The opening episode of this 16-part documentary ranges across the continent,
looking back more than 15,000 years to recount the varied history of the first
occupants of the territory that would become Canada. From the rich resource of
native oral history and archeology come the stories of the land’s first people
how dozens of distinct societies took shape, and how they encountered a
strange new people, the Europeans. Among the earliest of these epoch-making
encounters is the meeting between Jacques Cartier and Donnacona, the Iroquoian
chief whom Cartier first met on the Gaspé shore in 1534 and later kidnapped.
Later on the Pacific coast, Nootka chief Maquinna encounters John Jewitt, the
English sailor who became his captive and eventually his reluctant friend.
Adventurers and Mystics 1540 - 1670
With the search for the Northwest Passage and the expansion of the Grand Banks
fishery, the New World soon becomes a destination for permanent European
colonies, in Newfoundland and along the St. Lawrence. Samuel de Champlain
begins his legendary journeys, and the precarious beginnings of New France are
established. It is an era of unprecedented alliances and devastating conflicts
with native people, driven by the merchants’ search for furs and the Jesuits'
quest for souls. After a half-century of struggle, with the colony on the
verge of extinction, Louis XIV takes personal control, sending French soldiers
to defend the struggling outpost and eligible young women, the “filles du
roi,” to become their wives.
Claiming the Wilderness 1670 - 1754
A small French settlement in New France builds a flourishing society and
stakes a claim to a massive continent between 1660 and 1750. New France’s
populace includes shop keepers, artisans, farmers and landlords, as well as
fur-trading expansionists like Governor Frontenac and his commercial partner,
Robert Cavelier de La Salle, who build a network of Indian alliances and
extend French trading posts to the Gulf of Mexico. But this fast-paced growth
brings New France into ever more bitter conflict with the wealthier and more
numerous - but less venturesome - British colonists to the south. The story
culminates with the heartrending deportation of more than 10,000 French
Catholic Acadians as the struggle to possess North America enters its final,
decisive phase.
Battle for a Continent 1754 - 1775
A period of a little more than two decades in the mid-18th century changes the
destiny of North America. England and France battle each other in the Seven
Years’ War, a conflict that begins as a clash between les Canadiens and land-
hungry American settlers in the Ohio Valley and becomes a world war that
engulfs the continent. Fortress Louisbourg, symbol of the French empire, is
the target of 27,000 soldiers and sailors in the greatest naval invasion in
North America’s history. In 1759, General James Wolfe leads the assault
against Quebec but the citadel withstands a devastating siege and bombardment.
With winter soon arriving, Wolfe forces the commander of the French troops,
Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, into one last desperate encounter. The battle for
North America unfolds on an abandoned farmer’s field, the Plains of Abraham,
just outside the city’s walls. When war ends in 1763, 70,000 French colonists
come under British rule, setting in motion the ever-evolving French-English
dynamic in Canada.
A Question of Loyalties 1775 - 1815
At the beginning of the American Revolution in 1775, American rebels invade
Canada but despite the efforts of rebel spies to entice Quebec to join the
revolution, les Canadiens refuse to take up arms against British rule, and the
invasion ultimately fails. The mass migration of Loyalists that follows - more
than 40,000 people in all - creates an English-speaking Canada virtually
overnight. Over the next 30 years, the colony continues to develop. When the
next American invaders arrive in 1812, they are fought to a stand-still at the
battles of Queenston Heights, Chateauguay and Lundy’s Lane, setting boundaries
that remain today. The cast of characters includes the audacious military
commanders General Isaac Brock and Colonel Charles-Michel de Salaberry; Hannah
Ingraham and her dispossessed Loyalist family; Benedict Arnold, the notorious
traitor to the American Revolution; visionary Indian leader Tecumseh; Pierre
Bédard, brilliant tactician of an emerging colonial democracy; and Canadian
traitors who are publicly executed near Hamilton, Ontario.
The Pathfinders 1670 - 1850
The Canadian west is opened by the great fur-trading empires of the Hudson’s
Bay and Northwest Companies, the native people who were their indispensable
allies, and bold explorers and map makers who ventured from the Great Lakes to
the Arctic Ocean and long-sought-for Pacific. Pierre Esprit Radisson defies a
governor to take New France’s trade far into the continent’s interior and
later, founds an English trading empire; Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de
la Vérendrye, spends a lifetime searching for the Western Sea and pays dearly
for it. Tough Dene chief Matonabbee leads Samuel Hearne on a monumental trek
into the Barren Lands; Alexander Mackenzie’s dash to the Pacific makes him one
of the most celebrated men of his age. And David Thompson comes to the
forbidding shores of Hudson Bay as a 14-year-old apprentice and eventually
unlocks the secrets of the West more than any other man. As the fur trader’s
day comes to an end, settlers on the prairies and gold miners in British
Columbia begin to claim the west for themselves.
Rebellion and Reform 1815 - 1850
By 1830, the struggle for democratic government in the colonies of British
North America has reached fever pitch. As the colonies grow in wealth and
population, a generation of charismatic reformers – Joseph Howe in Nova
Scotia, Louis-Joseph Papineau in Lower Canada and William Lyon Mackenzie in
Upper Canada - confront the appointed governors and their local favourites
with one demand: let the citizens’ elected representatives run their own
affairs. In the Canadas, the struggle leads to bloody rebellion and disastrous
defeat for the rebels. Yet within 10 years, the prize of self-government is
won, thanks in part to an unexpected alliance between the French and English-
speaking forces of reform.
The Great Enterprise 1850 - 1867
In a few short years, a handful of small and separate British colonies are
transformed into a new nation that controls half the North American continent.
The story of Confederation, its supporters and its bitter foes, is told
against a backdrop of U.S. Civil War and Britain’s growing determination to be
rid of its expensive, ungrateful colonies. The dawn of the photographic era
provides a vivid portrait of the diverse people who make up the new Dominion
of Canada: the railway magnates, the unwed mothers of Montreal, the nuns who
provide refuge for the destitute, the prosperous merchants of Halifax, the
brave fugitives of the Underground Railroad, and the tide of Irish immigrants
who flood into the cities.
From Sea to Sea 1867 - 1873
Confederation is barely accomplished when the new dominion must face an
enormous challenge: extending its reach into the vast prairies and beyond, to
the Pacific Ocean. But Canada blunders catastrophically in seeking to take
over the west without the consent of its inhabitants, especially the Métis of
Red River and their leader, the charismatic, troubled Louis Riel. The
resistance of 1869-70 lays the groundwork for Manitoba to join Canada, but it
also sets the stage for decades of conflict over the rights of French and
English, Catholic and Protestant in the new territories. Thanks to an
audacious promise of a transcontinental railway in 10 years, the settlers of
British Columbia are more easily convinced of the merits of union; by 1873
Prince Edward Island has joined as well, and Canada can boast a dominion that
extends from sea to sea.
Taking the West 1873 - 1896
Shortly after Confederation, Canada turns its eyes to its western frontier.
Faced with a vast territory and a weak pocketbook, Prime Minister John A.
Macdonald tries to settle the Prairie without bloodshed. For a while, peace,
order prevail and Plains Indians watch their way of life change forever. But
frustration grows on the land. Métis leader Louis Riel returns from exile and
sparks a bloody chapter in Canadian history: The North West Rebellion.
The Great Transformation 1886 - 1915
An unprecedented age of prosperity and massive immigration transform Canada at
the turn of the 20th century. Canada’s first francophone leader, Prime
Minister Wilfrid Laurier, leads a country marked by Prairie boom times and
massive industrialization. Those who shape the new society include peasants
from Eastern Europe, in search of free land; socialists who try to mobilize an
emerging urban working class; and campaigners for temperance and women’s
suffrage. The dizzying pace of change also brings ethnic intolerance and
racism, particularly against Asian immigrants. As well, growing tensions over
Canada’s role in the British Empire, foreshadow divisive times to come as the
First World War looms on the horizon.
Ordeal by Fire 1915 - 1929
Canada’s heavy military role in World War I (60,000 dead in a population of 8
million) transforms its society, its politics and its place in the world. The
horror, bravery and sacrifice of trench warfare are evoked in Canada’s great
battles: Ypres, the Somme, Vimy Ridge, Courcelette and Passchendaele. The
domestic consequences of Canada’s war effort are also wrenching - the
conscription crisis of 1917 marks a low point in English-French relations.
After the war ends, labour revolts in Winnipeg and across the country raise
fears of a Bolshevik insurrection. The return to stability in the mid-1920s
lasts only briefly as the crash of 1929 plunges the country into economic
chaos.
Hard Times 1929 - 1940
Canada plunges into social and political crisis as the Great Depression
settles over the world. With little help from Ottawa, thousands of Canadians
criss-cross the country desperately seeking work while prairie farmers face
the additional devastation of the Dust Bowl. As the crisis drags on,
resentment and anger grow, leading to massive social unrest. Meanwhile the
world faces an increasingly menacing threat from Europe, as Adolph Hitler
draws Canada and the world closer to another world war.
The Crucible 1940 - 1946
Canada comes of age in the anguish of the Second World War, with soldiers on
the beaches at Dieppe and women in the industrial work force back home. The
country’s military role and the domestic social and political consequences of
the war are traced through poignant stories of Canadians on both sides of the
Atlantic. The horrific global conflict steals the innocence of a generation
… but brings hope for a new future.
Comfort and Fear 1946 - 1964
The end of Second World War signals the end of years of social, political and
economic upheaval in Canada. The post-war baby boom and government economic
and social policies give rise to unprecedented prosperity and growth of
Canadian communities. But in the midst of plenty, growing fears of the Cold
War and nuclear conflict create an unsettled atmosphere. Political leaders -
including John Diefenbaker, Joey Smallwood, and Maurice Duplessis - create
change and controversy. Saskatchewan’s premier Tommy Douglas begins the fight
for medicare. And throughout all this, Canada finds itself increasingly
absorbed into the American military, economic and cultural orbit.
Years of Hope and Anger 1964 - 1976
The 1960s and 1970s are an era of turmoil. Youth movements across North
America and Quebec’s Quiet Revolution challenge the status quo. Canada raises
a new flag and the country shines in the world spotlight with Expo ‘67. Some
events threaten considerable upheaval: growing calls for Quebec sovereignty
and the 1970 FLQ kidnappings. An electrifying politician becomes prime
minister and Trudeaumania changes the face of Canadian politics irrevocably.
In an Uncertain World 1976 - 1990
Canada struggles in an era of political, economic and social uncertainties.
Debate around Canadian unity continues with the Quebec referendum of 1980,
patriation of the Constitution and the Meech Lake Accord. Canadian society
continues to be shaped by growing multiculturalism, feminism and native
activism. The country also faces new global realities. The world order and
economic boom that had taken shape after the Second World War begins to
unravel. Free trade, globalization, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the
explosion of computer technology helps define Canada in the new era.
