederation. Arthur Hamilton Gordon, the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, helped organize the Charlottetown Conference (1–9 September 1864), where a federal union of British North American colonies was first discussed. By 1865, however, a majority in the New Brunswick legislature had swung against it. Albert Smith defeated pro-Confederation premier Samuel Tilley in a snap election that year. But the Fenian Raids in 1866 fueled New Brunswick’s sense of insecurity and increased support for Confederation. After Tilley’s party won another election in 1866, the legislature voted 38–1 in favour of Confederation.

East Gwillimbury, Ontario, incorporated as a town in 1971, population 34,637 (2021 census), 23,991 (2016 census). Located in York Region, East Gwillimbury’s northern border is less than a kilometre from Lake Simcoe. Historic communities within East Gwillimbury include Sharon, Holland Landing, Queensville and Mount Albert. As of 2021, the town was Canada’s fastest growing municipality of over 5,000 people, with a population increase of over 44 per cent between 2016 and 2021.

Throughout history, the East Gwillimbury area has been home to different Indigenous groups, namely the Wendat (Huron), Tionontati (Petun), Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabeg, including the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation. The land is part of the Williams Treaties (1923).

Red Deer, Alberta, incorporated as a city in 1913, population 100,844 (2021 census), 100,418 (2016 census). The city of Red Deer is located on the Red Deer River, 150 km south of Edmonton. The Cree applied the name “Elk” to the river, but Scottish fur traders appear to have confused elk with the red deer of their homeland.

Clement Courtenay Ligoure, physician (born 13 October 1886 in Trinidad; died 23 May 1922 in Halifax, NS). Dr. Ligoure was Halifax’s first Black doctor and an unsung hero of the Halifax Explosion, as he treated hundreds of patients free of charge in his home medical office. Dr. Ligoure was also instrumental in the formation of the No. 2 Construction Battalion, Canada’s first and only all-Black battalion (see Black Canadians; Caribbean Canadians).

St. Peters Bay, Prince Edward Island, Rural Municipality, incorporated in 1953, population 231 (2021 census), 237 (2016 census). St. Peters Bay the community is located at the eastern end of St. Peters Bay the body of water, along PEI’s northeastern shore. The village is known for its annual Blueberry Festival and the nearby PEI National Park in Greenwich.