From the arrival of its first human inhabitants tens of thousands of years ago to its increasingly globalized modern population, the place we now call Canada has undergone profound transformations. This course examines Canada’s more “recent” history, beginning in the 1600s when European traders, fishing fleets, farmers, elite landowners, and religious orders arrived and disrupted the complex Indigenous societies of the northern North American territories. This survey will introduce students to the main themes in Canadian history from the seventeenth through twentieth centuries. The course traces broad changes over time and the consequences of colonization, ecological transformation, resettlement, the development of an industrial capitalist economy, the emergence of the Canadian state, the role of global imperialism, urbanization, and Canada's changing position in international politics. The course explores how people -- often divided by race, ethnicity, Indigeneity, class, gender and sexuality -- built their families and communities and struggled against inequality. In a country in the midst of change, this course will help students understand the transformations of the past and the roots of our present circumstances. Because Canadian history remains a required part of the Ontario school curriculum, this course is particularly useful for students who seek careers in Education.

*TENTATIVE*

The following texts will be used in this course. Both texts can be downloaded for free – links for the text will be provided on the course’s eClass platform.

John Belshaw, Canadian History: Pre-Confederation (BC Open Textbook Project, 2015)

John Belshaw. Canadian History: Post-Confederation (BC Open Textbook Project, 2015).

(Note: If you wish to have a hard copy of the Belshaw texts, then you can order copies. See the website cited above to do this. However, be forewarned: we do not use all chapters, but only selections.)

Sean Kheraj and Thomas Peace. Open History Seminar: Canadian History (Toronto: 2017).

As well, in many weeks, additional readings or short films/documentaries will be assigned.

Links to that material or instructions how to access the material will be provided. Please note, the Belshaw texts are supplementary to the lectures and will rarely be the focus of tutorial discussion – though you are welcome to bring questions about the textbook material to either lecture or tutorial.

*TENTATIVE Grade Breakdown*

The grade for the course will be based on the following percentages:

Term tests (15% of the final grade)

Map test (10% of the final grade)

Mid Term Exam (15% of the final grade)

Second Term Essay (25% of the final grade)

Final Exam (20% of the final grade)

Tutorial Participation (15% of the final grade)

Course Schedule (TENTATIVE)

Week 1: Canada in 1867

Week 2: Indigenous North America of the 1600s

Week 3: European colonizers in North America

Week 4: Love, Land and Labour in New France

Week 5: Remaking the Atlantic Colonies (The Conquest and the American Revolution), Loyalists and New Immigrants

Week 6: A New form of settler-colonialism: early 19^th century “British” North America

Week 7: Political Institutions and Rebellions

Week 8: Inventing Canada

Week 9: Consolidating the Canadian Empire

Week 10: The Industrial Revolution

Week 11: Social Reform Movement

Week 12: Canada at the edge of modernity? Exam Review

WINTER TERM

Week 13: “Hardy Peasants?” Immigration and Racism

Week 14: Canada at War: 1914-18

Week 15: Dissent and Depression: the 1920s and 1930s

Week 16: Colonialism and Resistance in the early Twentieth Century

Week 17: Canada at War: 1939-45

Week 18: Living in the Shadow of the American Empire: Post-War Society

Week 19: A New Kind of Revolution: Quebec Nationalism, Counterculture, and Feminism

Week 20: Indigenous Radicalism and Resilience

Week 21: Canada and the International World Order

Week 22: Neo-Liberalism or a Nation of Human Rights?

Week 23: Twenty-First Century Canada

Week 24: Affluence and Apologies: Exam review

Lecture material will be delivered each Thursday. Every student must be signed up for one tutorial. Tutorials are led by the tutorial assistants and attendance is mandatory; in tutorials students may ask questions about the course material, will have assignments explained, and will discuss the assigned reading /films.

All relevant information about this course – including submission links for assignments, links to course readings and links for course films – will be provided on the course’s eClass website. To access this website, you must be registered in the course. Course announcements will be posted on the eClass site but will also be sent via that site to the email address you use.

Students will acquire knowledge of the history of Canada.

Students will understand and critically evaluate secondary and historical arguments.

Students will be able to communicate historical ideas effectively in writing and orally and engage with peers in discussion of historical source-material and arguments.

Professor McPherson specializes in the history of women, work, and health from the late 19th century to the present. She is a former Associate Dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies. She was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Professor McPherson is also an avid basketball coach and will often intersperse her lectures with timely sports’ adages.

Professor Martel specializes in Canadian political history, state formation, minority rights, and public policy from 1850 to the present. His current research project is a comparative analysis of the wine industry in Argentina and Canada. He was born and raised in Quebec City, Quebec. Although Professor Martel does not play basketball, he likes video games which prompted him to develop a new undergraduate course on this topic with Enrico Moretto.