The Country Moves West

We start today with a painting. Canoe Manned By Voyageurs Passing A Waterfall is an 1869 work by Frances Anne Hopkins. Fur trading voyageurs made extensive journeys into the West and North, interacting with indigenous peoples, long before most Canadians were even thinking of the concept.

A nearby railing looks over the side and down into a lower area. On the wall here are four works of art by the Dene artist Alex Janvier, collectively The Seasons.

White fur traders had a long tradition of living among First Nations peoples and integrating themselves into the tribe as opposed to the reverse. This would lead to the rise of a people who thought of themselves as their own distinctive culture- the Metis.

The federal government had its eyes looking west to become fully transcontinental in the  years after Confederation. Regardless of who was already out there. This would lead to conflict with indigenous peoples.

These are the moccasins of Chief Crowfood, a Blackfoot who advocated for peace.

The idea of building a transcontinental railroad to span the coasts took shape.

Here we have a theodolite and a sample rail.

One of the legacies of that era for the world at large is the concept of standard time. It was Sanford Fleming, a railway engineer, who proposed a system of dividing up the world into time zones to facilitate ease of travel.

One of the indigenous leaders who stood up to the federal government was Louis Riel, who led armed resistance by the Metis, and would end up arrested, tried, and executed.

These were the cuffs used to bind him during his trial.