1872 British home children Between 1869 and the 1930s about 100 000 children were brought to Canada from Great Britain Some came from orphanages also called homes so these newcomers were called home children Others came from parents who could no longer provide for their families Dr Thomas John Barnardo a missionary dedicated to helping homeless children sent about 30 000 orphaned children from Britain to Canada as early as 1872 The children had to work in homes or on farms in Canada mostly in small towns and rural areas They were supposed to be given allowances clothes meals and the chance to go to school Instead many had difficult lives Some sisters and brothers were separated while other home children were treated like slaves and even beaten Today more than 1 in 10 Canadians are related to home children British Home Child Day is celebrated every year on September 28 in Ontario Canada designated 2010 the Year of the British Home Child to honour their contributions to their adopted country 1873 North West Mounted Police In the 1870s the Prairies were becoming lawless and dangerous So in 1873 the Canadian government created a central police force the North-West Mounted Police In 1920 the force became known as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police RCMP By 1974 women were allowed to join the RCMP which today remains Canada’s national police force
it are very different things Aleck found Almost two years later in Boston on March 10 1876 Aleck was in one room tinkering with a transmitter while his assistant Thomas Watson had a receiver connected by wire in another 1874 Bell’s telephone breakthrough Sound and speech were always on Alexander Graham Bell’s mind His mother was deaf and his father was an elocutionist who taught people how to speak clearly By 1870 both of his brothers had died of lung disease so his parents decided to move from Scotland to where the air was clean Canada In 1871 Aleck as he was known to friends and family began teaching at a school for deaf people in Boston Massachusetts He was a patient and inventive teacher Thomas came running into the room he’d heard Aleck’s voice over the receiver The telephone was born In a few months Aleck also figured out how to send telephone messages long distance between Brantford and Paris Ontario Aleck went on to invent many room When Aleck accidentally spilled some acid he shouted into his transmitter Mr Watson come here I want to see you things from iceberg detectors to airplanes that set flight records page 33 Some of the planes used in World War I were based on his designs But he often At night Aleck experimented with sound He wanted to improve the telegraph an instrument that sent and received electric pulses over wires In 1874 he had a breakthrough while visiting his parents in Brantford Ontario Aleck realized that with a few changes to the telegraph he could pick up all the sounds of the human voice The sounds moved thin metal discs and these discs could change electric currents allowing voices to be sent and received over wires However knowing how to do something and actually doing An inventor can no more help inventing than he can help thinking or breathing Alexander Graham Bell said he preferred to be known as someone who had helped deaf people communicate PROFILE Henry Woodward In the mid-1800s inventors around the world were working to create a light bulb that would burn long enough to be useful Those inventors included Toronto medical student Henry Woodward and hotel owner Matthew Evans Henry and Matthew succeeded and in 1874 received a patent the right to use or sell an invention for their creation Unfortunately they couldn’t afford to develop their invention They sold their patent to an American Thomas Edison who would become famous for his own light-bulb invention
1875 Indoor hockey The first organized game of indoor hockey was played on March 3 1875 in Montreal after a group of McGill University students made a list of rules That first indoor game showed some key innovations to the sport By moving the game inside the number of players became restricted to nine on each team Until then the size of the outdoor rink had determined how many players could fit on the ice Players 1876 The Indian Act By the late 1800s there was a growing rift between Aboriginal peoples and European settlers The government of Canada stepped in to take control and introduced the Indian Act in 1876 The goal of this act was to assimilate Aboriginal people to make them give up their traditional ways and blend into the non-Aboriginal population Over the years the Indian Act was amended changed 42 times For example when Aboriginal people began raising money to hire lawyers to defend their claims to the lands the Indian Act was also used a puck for the first time and had much more control over this flat wooden disk than the lacrosse ball they had earlier used In 1877 James G A Creighton who was a captain during that early indoor game would publish the first official set of rules and the McGill University Hockey Club would become the first organized hockey team amended They now required the government’s permission to hire lawyers Aboriginal people who refused to renounce their official Aboriginal status were denied certain rights such as the right to a high school education to vote to buy land or to serve on juries The act went so far as to deny Aboriginal people the right to use fish weirs traps to own powerboats and to sell fish Rather than assimilating Aboriginal people the act made Canada into a two-tiered system based on race Aboriginal people who refused to give up their Indian status became wards of the government with few rights while other Canadians were citizens and had full rights The Indian Act is still in force today although its fate remains uncertain Most Aboriginal people agree that the Indian Act has not served their people well However while some are fighting for self government others still see a role for the Canadian government in Aboriginal affairs There are many different views on the best path to the future
1877 Treaty Number 7 Between 1871 and 1921 Aboriginal peoples in the Prairies signed 11 treaties formal agreements with the British government Treaty Number 7 was signed in 1877 and is one of the most famous because it concerned one of the largest areas of land The Canadian government promised Aboriginal peoples money and a place to live in exchange for land in southern Alberta which wasn’t yet part of Canada Chief Crowfoot of the Siksika First Nation knew nothing could stop the spread of European settlers He and the other chiefs agreed to the treaty Canada’s government did not meet the treaty’s terms Treaty Number 7 is still the focus of much discussion between Aboriginal peoples and the government 1878 Women practice medicine Like other women who tried to study medicine in Canada more than 150 years ago Emily Jennings Stowe found the doors of Canadian universities closed She was definitely smart enough in 1852 she’d become Canada’s first female school principal So Emily went to the United States and graduated as a doctor in 1867 That still didn’t allow her to practice medicine legally back home but she opened an office in Toronto anyway and became the first woman to practice medicine in Canada PROFILE Leonora Howard King Her desire to be a doctor took Leonora Howard King away from Canada Smart and determined Leonora headed to the United States to study medicine like Emily Jennings Stowe and graduated with honours in 1876 She sailed to China the next year looking for adventure and a chance to spread Christianity as a missionary In China Leonora treated both royalty and people with little money often for free For her work she was made a mandarin similar to a knight She was the first North American woman to earn such a rare honour from China In 1870 the Toronto School of Medicine reluctantly admitted Emily and another woman Jennie Trout so that they could complete their studies The male professors and students made Emily’s and Jennie’s lives difficult so Emily left the school Jennie persevered and in 1875 she became the first Canadian woman to earn a medical license By 1878 both Emily and Jennie were practicing medicine in Toronto Emily eventually earned her license in 1880 To make it easier for other women to become doctors Emily opened the Woman’s Medical College in 1883 Emily’s daughter Augusta Stowe-Gullen was so inspired by her mother that in 1883 she graduated from the Toronto School of Medicine the first woman to take her entire medical training in Canada
