Canada Day!

Today is Canada day, and for those unfamiliar with Canada and its history I'll give you a little background. Before Canada was formed the land area was considered British and French colonies due to the  French and British pioneers who had cut out their own little piece of wilderness to live and farm on. (Of course it would be unfair not to recognize that this land was orginally possessed by the "First Nations", and there are still current ongoing disputes over compensation for land losses, and some other historical issues such as the attempts to "Europeanize" the First Nation people.)The earliest developed parts of Canada tended to be along major waterways including the great lakes since boat travel was the fastest way to get past the once dense foliage. Now in these areas of Eastern Canada, Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritme Provinces many places have been cleared for farming, and urban living, especially near my home town of Chatham. This area is mostly farmland.

The French and British both vied for this valuable and resource rich land during the French and Indian/Seven Years war. In the famous battle on the Plains of Abraham the French were held off by the British while attempting to siege Quebec City (one of the oldest cities in Canada) both famous generals Montcalme and Wolfe dying  shortly after and during the battle. There is also a famous novel of the same name about parts of the French and Indian War which ended in 1763.

During the time of the French Indian War the movement for revolution in America began to gain popularity and shortly after the end of the French and Indian war Canada was to assist Britain in defending her colonies against this revolution. During the war of 1812 many Americans left the the yet to be United States, and remained loyal to the British Crown. One of my ancestors was such a "Union Empire Loyalist", who ended up founding a town in Eastern Ontario called Brighton, which still exists today. An interesting fact that most Americans are reticent to admit is that the British actually set fire to and burned the White House during the War of 1812. There were many famous British defeats of the Americans during this war (including an amazing tactical win in a battle for Detroit), however as we all know the states united and now are no longer part of the British Commonwealth.

After the end of the French and Indian War, it was about one hundred years before the signing of the Constitution Act in 1867, on July first. In that intermittent period there the disperse nature of the colony caused some territorial rivalries, and unity problems, especially for those provinces extremely far from business centres or  centres of government such as British Columbia, Manitoba, and Alberta, as well as the culturally distinct, French speaking, and largely Roman Catholic Quebec.

Some of these tensions still exist today, however Canada has, within the past hundred years, become diversified with people immigrating from countries all over the world. Canada is currently home to the largest Tamil population outside of Sri Lanka. And for those of you unaware, due to our dual French and British heritage all Canadian children must study both French and English in school. French is spoken in many areas across the country including Canada's only truly bilingual province, New Brunswick.