John Cabot (1450-1498)

Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer. He made the first known landing on the North American continent since the Norsemen somewhere between Maine and southern Nova Scotia in 1497. This journey was commissioned by King Henry VII.

Victoria Belcourt Callihoo (1861-1966)

Victoria Belcourt Callihoo was born in Lac Ste. Anne, a Métis community northwest of Edmonton. The daughter of a Cree medicine woman, she went to her first buffalo hunt in a Red River cart at age 13, when the great western bison herds could still be described as "a dark solid moving mass." Living in Lac Ste. Anne for all her 104 years, she witnessed the many changes in the Canadian West that took place in this time period from the virtual extinction of the bison to the jet aircraft. Questioning the value of money the first time she saw it, she preferred the "fur" system of barter which did not foster the hoarding of wealth. . She was more approving of the telephone, as it permitted Callihoo, a woman related by blood or marriage to the Cree, Iroquois and French, to communicate in the language of her choice. She later farmed with her husband, Louis Callihoo, and raised 12 children. An expert teamster, she also freighted for the Hudson's Bay Company between Edmonton and Athabasca Landing. Callihoo's vivid recollections, outlined in the Alberta Historical Review, are a remarkable window into 19th-century Métis daily life and customs. Indeed, she was still dancing the laborious Red River jig "the way it should be done" well past the age of 100.

Canada East

This was the name given to Lower Canada (Quebec) when it became a district of the united Province of Canada. This occurred as a result of the Durham Report establishing the Act of Union in 1840. Canada East became the Province of Quebec within the Dominion of Canada after Confederation in 1867.

Dominion of Canada

On July 1, 1867, the Dominion of Canada was established consisting of three provinces (now divided into Quebec and Ontario), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. This union was established by the British North America Act. Unification came about in part due to the need for improvements in transportation and the threat of annexation to the south. Manitoba later joined the Dominion in 1870, British Columbia in 1871, Prince Edward Island in 1873, Alberta and Saskatchewan in 1905, and Newfoundland in 1949.

Lower Canada (1791-1841)

This name referred to Quebec by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The decision to divide Canada in two was reached because it was realized that it would be impossible to establish a form of government that would satisfy both English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians. Lower Canada consisted mainly of French Canadians. In the drawing up of the boundaries, Montreal, although predominantly English was also included. The friction between the two communities increased as more English-speaking immigrants moved into Lower Canada. In 1822, the Montreal Château Clique originated a bill which united both provinces. With the Act of Union (1840), Lower Canada became Canada East (in 1841), and was given equal representation within a united province.

Upper Canada (1791-1841)

This name was given to the western region of the province of Quebec when it was made a separate province by the Constitutional Act of 1791. Between the years 1791 and 1812, an influx of settlers had caused the population to grow from 14,000 to 90,000. The first governor was John Graves Simcoe. He distributed free land grants in return for loyalty oaths. This system created an elite group called The Family Compact. After the Durham Report, Upper Canada was made Canada West in the united Province of Canada.

Canada West (1841-1867)

This was the name given to Upper Canada when it became a district of the united Province of Canada established by the Act of Union in 1840 as a result of the Durham Report. After Confederation in 1840, Canada West became the Province of Ontario within the Dominion of Canada.

Canadian National Railways (CNR)

With the amalgamation of the Grand Trunk Railway, the Canadian Trunk Pacific, the Canadian Northern, the Intercontinental railway and the National Transcontinental Railways, the CNR was established (1923). The federal government found itself owning 22,000 miles of railway creating great financial and political difficulties. The first chairman of the railways, Sir Henry Thornton, was determined to demonstrate a viable project by widening the company’s interests into hotels, steamships and a telegraph system. The company continued to show deficits because of the accumulated debts and the government’s mandate to service the whole community at any cost.

Canadian Pacific Railway

In 1871, British Columbia was promised a railway connecting the west coast with the rest of Canada in the hopes that it would induce the west to enter into Confederation. The Government tried to tempt investors by offering huge land grants and cash subsidies. In a scandal that gave that allowed a Montreal company which was said to have U.S. backing, to win the bidding. The corrupt means by which it was obtained led to the downfall of the government in the "Pacific Scandal" of 1873. The line was finally completed in 1885 by a re-chartered company.

Sir Guy Carleton (1724-1808)

Also titled with the name Lord Dorchester, he was the Acting Governor (1767-70) and Governor (1786-1791) of Quebec and Governor-in-Chief of British North America until 1798. He set out to establish a base in Quebec for British imperial authority when, during his first tour of duty as Governor , he realized that the 13 North American colonies were close to rebellion. He believed that the maintenance of the seigniorial system would ensure French-Canadian loyalty. This was embodied in the Quebec Act of 1774. He disliked the division of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada, and the introduction of elected assemblies, but his advice that Montreal remain in Lower Canada was accepted.

Sir George Etienne Cartier (1814-1873)

He was the leader of the Bleu bloc of Canada East and served with John Macdonald in 1854 to form a Conservative ministry. He believed that in order to ensure survival of the French Canadian nation, both the English and French would have to work together. He recognized the need for legislation to protect the cultural identity of French Canadians and enhance the their transportation and commercial schemes. In 1858, the Macdonald-Cartier administration was defeated, but reformed as the Cartier-Macdonald ministry in a mutual exchange of posts. This so called "double-shuffle" lasted until 1862. Cartier returned to government in the great coalition of 1864 which negotiated Confederation..

Sir John Cartright (1835-1912)

This Canadian banker became Finance Minister in Alexander Mackenzie’s Liberal administration of 1873-1878. In this position, he was an advocate of free trade and alienated many people by his opposition to tariffs. After the Liberal’s victory in 1896, he became minister for trade and commerce in Laurier’s cabinet.

CCF (Cooperative Commonwealth Federation)

This Canadian socialist political party was founded in Calgary in 1932 and first met in Regina in 1923. The "Regina Manifesto" included economic planning, central financial control and price stabilization, the extension of public ownership in communications and natural resources, the creation of a welfare state and an emergency relief program. With its leader J.S. Woodsworth, by 1934, the party had become the official opposition in Saskatchewan and in British Columbia. Hundreds of CCF clubs began to spring up across Canada except in the Maritime Provinces and Quebec. In 1943, the CCF became the official opposition in Ontario and in 1944 was elected into government in Saskatchewan. Its quick advance up the political ladder, forced the Liberal Party to place a stronger emphasis on social reforms with such federal legislation as the 1944 Family Allowances Act. In 1961, the party evolved into the New Democratic Party with Tommy Douglas, the CCF Premier of Saskatchewan, as its leader.

Samuel de Champlain (1570-1635)

He was a French navigator and Governor of New France. He voyaged to North America in 1603, exploring the east coast from 1604-1607 and in 1608, he founded Quebec. He was appointed commandant of New France in 1612 establishing alliances with several North American nations. He was taken prisoner from 1629-1632 when Quebec fell briefly to the British. In 1633 he was appointed Governor of Quebec.

Sir Joseph Adolphe Chapleau (1840-1898)

He was invited by John Macdonald to join his cabinet in 1882. As leader of the moderate Bleus, this would balance the extremism of Sir Hector Langevin. He refused to lead the protest of the execution of Riel since he was not against his punishment. He resigned in 1892 to become Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec.

Daniel Claus (1727-1787)

Christian Daniel Claus was born in Beuningham, Germany in 1727. He arrived in North America via Philadelphia in 1749. Claus was soon working as an Indian agent attending a Six Nations council at Onondaga, and in 1751 was sent back to Mohawk country the following year to study native dialects. While in the valley, Daniel made his initial contacts with the people who would become central to his later life, specifically, the Mohawk war leader Joseph Brant and William Johnson, the Superintendent of the Indian Department. He got along well with Johnson and was given a permanent post in the Indian Department in 1760, responsible for relations with what were called the Seven Nations of Canada, a difficult job, because up until the British capture of Quebec and Montreal in 1759 and 1760, they had been staunch allies of the French. These were seven mixed native villages in the Montreal area predominantly Roman Catholic Mohawk, but also including Huron and Abenaki. In 1762 Claus married one of Johnson=s daughters, Ann (called Nancy). In 1774, Claus was to have taken over as Indian Superintendent for Montreal, but this position was eliminated when the Governor of Canada, Guy Carleton, restructured the Indian Department to put his own candidate in charge (for more details on this dispute, see the item under Guy Johnson). However, Claus continued to act on behalf on the Canadian Mohawks at Caughnawaga without pay. After the war he worked on the resettlement of the Mohawks at the Bay of Quinte and on the Grand River. He was not just a man of politics and war, however, and used his linguistic skills to collaborate with Joseph Brant on a Mohawk translation of the Anglican book of common prayer. Claus died while en route to England in 1787 to deal with his ongoing dispute with the Indian Department.

William Claus (1765-1826)

A son of Ann Johnson (a daughter of William Johnson) and Daniel Claus, William became a prominent Loyalist settler of what became the colony of Upper Canada after the American Revolution. He served as a deputy in the Indian department and served as a militia leader during the War of 1812.  In 1818, he became a member of the legislative council of Upper Canada.

CLC (Canadian Labour Congress)

This labour organization was established in 1956 with the merger of the Trades and Labor Congress and the Canadian Congress of Labour. The CLC was ready to take political action and in 1961 it united with the CCF (Cooperative Commonwealth Federation) to form the New Democratic Party.

Clear Grits

This was the name given to a radical reform group in Upper Canada (Canada West, Ontario) in the 1850s. The determined group promoted major constitutional reform, including representation by population, direct election to executive posts and secularization of Clergy Reserves. It played an important role in Confederation (1867) and after, formed the core of the Canadian Liberal Party.

Clergy Reserves

This term referred to the public land (one seventh) in Upper and Lower Canada that was set aside for the future use of Protestant clergy. Established under the Constitutional Act (1791), the reserves became bastions of wealth and power for the predominantly Anglican elite (the Family Compact) in Upper Canada.

Christopher Columbus (1451-1506)

Queen Isabella of Castille (of Spain) sent Columbus out by ship to find a westward route to India. The Genoese sailor left with his 3 ships, the Santa Maria, the Pinta and Nina. He explored much of the Caribbean on his four voyages, reaching the continental mainland on his last two journeys.

Compulsory Service Act (1917)

Canadian conscription was legislated because of the country’s inability to fulfill its commitment to provide four full divisions on the Western front.

Constitution Act of 1791

Before 1763, the French colony of New France stretched from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. The borders of the colony, however, were not well defined and French claims included vast regions still occupied by their aboriginal inhabitants who recognized no European claims. With the British victory in 1763, the former New France became the British colony of Canada. The borders were much truncated but still vague. The new colony included what is now southern Quebec and southern Ontario, along the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes basins, plus large areas of what is now the United States in the upper Mississippi valley region. In a little more than a decade, the American Revolution broke out, and when it ended in 1783, Britain had for all practical purposes given up its claims to the Mississippi. The colony of Canada now had more definite western borders, formed by the Great Lakes. Another result of the Revolution was a large influx of refugees called Loyalists, those who had sided with Britain in the war and had lost. These included natives as well as Europeans of various backgrounds--Dutch, German, Slavic, Hungarian, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, as well as English. However, the majority of the new arrivals spoke English as at least a second language. The colony of Canada now had a significant English speaking minority. The Constitution Act was the measure finally agreed upon to deal with these wide ranging territorial and population changes. The Constitution Act split the colony into two, Lower Canada, which was mostly French speaking, and Upper Canada, which had an English majority.

Créditistes

This was the French-Canadian partner to the Social Credit Party. Its largest victory was 26 seats in the 1962 federal election. Steady declinement in popularity caused the party to cease by 1980.

Thomas Alexander Crerar (1876-1975)

He was the founder of the Progressive Party after leaving the Liberals in protest. Formed in 1920, it managed second place in the election of 1921 with 65 seats. Within a year, Crerar had resigned as leader and eventually re-entered politics in 1929 as Mackenzie King’s Minister of Railways and Canals.