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Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act resulted in a large number of Black people migrating to British North America via the Underground Railroad.
The new law forced citizens to assist in the capture of runaway slaves and return them to their owners. Most of the time if the slaves were caught, they were punished or even killed. People in the free states also had to oblige. -
Dominion of Canada
The union of the British North American colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the Province of Canada joined together under Confederation to form the Dominion of Canada. They decided to join together to make it less likely for America to attack instead of being separate British colonies. They feared the Americans and this pushed them to confederation -
Métis Provisional Government.
The Canadian government bought Rupert's Land from the HBC in 1869. They appointed an English-speaking Governor McDougall. McDougall was disliked by the Métis in the settlement. He sent out surveyors to plot the land, to fit the square township system used in Ontario. The Métis, led by Louis Riel, prevented him from entering the territory. HBC was no longer in control of the territory. Métis created a provisional government. Riel spoke to the Canadian government to make Manitoba a province. -
Manitoba Act
The Manitoba Act made it that Métis lands would be protected but all other lands was the property of the Dominion of Canada. It was the resolution of the struggle for independence between people of the Red River Colony and the federal government, that began with the purchase of Rupert’s Land by Canada in 1869. -
Jubilee Riots
The Jubilee riots was an outbreak of violence between Protestants and Catholics in Toronto. The riots happened during a series of Catholic religious pilgrimages related to the Jubilee year declared by Pope Pius IX. -
Battle of Batoche
This was a battle between government troops and the Metis. After the Battle of Fish Creek, Middleton regrouped his forces and then marched on Batoche, the village where the Métis and their Indian allies had their headquarters. The battle lasted 3 days (9th to 12th). The Metis were defeated and that ended the North-West Rebellion. Louis Riel was captured and later hanged. -
Public Schools Act
This act was passed in Manitoba in 1890. When Manitoba was created it had two public school systems. One was French and one was Catholic. But by 1890, one of the Metis' fears came to life. Immigration from Ontario had created a large English Protestant majority who resented public funding for French Catholic schools and therefore a law passed that abolished French as an official language in the province, and eliminated state funding for Catholic schools. -
Criminal Code
Macdonald believed in the need for a single regime of criminal law for the entire country. The Canadian constitution gave the federal government the explicit authority to codify the criminal law. An initial set of nine statutes was passed by the federal House of Commons in 1869 to at least consolidate the law for various things. A complete Criminal Code was finally achieved in July, 1892, under the leadership of the Minister of Justice and later-to-be prime minister, Sir John Thompson. -
OverTuring Public Schools Act
Conservative PM Bowell supported French Catholic rights in Manitoba but the issue divided his government and he was forced to resign. Laurier took over and his compromise was any community with 10 or more students who spoke a language other than English could establish a separate school. Bilingual teachers would conduct classes using English and the language of the immigrant community. -
Wilfrid Laurier
He was elected prime minister of Canada in 1896 -
Parc Victoria
Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee is celebrated across Canada and England. Parc Victoria opens in Quebec City in honour of Queen Victoria. -
Streetcar Worker Strike
Over 850 employees of the Big Consolidated Line of the Cleveland Electric Railway Co voted to strike for better wages and working conditions and union recognition. Riots broke out across the city of London. Police attempted to keep mobs from damaging the streetcars and attacking the nonunion men the company employed to operate them. -
Immigration Act
Frank Oliver wanted a more restrictive immigration policy. The act increased the power of the government to restrict immigration, deport people, and create regulations to unfairly target people considered undesirable. -
Naval Service Bill
Naval Service Bill was the federal act that gave rise to the Royal Canadian Navy to replace the role of Royal Navy in protecting the sovereignty of the Canadian waters. -
Regulation 17
Regulation 17 was a regulation of the Ontario Conservative government written to shut down French schools at a time when Francophones from Quebec were moving into eastern Ontario.