Canada travel guide

The main battles between France and the UK were over trade and, in particular, over fur. This involved intense negotiations with Aboriginal Canadians. Negotiations often involved marriage agreements between fur traders and Aboriginal women, and today’s indigenous Métis are a people descended from these alliances, usually between the French and Cree, Ojibway, Algonquin and other First Nations. Many European trading companies, the most famous of which was Hudson’s Bay Company, founded in London, exploited existing rivalries between Indian nations to form trade alliances. You can still visit this company all over Canada, as it continues to be its leading department store, otherwise known as The Bay. An apt name, given that it owned and governed most of the Hudson Bay area for years, laying claim and trading rights to many of its territories and, in so doing, became the largest landowner in the world in the 17th century.

Your historic journey around Canada can then take you to Quebec, the much fought over French stronghold, which fell to the British in 1759 during the Seven Years’ War. Then on to Montreal, which succumbed in 1760. In 1763, the Treaty of Paris saw the handing over of all French colonies to Britain and, eventually in 1791, Quebec was divided into Lower Canada (today’s Quebec) and Upper Canada (today’s Ontario). From here on in, a wave of immigration from England, Scotland and Ireland began during the 1800s, still via the east coast, which explains why the most populated areas of Canada are still very much in the east.

The next stop around chronological Canada could be Toronto, which, during the 1812-14 war between the US and Britain, was the desired but missed target of the Americans, who were hoping to stop Britain’s control of the ports around the Great Lakes, one of which was Toronto. In 1867, the British North America Act created the Union of Canada, creating four provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

The battle for French independence continues even today, although it came to a head in the 1960s-1980s, with the creation of the prolific Parti Quebecois (PQ), which fought for total separation from the rest of Canada. Passions turned to violence for extreme separatists during this time too, with the radical Front de Liberation du Quebec running bombing and shooting campaigns during this period. A referendum on independence failed to get a yes vote in 1980, and again in 1995.

Canada gained its own total independence as recently as 1982, when the UK finally transferred all legal powers to the federal government. Only then did Canada adopt a new constitution, and its traditional public holiday, known then as Dominion Day, to celebrate the British North America Act, 1867, was renamed Canada Day. Not that ties were completely cut, however. Today, Canada maintains a federal parliamentary democracy with a Prime Minister as leader, and, as a member of the Commonwealth, it is also a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the current head of state.

Just to locate this on the chronological travel map, all of these goings on happened in Ottawa, of course, the capital city of Canada, and home to the government buildings. From here on in, the itinerary is over to you, as provinces as far flung as Manitoba, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island came on board the union in 1870, and Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1905, creating one very big country. It is worth noting that Newfoundland did not become a Canadian province until 1949, remaining a British dominion until then.

The opening up of the Northern Canada, often referred to simply as The North, really hit headlines in the late 19th century, when the gold rush began along the Yukon River. Yukon was given its own political status as a ‘territory’ which, along with Northwest Territories and Nunavut, it still maintains today. The Territory of Nunavut was created as recently as 1999 and is the first territory in Canada to have a majority indigenous population. The wheel of history moves very slowly, however, with relations between government and indigenous people still delicate and in constant negotiation, especially regarding land rights.

Similarly, the battle over Canada’s resources still proves to be one that threatens it. In 2005, Canada posted naval vessels to Churchill, an Arctic port, for the first time in 30 years, to monitor territorial claims from overseas nations. This time, the resources are no longer fur and gold, of course. Oil and natural gas are what people like to fight over these days but, as one of the founder member of NATO, Canada likes to choose its battles carefully and, impressively, preserve its resources in peace.