Confederation, 1867
Between 1864 and 1867, representatives of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Province of Canada worked to build a new country; they are remembered as the Fathers of Confederation. The old Province of Canada was divided into Ontario and Quebec, and together with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia these four formed the Dominion of Canada.
The British Parliament passed the British North America Act in 1867, and the Dominion was officially born on July 1, 1867. That day was celebrated as Dominion Day until 1982 and is now Canada Day. Confederation created two levels of government, federal and provincial, with each province electing its own legislature and running areas such as education and health.
Who joined when
Learn this as a timeline. The test asks for individual years.
- 1867 — Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
- 1870 — Manitoba and the Northwest Territories
- 1871 — British Columbia
- 1873 — Prince Edward Island
- 1898 — Yukon Territory
- 1905 — Alberta and Saskatchewan
- 1949 — Newfoundland and Labrador
- 1999 — Nunavut
The people behind it
Sir John A. Macdonald became Canada’s first Prime Minister in 1867. Born in Scotland on January 11, 1815, he came to Upper Canada as a child, and January 11 is now Sir John A. Macdonald Day. Sir George-Étienne Cartier was the key architect of Confederation from Quebec and helped bring in the Northwest Territories, Manitoba and British Columbia.
The name “Dominion of Canada” was suggested in 1864 by Sir Leonard Tilley of New Brunswick, one of the Fathers of Confederation. He took it from Psalm 72, which speaks of dominion from sea to sea.