On July 1st 1867, the Dominion of Canada was established as a result of the British North American Act which united the Provinces of Canada, (Upper & Lower Canada now called Ontario and Quebec) New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. The motivations for the union were many and varied. Upper and Lower Canada were at a deadlock with each other, there were constant fears of America trying to annex the British colonies, and Britain wanted the colonies to look after themselves so it could focus its efforts on India and China. With everyone in eventual agreement Confederation came into effect.
The takeover of HBC by the International Financial Society in 1863 signalled the end of the fur trade and its eventual replacement with an agricultural economy. The beavers were almost hunted to extinction in many parts of Canada and the fur trade in the subarctic regions had crashed and stagnated. After over 200 years, the problem of overhunting was compounded by declining fur prices on the London market. Coincident with low fur prices, overhunting had also reduced the availability of bison as a food staple.
The early stages of the fur trade were characterized by Indigenous peoples as crucial and forceful players in the game. During the middle stage of the fur trade, Indigenous peoples still had some influence and control but, as things progressed, the benefits of the trade shifted to the Europeans sphere of control. Most damaging for Indigenous communities was an economic dependency on the consumption of European goods. Consumption of these goods required a willingness to trade or work for wages. This dependency weakened many aspects of traditional Indigenous economies and, as the fur trade came to an end, European interests gained the upper hand both economically and politically.
In 1869 the company surrendered its charter to the British Crown and returned Rupert's Land to Britain. The British government then gave it to Canada and loaned the new country the £300,000 required to compensate HBC for its losses. HBC also received one-twentieth of the fertile areas to be opened for settlement and retained title to the lands on which it had built trading establishments. The deal, known as the Deed of Surrender, came into force the following year and the resulting territory, now known as the North-West Territories, was brought under Canadian jurisdiction.
Next to join would be Manitoba after the success of the 1869 Red River uprising. Led by Louis Riel and his followers at the Red River Colony it was the first crisis the new federal government faced. Following the handover of Rupert’s Land to Canada the Metis wanted to ensure their land claims and other rights such as language and religion, would be respected.
Following the seizure of Fort Garry the Metis established a provisional government and negotiated with the Canadian government to allow the Red River Colony to enter Confederation as the Province of Manitoba on July 15th, 1870. At the same time the rest of Rupert’s Land was added to the North-West Territories.
Unfortunately Louis Riel had to flee to the U.S. and live there in exile as a result of ordering the execution of an Irish Protestant member of the Canadian Party for not obeying the orders of the provisional government. He would return in 1884 to lead the Northwest Rebellion.
From around 1850,
the decline of the bison herds began to weaken the Iron Confederacy and created conflict over the right to harvest them. As the bison migrated seasonally it meant that many Plains peoples effectively relied on the same
herd depending on their territory, and overhunting by one party (or white settlers) affected them all in
a tragedy of the commons.
The bison would
frequently move across tribal boundaries, and desperate hunters would be
tempted to follow, leading to frequent disputes. The bison declined sooner in
the parkland belt where the Cree lived than on the short-grass prairies to the South. The Cree blamed the HBC and
Métis for this, but still needed them for trade. Bison could still be found on
Blackfoot territories, which led Cree hunting bands to stray into Blackfoot
territory and directly into conflict.
The Blackfoot and the Cree were fighting to gain control of the Cypress Hills boundaries and on October 25, 1870 there was a battle between them called the "Battle of Belly River." Big Bear and Little Pine led the Cree and attacked a Peigan/Blood camp. The next day, well armed Blackfoot, Blood, and Peigans entered the battle and defeated the Cree, and approximately 200-400 Cree died in the battle. Eventually the Cree and Blackfoot negotiated peace and joint access to the Cypress hills.
Following this, in
1873, the Blackfoot leader Crowfoot ceremonially
adopted Poundmaker, of mixed Cree and Assiniboine parentage, creating a
final peace between the Cree and Blackfoot.
The
bison herds had formed the basis of the economies of the Plains tribes. Without
bison, they were forced to move onto reservations or starve. The U.S. federal
government and local governments promoted bison hunting primarily to
allow ranchers to range their cattle without competition from other bovines, and
to starve and weaken the Plains Indian population to pressure them to settle on
reservations.
Bison
were slaughtered for their skins, with the rest of the animal left behind to
decay on the ground. After the animals rotted, their bones were collected and
shipped back east in large quantities to be made into fertilizer or pottery.
The railroad industry also wanted bison herds culled or eliminated as they were
considered a hazard and a nuisance.
As the great herds began to wane, proposals to
protect the bison were discussed. But these were discouraged since it was
recognized that the Plains Indians, often at war with the United States,
depended on bison for their way of life. In 1874, President Ulysse S. Grant vetoed a federal bill to protect the
dwindling bison herds, and in 1875 General Philip Sheridan pleaded to a joint session of Congress to slaughter the herds, to deprive the Plains Indians of their
source of food.
At the start of the nineteenth century the plains bison population was
estimated to be around 30 million, but by 1889 less than 1,000 bison were left.
The mass buffalo
slaughter also seriously harmed the ecological health of the Great Plains
region, in which many Indigenous people lived. Unlike cattle, bison were
naturally fit to thrive in the Great Plains environment and survive harsh
winters.
Additionally, bison grazing helps to cultivate the prairie, making it ripe for hosting a diverse range of plants. Cattle, on the other hand, eat through vegetation and limit the ecosystem's ability to support a diverse range of species. Research also suggests that the absence of native grasses leads to topsoil erosion, a main contributor of the dust bowl and black blizzards of the 1930s. Since the onset of the buffalo slaughter the plains region has lost nearly one-third of its prime topsoil.
By the end of the 19th century three important animal species had been made practically extinct in Canada. The beaver, the sea otter, and the bison with the west coast salmon and east coast cod to soon follow.
In 1867, there were
three options for British Columbia to consider. The first was to continue as a
British colony (now that Vancouver Island and the mainland were one colony)
the second was to be annexed by the United States,
and the third was to join the Confederation of the newly formed Dominion of
Canada.
Remaining a colony only appealed to the people living on Vancouver Island as many of them had postings with the Imperial government which would be lost but, for those living on the mainland, the promise of new commercial opportunities and representative government held greater sway. Furthermore, Britain was keen to divest itself of the colony and any military responsibilities.
Financially it made
sense to become part of the United States since it provided all of the colony’s
supplies and British Columbia was essentially a satellite of San Francisco. After
the American purchase of Alaska in 1867 there was pressure to incorporate
British Columbia into the United States as well.
But British Columbia was in an economic slump after the collapse of the gold rushes and had also accumulated a massive debt which made it less attractive to the Americans. In the end British Columbia decided to join Confederation on July 20th, 1871 and, in return, Canada absorbed all of its debt, guaranteed pensions to those officials who would lose their jobs, and promised to build a railway from Montreal to the Pacific coast within 10 years.