Learning Guide for Counterpoints: Exploring Canadian Issues
Unit 1-1: Reading Guide Key
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A Different Canada
Resource: Counterpoints: Exploring Canadian Issues, Chapter 1
Introduction
1.
Describe five changes in Canada’s borders between 1905 and 2005.

The North West Territories included much of northern Ontario,

The North West Territories included much of northern Ontario,

The North West Territories included much of northern Ontario,

Nunavut did not exist,

Labrador was much smaller.
2.
What was Canada’s population in:

1911 - 7,200,000

2000 - approximately 30,000,000
Society and Manners
3.
Where did most Canadians live in 1900?
On farms or in small villages.
4.
Identify several Victoria era values in Canada.

Families were expected to attend church.

Support for Britain and the monarchy.

Valued honour, virtue, and duty.

Families were expected to take care of their members.

Hard work was rewarded. Poverty was the result of laziness.
5.
Describe how women were treated in the early 1900s.

Had few rights over property or their children after marriage.

Salary belonged to their husband.

Were not considered persons by the law.

Mainly found work as servants or in factories.
6.
Define the term suffragist.
Women who campaigned for the right to vote.
7.
Identify several goals of the suffragists.

Right to vote.


To address the social problems of their day.
To ban alcohol.
8.
Who was Nellie McClung?
A Canadian suffragist.
9.
Describe how each of the following influenced Canadian culture:

Lucy Maud Montgomery: author of the novel “Anne of Green Gables”.

Stephen Leacock: humourist; author of the Sunshine Sketches …”

Ernest Thompson Seton: author of animal stories.

Pauline Johnson: Mohawk poetess who wrote about her heritage.

Homer Johnson: painter of farm scenes of Ontario.

Ozias Leduc: Quebec painter of landscapes and religious themes.
Still a British Nation
10. Who was responsible for settling Canada’s disputes with other nations in 1900?
The British government.
11. What was at stake in the Alaska Boundary Dispute?
Control of access to the Yukon gold fields.
12. Why might Britain not have supported Canada’s desire to control the Lynn Canal in
Alaska?
Britain did not want a conflict with the US during or after the Boer War.
13. Define the term imperialist.
People who want to take over other lands.
14. Why did many English Canadians support Britain in the Boer War?
They shared Britain’s desire to expand the Empire.
15. Why were French speaking Canadians not enthusiastic supporters of the British Empire?
They saw themselves as Canadian and separate from the British and their Empire.
16. Define the term nationalist.
A person who feels strongly about the interests of their country.
17. Why did Henri Bourassa resign from Wilfred Laurier’s government?
He opposed Laurier’s decision to send volunteers to South Africa to assist the British.
18. What Manitoba issue caused disagreements between French and English speaking groups
in Canada?
The Manitoba provincial government took away the right to French language instruction
in Catholic schools.
Canada’s Changing Population
19. What did Wilfred Laurier do to help Canada prosper after he became Prime Minister in
1896?
Recruited settlers for the prairies.
20. What did the federal government offer immigrants who settled on Canada’s prairies?
160 acres for $10.00.
21. What did they have to do in return?
Build a house and start cultivation within three years.
22. Define the term ethnocentric.
Belief that one’s own group or race is superior to others.
23. Why did some French speaking Canadians fear the arrival of immigrants?
They would reduce the percentage of Canadian who spoke French.
24. Why were some eastern European immigrants ridiculed?
They dressed differently and had different customs.
25. Under what circumstances were Asian immigrants tolerated?
As long as they did work that others did not want.
26. Why did many “white” Canadians oppose Asian immigration?
Feared they would compete for jobs by working for less.
27. Why did the federal government place a head tax on Chinese immigrants?
To limit immigration.
28. What was the Komagata Maru incident of 1914?
Sikhs from India (citizens of the British Empire) tried to enter Canada and were sent
back.
29. Explain why today’s government should or should not apologize to the descendents of
Asian immigrants for Canada’s past treatment of these people.
Varied – opinion.
30. What are reserves?
Land set aside for Aboriginal people.
31. Why were Aboriginal peoples on the prairies forced to live on reserves?
To make land available for settlers; to avoid conflicts similar to those in the American
west; to help assimilate Aboriginal peoples.
32. How were Aboriginal people expected to support themselves on the reserves?
By farming.
33. Why was the Aboriginal population declining in the early 1900s?
Disease; poor diet; inadequate housing.
34. What were residential schools?
Boarding schools for Aboriginal children.
35. What problems did Aboriginal children face in these schools?
Overcrowding and unsanitary conditions.
36. Based on what you may have read in the media or seen on TV, what other impacts did
residential schools have on Aboriginal children and their culture?
Separation from their family and culture; abuse in many forms.
37. Define assimilation.
To draw a group (e.g. Aboriginal people) into mainstream Canadian life and extinguish
their own cultural traditions.
38. Suggest why Aboriginal people often resisted assimilation.
Valued their own way of life and traditions.
Urbanization
39. Describe Winnipeg’s growth between 1901 and 1911.
From 42,340 to 136,035.
40. List the luxuries that wealthy city dwellers often enjoyed in this era.

Servant.

Houses lit by electricity.

Central hot water heat.

Running water.
41.
List characteristics of the living conditions of working class people in cities around
1910.

Lived in shacks or crowded tenements.

No running water or sewer.

Pollution from nearby factories.

Disease was common.
An Economy Transformed
42. Identify three important Canadian exports in the early 1900s.
Lumber, wheat, minerals.
43. What was discovered in the Yukon in 1896?
Gold.
44. What impact did the use of electricity have on Canada’s industry?
Permitted bigger and better machines which increased production.
45. Identify several consumer goods that became popular in this era.
Canada Dry; Shredded Wheat; Palmolive Soap; Heinz ketchup; the 5¢ chocolate bar;
telephones.
46. What is a trade union?
Groups of workers who try to get better pay and working conditions from their employer.
47. Why did workers go on strike?
Better pay; reduced hours of work; safer working conditions.
48. Describe the coal miners strike in Nanaimo.
Varied.
49. What is a recession?
A decline in the economy resulting in less employment and production.
50. Why do you think Canada’s economy was in a recession in 1914?
Result of retrenching after two decades of rapid growth.
51. Describe the impact of railway construction along the Fraser canyon on salmon.
Blasted rock blocked the river making it impossible for salmon to pass.
52. How did this affect commercial fishermen?
Given a fishing monopoly to compensate for reductions in available salmon.
53. How did this affect the Sto:lo people?
Lost their share of the available salmon and suffered economic hardships.
54. Identify several parks created in this era.
Mt. Revelstoke; Kootenay; Glacier; Strathcona; Mt. Robson.
War and Change
55. Wilfred Laurier predicted the Twentieth Century would be one of development for
Canada. Suggest several areas in which this prediction came true.
Varied.