Signing up enhances your TCE experience with the ability to save items to your personal reading list, and access the interactive map.
Create AccountMacleans
A small horde of second- and third-graders swarms down onto the blood-red deck like so many giggling pirates. But the "blood" on the deck is really red-oxide paint. And the children - from Parkcrest Elementary School in Burnaby, B.C.This article was originally published in Maclean's Magazine on May 11, 1998
"https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9
Article
Despite hosting talks about Confederation, Prince Edward Island did not join the Dominion of Canada until 1873, when a crippling debt forced it into the national fold as the country's seventh province.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/9a650dcd-e8ad-4685-8baf-c4bba9cae8e7.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/9a650dcd-e8ad-4685-8baf-c4bba9cae8e7.jpg
Article
According to legend, Sheila Na Geira (also spelled NaGeira and Nagira) was an Irish aristocrat or princess who, 300 or 400 years ago, while travelling between France and Ireland, was captured by a Dutch warship and then rescued by British privateers. She fell in love and was married to one of the privateers, Lieutenant Gilbert Pike. They settled at western Conception Bay. By the early 20th century, the legend was being told as part of Newfoundland’s oral tradition, and has since been popularized by poems, novels, scholarly articles and several plays.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/dreamstime_resize_33120989-2.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/dreamstime_resize_33120989-2.jpg
Article
On 15 July 1940, an unusual vessel docked at the Port of Québec, and a crowd gathered to greet the new arrival. The small craft used for patrolling and transportation on the St. Lawrence River at Québec City, the Jeffy Jan II — rechristened HMC Harbour Craft 54 by the young Canadian Navy during the war — was sent to surveil the ship and its sensitive cargo and passengers. The vessel in question was the prison ship MS Sobieski.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/05a335d9-a323-47e8-8090-059e81d8b8a4.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/05a335d9-a323-47e8-8090-059e81d8b8a4.jpg
Article
Canada operated prison camps for interned civilians during the First and Second World Wars, and for 34,000 combatant German prisoners of war (POWs) during the Second World War.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/cde937a6-33ac-4af0-87d7-4a9323820e13.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/cde937a6-33ac-4af0-87d7-4a9323820e13.jpg
Article
Pro pelle cutem (a Latin phrase meaning “a pelt for a skin”) is the traditional motto of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC). It was adopted soon after the company received its charter in 1670 and has remained on the HBC coat of arms, apart from a brief period of rebranding between 2002 and 2013.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/Hudsons_Bay_Company_Coat_of_Arms_2013.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/Hudsons_Bay_Company_Coat_of_Arms_2013.jpg
Article
Prohibition in Canada came about as a result of the temperance movement. It called for moderation or total abstinence from alcohol, based on the belief that drinking was responsible for many of society’s ills. The Canada Temperance Act (Scott Act) of 1878 gave local governments the “local option” to ban the sale of alcohol. Prohibition was first enacted on a provincial basis in Prince Edward Island in 1901. It became law in the remaining provinces, as well as in Yukon and Newfoundland, during the First World War. Liquor could be legally produced in Canada (but not sold there) and legally exported out of Canadian ports. Most provincial laws were repealed in the 1920s. PEI was the last to give up the “the noble experiment” in 1948.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/c0f20001-e566-4ebf-9c88-f1a5ae278291.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/c0f20001-e566-4ebf-9c88-f1a5ae278291.jpg
Article
A Promyshlennik is a Russian (chiefly Cossack) free-lance exploiter of natural resources, notably furs. Like the coureurs de bois, promyshlenniki had a sure instinct for rivers, forests and terrain.
"https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9
Article
Propaganda refers to messaging that aims to spread or “propagate” an ideology or worldview. Psychologists have described propaganda as “manipulative persuasion in the service of an agenda” or communications that “induce the individual to follow non-rational emotional drives.” During the First World War, propaganda was used to recruit soldiers and supporters. The Second World War saw it take a dark turn toward using outright lies to spread hateful ideologies and practices. (See also Fake News a.k.a. Disinformation.) During the Cold War, governments in the West and East used propaganda to try to spread the ideologies of capitalism and democracy, or communism and the Soviet Union. Today, propaganda is most often found on social media; it is used to marshal support for, or opposition to, various political, economic and social movements.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/Propaganda/492px-Canada_WWI_Victory_Bonds2.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/Propaganda/492px-Canada_WWI_Victory_Bonds2.jpg
Article
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) recommended the guidelines to create the new colony with the Act of Union. 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 the Province was dissolved to make way for Confederation in 1867. Canada West then became Ontario and Canada East became Quebec. The Province of Canada was a 26-year experiment in anglophone-francophone political cooperation. During this time, responsible government came to British North America and expanded trade and commerce brought wealth to the region. Leaders such as Sir John A. Macdonald, Sir George-Étienne Cartier and George Brown emerged and Confederation was born. (This is the full-length entry about the Province of Canada. For a plain language summary, please see Province of Canada (Plain Language Summary).)
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/dcae055f-192e-4de7-b004-4a70146eca56.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/dcae055f-192e-4de7-b004-4a70146eca56.jpg
Article
At the end of the Seven Years’ War (1756–63), Great Britain set out to organize the North American territories surrendered by France in the Treaty of Paris, 1763. By the Royal Proclamation of 1763, the Province of Quebec was created out of the inhabited portion of New France. The boundaries took on a rectangular shape on each side of the St. Lawrence River, and stretching from Lake Nipissing and the 45th parallel to the Saint John River and Ile d'Anticosti. These boundaries were modified by the Quebec Act of 1774 to include the fishing zone off Labrador and the Lower North Shore, and the fur trade area between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and the Great Lakes. The Treaty of Paris, 1783 pushed the boundary farther north. With the Constitutional Act, 1791, Britain divided the Province of Quebec into Upper Canada (the predecessor of modern-day Ontario) and Lower Canada (whose geographical boundaries comprised the southern portion of present-day Quebec).
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/PoliticsInOntario/Map_Province_of_QC_1763.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/PoliticsInOntario/Map_Province_of_QC_1763.jpg
Article
The Quebec Act received royal assent on 22 June 1774. It revoked the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which had aimed to assimilate the French-Canadian population under English rule. The Quebec Act was put into effect on 1 May 1775. It was passed to gain the loyalty of the French-speaking majority of the Province of Quebec. Based on recommendations from Governors James Murray and Guy Carleton, the Act guaranteed the freedom of worship and restored French property rights. However, the Act had dire consequences for Britain’s North American empire. Considered one of the five “Intolerable Acts” by the Thirteen American Colonies, the Quebec Act was one of the direct causes of the American Revolutionary War (1775–83). It was followed by the Constitutional Act in 1791. This is the full-length entry about the Quebec Act of 1774. For a plain language summary, please see The Quebec Act, 1774 (Plain-Language Summary).
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/bcf0dcc3-ce34-4098-8543-00bcccbaabe0.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/bcf0dcc3-ce34-4098-8543-00bcccbaabe0.jpg
Article
Selected text of the Quebec Act:An Act for making more effectual Provision for the Government of the Province of Quebec in North America.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/bcf0dcc3-ce34-4098-8543-00bcccbaabe0.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/bcf0dcc3-ce34-4098-8543-00bcccbaabe0.jpg
Article
Québec became one of the founding members of the Dominion of Canada on 1 July 1867 when it joined New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Ontario in Confederation .
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/98975740-c322-469b-9fe0-d603876f072d.png" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/98975740-c322-469b-9fe0-d603876f072d.png
Editorial
The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated. High above the St. Lawrence River, on a hot August day in 1907, a worker named Beauvais was driving rivets into the great southern span of the Quebec Bridge. Near the end of a long day, he noticed that a rivet that he had driven no more than an hour before had snapped clean in two. Just as he called out to his foreman to report the disquieting news, the scream of twisting metal pierced the air. The giant cantilever dropped out from under them, crashing into the river with such force that people in the city of Quebec, 10 km away, believed that an earthquake had struck.
"https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/fbaea59f-792e-4866-9bbf-05641728ca4f.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/media/fbaea59f-792e-4866-9bbf-05641728ca4f.jpg
