Battleford
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.
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Create AccountIn 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.
Founded in 1830, Fort Pitt was the major Hudson's Bay Company trading post between Forts Edmonton and Carlton (Saskatchewan), located at a large bend in the North Saskatchewan River just east of the modern Alberta-Saskatchewan border.
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.
Fort Carlton, situated on the south branch of the North Saskatchewan River near Duck Lake (Saskatchewan), was established in 1810 as a Hudson's Bay Company fur trade and provision post.
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 Northwest Territories (NWT) entered Confederation in 1870 after Canada acquired Rupert’s Land and the North-Western Territory from the Hudson’s Bay Company. The smaller territory now known as the NWT is what remains after the creation of several other provinces and territories out of the original 1870 lands.
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.
Qausuittuq National Park encompasses 11,000 km2 on northern Bathurst Island and smaller surrounding islands in Nunavut. It also includes the waters of May Inlet and Young Inlet. Pronounced Kow-soo-ee-took, the name of this park translates to “the place where the sun doesn’t rise” in Inuktitut. It is bordered to the south by Polar Bear Pass National Wildlife Area, and together these two zones protect a large, ecologically intact area in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Qausuittuq was established on 1 September 2015 as Canada’s 45th national park. It represents the Western High Arctic Natural Region, the 38th natural region of the 39 that constitute Canada’s national parks system.
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, incorporated as a city in 1903, population 33,665 (2021 census), 33,910 (2016 census). The city of Moose Jaw is located 160 km north of the US border and 65 km west of Regina in a sheltered valley at the confluence of the Moose Jaw River and Thunder Creek. It is governed by a mayor and six councillors who are elected to represent the city as a whole. The city’s evocative name is likely based on Indigenous sources and was perhaps first applied to a local creek that supposedly resembled the outline of a moose’s jawbone; another explanation is that it comes from a Cree word for “warm breezes.”
Port Refuge is a small bay on the south coast of Grinnell Peninsula, Devon I, in the high Arctic.
New Brunswick is one of three provinces collectively known as the "Maritimes." Joined to Nova Scotia by the narrow Chignecto Isthmus and separated from Prince Edward Island by the Northumberland Strait, New Brunswick forms the land bridge linking this region to continental North America. It is bounded in the north by Quebec and in the west by the US (Maine). In 1784, the British divided Nova Scotia at the Chignecto Isthmus, naming the west and north portion New Brunswick after the German duchy of Brunswick-Lunenburg. New Brunswick is now the only officially bilingual province in Canada.
Nova Scotia is Canada’s second-smallest province (following Prince Edward Island) and is located on the southeastern coast of the country. The province includes Cape Breton, a large island northeast of the mainland. The name Nova Scotia is Latin for “New Scotland,” reflecting the origins of some of the early settlers. Given its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, Nova Scotia’s economy is largely influenced by the sea, and its harbours have served as military bases during many wars.
Newfoundland and Labrador is divided by three of Canada’s seven physiographic regions. These three regions are the Canadian Shield in Labrador, and the Appalachian and Eastern St. Lawrence Lowlands on the island of Newfoundland.
Labrador’s northern coastal region is mountainous, deeply fjorded, and grows only ground-level, subarctic vegetation. Its southern coast has a rugged, barren foreshore and a forested hinterland. The interior of Labrador is a well-forested, dissected plateau. Most of Labrador’s most-populous towns, including Happy-Valley Goose Bay and Labrador City, are located in its interior.
On the island of Newfoundland the west coast is dominated by the table-topped Long Range Mountains. The northeast coast, with its numerous bays, islands and headlands, fronts on the Atlantic Ocean from the Great Northern Peninsula to the Avalon Peninsula. Newfoundland’s southern coast has the deeply embayed characteristics of a submerged shoreline. The inland areas of the island are generally hilly and rugged. Shallow bogs and heath vegetation covers much of the land. Most of Newfoundland’s towns and cities are located in the bays and coves of the island’s west and northeast coasts.