The Nations of Canada

1903. In the wake of the Alaska border dispute, Canada looks to strengthen its claims on the islands off its northern coast, in the Arctic Ocean.  The only problem is, no one in Ottawa has any idea how many islands there are, or how far the archipelago reaches.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1903.  Canada disputes American territorial claims in the Alaskan panhandle, in the hope/expectation that recent sacrifices in South Africa will ensure British diplomatic support.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1902. In the aftermath of the Boer War, delegates from the settler Dominions gather in London to discuss the future of the Empire - only to find Canadian Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier and Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain have very different interpretations of what that entails.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1901-1902Canadian soldiers find themselves in a Boer War that has turned into a brutally modern counter-insurgency.  Meanwhile, a group of Canadian women volunteer to do their bit for the Empire by teaching South African children how to be good British subjects.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Montreal's school system, delicately balanced between the city's Catholic and Protestant communities struggles to accommodate the arrival of Jewish migrants, who fit into neither category.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

As the Fraser River fishery prepares for the largest salmon run in its history, tensions rise between its labour force of white, indigenous, and Japanese fishermen.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

The indigenous nations of the prairies attempt to reap the benefits of the western wheat boom, but find their work obstructed by interference from the Indian Department.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

The rise of the Canadian west attracts a new type of migrant-settler from continental Europe, establishing new communities in Canada - none more consequential than that of the Ukrainian-Canadians. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

As a new century dawns, Canadian women establish political organizations pursuing goals from prohibition to suffrage; and spanning ideologies from radical anarchism to imperialism. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Canadian soldiers arrive in South Africa to discover that the war is going much worse than anyone had anticipated.  Meanwhile, the divisions at home only deepen.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

A war in South Africa threatens to divide Canada, presenting Wilfrid Laurier with his greatest test yet as Prime Minister.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

With the British Empire increasingly anxious about its global strategic position, Canada faces pressure to take on a greater share of imperial defence.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

The Indian Department's attempts to impose a new system of governance sparks a wave of Haudenosaunee nationalism, from Kahnawake to the Grand River. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Chinese-Canadians join an effort to modernize the Chinese state, in hopes that a strong Beijing can better advocate for their civil and political rights in British Columbia.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

The Yukon gold rush creates a new urban centre in the far north, and forces the Canadian government to revisit its treaty-making efforts, after a twenty year hiatus.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

A gold find, this time in the sub-arctic Yukon, once again transforms Canada's Pacific region.  But if the rush promises prosperity, it also brings political, diplomatic, and humanitarian challenges.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

After decades of constitutional reform and millions spent on railway construction, the Canadian confederation finally fulfills its economic potential thanks to technological developments in the flour and paint-making industries.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Liberal leader Wilfrid Laurier ends a generation of Conservative rule through a canny combination of optimism and opportunism. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

A series of Conservative Prime Ministers struggle to hold together the party that the late John A. Macdonald spent his career building. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

A devastating fire in St. John's, and a comprehensive financial meltdown threaten the very existence of Newfoundland as a self-governing colony.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

In an effort to speed indigenous assimilation, the federal government turns to a new program that will define its Indian policy for the next seventy years - Indian Residential Schools.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Twenty-five years after the Hudson's Bay Company land purchase, and ten years after the CPR, impatient Canadians begin to wonder if the northwestern frontier will ever fulfill its potential. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

In the wake of a divisive federal election, and in the face of bullying economic policies emanating from Washington, the Governor General turns to hockey as a unifying force in Canada.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Canada's Christians take their reforming zeal abroad to Asia, establishing the trans-Pacific links that Canadian politicians and businessmen have thus far failed to achieve. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Ambitious to overtake Montreal as Canada's first city, Toronto grapples with its dual self-proclaimed identities as the nation's economic engine, and its moral compass. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

With fresh tariffs and loose talk about annexation emanating from Washington, an ageing John A. Macdonald carries the banner of Canadian nationalism into one last election. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

The burden of railway debt forces Newfoundland to contemplate joining the Canadian confederation, until a patriot emerges, calling on Newfoundlanders to believe in themselves and their national destiny.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

A bill to excise the French language from Manitoba's government and schools sparks a debate on what kind of nation Canada is.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

The passage of a bill regarding the Jesuit Order in Quebec's legislature sparks a heated debate on the kind of nation Canadians have been building since confederation. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

The new premier of Quebec, Honore Mercier, hosts his colleagues from across the country as they fashion a constitutional program that puts the provinces, not Ottawa, at the centre of confederation.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

A new wave of labour unrest hits Canada, culminating in a battle over Toronto's public transit.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

The Canadian Pacific Railway completes its trans-continental line, revolutionizing the economy, demographics, and politics of British ColumbiaBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

A public health crisis in Montreal spins out of control, the product of mistrust between the mostly Protestant, Anglophone municipal officials and the French Catholic population of the city.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

In the aftermath of the fighting, the meaning and legacy of 1885 is determined in a series of trials in Regina.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

The Canadian militia arrives in the northwest to suppress a Metis rebellion, but finds the situation there more complicated than anyone in the east imagined.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

While the Canadian government organizes a military response, and the Metis provisional government contemplates its next move, the initiative in the northwest passes to the Cree chiefs of Treaty Six territory, especially Poundmaker and Big Bear.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

The mounting tension in the Northwest is finally released, as violence breaks out between the Northwest Mounted Police and a group of Metis.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

With a crisis brewing on the Nile, the British Army turns to the most celebrated river pilots in the Empire - Canadian voyageurs. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

On the one hundred year anniversary of the loyalist migrations, Canadians contemplate their historical identity, their place in the British Empire, and a possible expansion into the Caribbean.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Facing famine, and a decade of unfulfilled promises, indigenous leaders on the prairies seek out new forms of political organization.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Fifteen years after the bungled expansion to the Red River, Ottawa risks making the same mistake in the northwest - ignoring the reality of the peoples residing there. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

John A. Macdonald finally meets his match, in Oliver Mowat, the Liberal Premier of Ontario.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Canada learns that building a transcontinental railway line is as much an exercise in politics as it is engineering.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Kahnawake becomes a testing ground for a new form of indigenous government crafted in Ottawa.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Having completed its treaty-making campaign on the prairies, the federal government finds that treaty implementation is as challenging as treaty negotiations. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

John A. Macdonald makes his triumphant return to power on the back of an ambitious plan to save the Canadian economy through tariffs and rapid railroad construction.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Infused with national confidence after rejecting confederation, the government at St. John's seeks, for the first time, to exert its influence across all of Newfoundland. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

As Canadian negotiators seek to complete their treaty-making campaign on the prairies, they find the Blackfoot intent on coming to a different kind of settlement than their neighbours to the east.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

A group of Icelanders repeat the voyage of their ancestors almost 900 years earlier, and once again establish a colony in Canada - this time in Manitoba.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

The Canadian treaty campaign in the northwest begins its most important negotiations yet - for the surrender of Cree lands along the fertile belt of the North Saskatchewan River.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

A dentist from Montreal seeks to turn an indigenous game into a marker of Canadian national identity.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.