A fictitious Diary Entry from a Canadian High School Student
- Part 6 -
*
Sunday, July 1, 1867
Today, history was made. Yes, the British North American Act was passed in Britain today! It has formed the Dominion of Canada, which was made from the former colonies.
All the colonies joined the Dominion of Canada, all except for Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. My father told me that for them, when weighed, the disadvantages weighed more than the advantages. A main disadvantage they saw was the increased taxation. My father told me that due to mercantilism, the Maritime Provinces had strong economic connections because of
trade by sea.
When mercantilism was nearing an end, their economy was greatly affected. Confederation meant that there would be a tax increase, which these places just could afford to pay, but the leaders of Canada East and Canada West offered the Maritimes economic benefits to join Confederation. This made the Maritimes people become more interested. The leaders also guaranteed a railway that would connect the Maritimes to the rest of the country.
Money for roads, bridges and other development was offered. It was very weird, because the voters of Nova Scotia were not big fans of this idea, but their leader, Charles Tupper made the decision to join Confederation anyways. It was very confusing for me, because the Maritimes people liked the idea, but somehow the voters didn't, and the leader of the voters did like the idea.
It was very interesting. This is why I love politics, because it is so very interesting, and it always feels good when fairness and equality is achieved, and the country can live in peace. I was still curious about the Aboriginal peoples though, and their thoughts on Confederation.
As I had suspected, the First Nations were not notified of consulted of any sort in this Confederation matter.
Apparently, First Nations did not count as citizens. For example, in 1857, Britain passed the Gradual Citizenship Act, which meant that First Nations had to give up their Aboriginal identity and ways of life.
Another example is now, with the BNA. It makes the federal government 'responsible' for Aboriginal people, and they are thought of the same way as postal services; as things that can be controlled without any meaning, as if they are not even human.
The entire road to Confederation was long, with the entire journey documented in these few diary entries, but it was all worth it in the long run.
Concluded..
PS: Per the parents:
"The article is the diary entry for the class work which is marked as the best in the class and obtained 100% which would be beneficial to young school kids in helping them organizing the articles and how to organized the flow of thoughts.
This is the work of grade 7 in a school in Canada."
* The parents of the student sent this article for e-pao.net
This article was posted on June 18, 2015.
* Comments posted by users in this discussion thread and other parts of this site are opinions of the individuals posting them (whose user ID is displayed alongside) and not the views of e-pao.net. We strongly recommend that users exercise responsibility, sensitivity and caution over language while writing your opinions which will be seen and read by other users. Please read a complete Guideline on using comments on this website.