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  • Article

    1972 Canada-Soviet Hockey Series (Summit Series)

    For many Canadians, particularly baby boomers and Generation X, the eight-game hockey series between Team Canada and the national team of the Soviet Union in September 1972 provided the greatest moment in Canada’s sporting history. Most expected that Canada would handily defeat the Soviet Union, but this confidence quickly disappeared when Canada lost the first game. The series was tied heading into the final game in Moscow, which ended in dramatic fashion, with Paul Henderson scoring in the final seconds to give Canada the victory. The series became as much a Cold War political battle of democracy versus communism and freedom versus oppression as it was about hockey. The series had a lasting impact on hockey in Canada and abroad.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/7e070d7b-a05a-4d77-bdbc-971d8422b2bd.jpg 1972 Canada-Soviet Hockey Series (Summit Series)
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    Canada

    The name “Canada,” is derived from the Iroquoian word kanata, meaning a village or settlement. On 13 August 1535, as Jacques Cartier was nearing Île d'Anticosti, two Indigenous youths he was bringing back from France informed him that the route to Canada (“chemin de Canada”) lay to the south of the island. By Canada they meant the village of Stadacona, on the future site of Quebec City. Cartier used the word in that sense, but also referred to “the province of Canada,” meaning the area subject to Donnacona, chief at Stadacona. The name was soon applied to a much larger region. The “Harleian” world map of c. 1547, the first to show the discoveries made on Cartier's second voyage, applied it to an area north of the gulf and river St. Lawrence. By 1550 maps were also placing the name south of the river. (See also Cartography in Canada: 1500s.)

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  • Collection

    Canada During COVID-19

    Countries, communities, and individuals around the world are grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic. How will historians remember this time in history? Canada During COVID-19: A Living Archive is meant to capture the experiences of everyday Canadians as they live through this challenging time.

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    Canada East

    In 1841, Britain united the colonies of Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada. This was in response to the violent rebellions of 1837–38. The Durham Report (1839) laid out the guidelines to create the new colony with the Act of Union in 1840. The Province of Canada was made up of Canada West (formerly Upper Canada) and Canada East (formerly Lower Canada). The two regions were governed jointly until Confederation in 1867. Canada West then became Ontario and Canada East became Quebec.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/PoliticsInOntario/Map_Canada_West_East.jpg Canada East
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    Canada West

    In 1841, Britain united the colonies of Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada. This was in response to the violent rebellions of 1837–38. The Durham Report (1839) laid out the guidelines to create the new colony with the Act of Union in 1840. The Province of Canada was made up of Canada West (formerly Upper Canada) and Canada East (formerly Lower Canada). The two regions were governed jointly until Confederation in 1867. Canada West then became Ontario and Canada East became Quebec.

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Canada West
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    Capitalism in Canada

    Capitalism is an economic system in which private owners control a country’s trade and business sector for their personal profit. It contrasts with communism, in which property effectively belongs to the state (see also Marxism). Canada has a “mixed” economy, positioned between these extremes. The three levels of government decide how to allocate much of the country’s wealth through taxing and spending.

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    Confederation

    Confederation refers to the process of federal union in which the British North American colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Province of Canada joined together to form the Dominion of Canada. The term Confederation also stands for 1 July 1867, the date of the creation of the Dominion. (See also Canada Day.) Before Confederation, British North America also included Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, British Columbia, and the vast territories of Rupert’s Land (the private domain of the Hudson’s Bay Company) and the North-Western Territory. Beginning in 1864, colonial politicians (now known as the Fathers of Confederation) met and negotiated the terms of Confederation at conferences in Charlottetown, Quebec City and London, England. Their work resulted in the British North America Act, Canada’s Constitution. It was passed by the British Parliament. At its creation in 1867, the Dominion of Canada included four provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. Between then and 1999, six more provinces and three territories joined Confederation.This is the full-length entry about Confederation. For a plain language summary, please see Confederation (Plain Language Summary).

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    Constitutional Act, 1791 (Plain-Language Summary)

    The Constitutional Act, 1791 was an act of the British Parliament. It was also known as the Canada Act. It divided the Province of Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada. The Act was a first step on the long path to Confederation. It also gave women who owned property in Lower Canada the right to vote. But its rigid colonial structures set the stage for the Rebellions of 1837–38. This article is a plain-language summary of the Constitutional Act, 1791. If you would like to read about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry: Constitutional Act, 1791.

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    Convention of 1818

    The Convention of 1818 was a treaty between the United States and Britain that set the 49th parallel as the boundary between British North America and the US across the West.

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    Dominion of Canada

    Dominion of Canada is the country’s formal title, though it is rarely used. It was first applied to Canada at Confederation in 1867. It was also used in the formal titles of other countries in the British Commonwealth. Government institutions in Canada effectively stopped using the word Dominion by the early 1960s. The last hold-over was the term Dominion Day, which was officially changed to Canada Day in 1982. Today, the word Dominion is seldom used in either private or government circles.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/143f8587-f938-4cf1-bdc2-c441d02dc962.jpg Dominion of Canada
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    Dominion Police

    The Dominion Police was originally a small protective force organized by the federal government in 1868 to guard the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa following the assassination of Thomas D'Arcy McGee.

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    https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9 Dominion Police
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    Economic History of Canada

    The economic history of what is now Canada begins with the hunting, farming and trading societies of the Indigenous peoples. Following the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, the economy has undergone a series of seismic shifts, marked by the early Atlantic fishery, the transcontinental fur trade, then rapid urbanization, industrialization and technological change. Although different industries have come and gone, Canada’s reliance on natural resources — from fur to timber to minerals to oil, and on export markets for these commodities, particularly the United States — has underpinned much of the economy through the centuries and does so still in many regions today.

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  • Article

    Exercise Tocsin B

    Exercise Tocsin B was a nationwide nuclear preparedness drill that lasted 24 hours between 13 and 14 November 1961. It was the last of three national survival exercises named Tocsin in 1960–61. It was also the largest and most widely publicized civil defence drill ever held in Canada. This Cold War exercise run by the Canadian Army simulated the impact of thermonuclear warfare in Canada. Its goals were to show how the state would warn Canadians of such an attack and how government would continue during the crisis. By raising popular awareness of the potential for a devastating nuclear attack, Tocsin B showed Canadians what was at stake in the Cold War.

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    First or Principal Meridian

    Meridian, First or PrincipalThe First or Principal Meridian is the line of longitude forming the main backbone of the Dominion Lands Survey System - a plan devised in 1869 for the subdivision of the territory about to be purchased by the federal government from the Hudson's Bay Company into a rectangular system of square townships numbered northerly from the FORTY-NINTH PARALLEL and east and west of a given meridian. The Principal Meridian, sometimes referred to...

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    Fur Trade in Canada (Plain-Language Summary)

    The fur trade began in the 1600s in what is now Canada. It continued for more than 250 years. Europeans traded with Indigenous people for beaver pelts. The demand for felt hats in Europe drove this business. The fur trade was one of the main reasons that Europeans explored and colonized Canada. It built relationships between Europeans and Indigenous peoples. (This article is a plain-language summary of the fur trade. If you are interested in reading about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry, Fur Trade in Canada.)

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/article_files/fur-trade/c002771k.jpg Fur Trade in Canada (Plain-Language Summary)

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