Informed And Shaped By Nature

 This display looks at the efforts to populate the Canadian west in the late 19th century and into the early 20th century.

Central to this space is this church. St. Onuphrius Ukrainian Catholic Church once stood in Alberta, and was moved here to the Museum in the 1990s. It's not a large building, but it is a beautiful one, and it remains a consecrated church, with services still held on occasion, including earlier this month marking the Feast of Theophany.

You can walk right in.

A video display looks at the history of the church and its congregation.

The path winds around the church, with display cases on the walls opposite the church. Life in the West was a challenge, with social isolation at times.

One room school houses provided education to children in the vastness of the West.

This is the sacristy of St. Onuphrius.

These literary quotations about the West really speak volumes. We'll continue with this tour after the theme day.

The Transcontinental Railroad

 One of the famous photographs of Canadian history- the driving of the last spike in British Columbia, and the completion of the transcontinental railroad- the Canadian Pacific Railway.

A rifle and a buffalo robe are displayed here.

The transcontinental railroad was one of the biggest projects in the history of the country, particularly so for the challenge that the landscapes of the West posed.

Sir Sanford Fleming was a Canadian railway engineer who earned his place in history with his proposal of standard time- dividing the world up into 24 standard time zones. The concept was eventually adopted around the world.

1885 saw open conflict in the west, as the Metis pushed back against the Canadian government.

It would end with the trial and execution of one of the Metis leaders, Louis Riel, seen here in the prisoner's box during his trial. The display case includes his shackles. Today he is considered the founder of Manitoba, and a Father of Confederation.

Charles Edenshaw was a Haida chief who became a prolific artist over the course of his long life. These are some of his works.

With the indigenous peoples brought in line by Canadian military forces, the subject of settling the West became one of the objectives of the Canadian government.

Advancing Across The West

 A reminder to those in the area that Winterlude begins this weekend and goes through to February 16th.

This is an elk skin, an artifact of the Blackfoot people. It was their habit to do a winter count, painting onto the elkskin what had been most significant for the tribe that past year, and done in a circle spiraling out.

French-Canadian fur traders went out ahead of anyone else, long before the country itself moved west. Called voyageurs, they pushed deep into the continent, adapting to life among indigenous peoples, establishing relationships, usually marrying into the tribe. This painting from 1869 is by Frances Anne Hopkins. It is titled Canoe Manned By Voyageurs Passing A Waterfall.

The voyageurs that had gone out and established families among indigenous peoples eventually gave rise to a culture distinct by itself- the Metis, a blending of the two influences. These are clothing items made by Metis women. The Metis would become a big part of the story of the Canadian West, looking to assert their own right to exist.

The Canadian government looked west to expand the Dominion of Canada, to make it a sea-to-sea country. Metis and other indigenous peoples would be in the way.

These are art pieces by the Haida, an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, originally called the North-west Mounted Police, would go out ahead of the country as a form of law enforcement in the West.

Here in a display case is a ceremonial last spike, and a pocket watch presented to Prime Minister Macdonald.

Fathers Of Confederation

 The Fenian Raids rose up following the American Civil War, with Union veterans of Irish descent trying to take Canada by force and hold it for ransom to make the British give Ireland independence. Each raid failed, with militia and regular troops driving them out. This is the rifle of a Raider; it was typical of them to wear their Union uniforms as well.

Things were chaotic in the Canadian legislature during this period, with a stable majority out of the question.

Three leaders banded together to forge the way for Confederation. John A. Macdonald, George Brown, and George-Etienne Cartier were known in the Canadas, and the other parts of British North America. Macdonald and Cartier were co-premiers of the legislature. Macdonald and Brown despised each other. But they went to work together, recognizing the need for a strong federal union.

The most eloquent voice of the Fathers of Confederation was Thomas D'Arcy McGee, a close friend of Macdonald. A lawyer and journalist, he had been a radical years before in his native Ireland before immigrating. His world view changed entirely upon seeing the workings of Parliamentary democracy in Canada, and saw that as the way to go. That change in view enraged his old comrades among the Fenians, who never forgave him.

He was assassinated one night in 1868, coming home from a session at Parliament, shot in the back of the head. This is the revolver said to be used in the assassination. A Fenian, Patrick James Whalen, was convicted and executed for the murder, though he claimed innocence.

One of the defining photographs of Canadian history- the Fathers of Confederation at the Charlottetown Conference in 1864.

Queen Victoria would would sign Confederation into law. The Canadian colonies became provinces under a federal government, and the country became a reality.

This large photograph shows the first Confederation in Kingston, Ontario, in 1867.

First Nations peoples in the west had long standing relationships with traders, taking the European goods they bartered for and trading them even more in their own long established trade routes of the west.