History of Manitoba - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

is one of Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

's 10 provinces, and the easternmost of the Prairie Provinces

Canadian Prairies

The Canadian Prairies is a region of Canada, specifically in western Canada, which may correspond to several different definitions, natural or political. Notably, the Prairie provinces or simply the Prairies comprise the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, as they are largely covered...

. Fur trade

Fur trade

The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...

rs first arrived in what is now Manitoba during the late 17th century. It was officially recognized by the Federal Government in 1870 as separate from the Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

, and became the first province created from the Territories. The name Manitoba (meaning "strait of the spirit" or "lake of the prairies") is believed to be derived from the Cree

Cree

The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...

, Ojibwe or Assiniboine

Assiniboine language

The Assiniboine language is a Nakotan Siouan language of the Northern Plains, spoken by around 200 Assiniboine people, most of them elderly. The name Asiniibwaan is an Ojibwe term meaning "Stone Siouans"...

language.

Early history

The geographical area of modern-day Manitoba was inhabited by the First Nations

First Nations

First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...

people shortly after the last ice age glacier

Glacier

A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...

s retreated in the southwest approximately 10,000 years ago; the first exposed land was the Turtle Mountain

Turtle Mountain (plateau)

Turtle Mountain, or the Turtle Mountains, is an area in central North America, in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of North Dakota and southwestern portion of the Canadian province of Manitoba...

area. The first humans in southern Manitoba left behind pottery shards, spear and arrow heads, copper, petroforms, pictographs, fish and animal bones, and signs of agriculture along the Red River

Red River of the North

The Red River is a North American river. Originating at the confluence of the Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail rivers in the United States, it flows northward through the Red River Valley and forms the border between the U.S. states of Minnesota and North Dakota before continuing into Manitoba, Canada...

near Lockport, Manitoba, where corn

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

and other seed crops were planted. Eventually there were aboriginal settlements of Ojibwa, Cree

Cree

, Dene

Dene

The Dene are an aboriginal group of First Nations who live in the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dené speak Northern Athabaskan languages. Dene is the common Athabaskan word for "people" . The term "Dene" has two usages...

, Sioux

Sioux

The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...

, Mandan, and Assiniboine peoples, along with other tribes that entered the area to trade. There were many land trails made as a part of a larger native trading network on both land and water. The Whiteshell Provincial Park

Whiteshell Provincial Park

Whiteshell Provincial Park is a 2,729 km2 park centrally located in Canada in the province of Manitoba. It can be found in the southeast of the province along the Manitoba-Ontario border, approximately 130 km east of Winnipeg. The park is located in the Canadian Shield region and has many...

region along the Winnipeg River

Winnipeg River

The Winnipeg River is a Canadian river which flows from Lake of the Woods in the province of Ontario to Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba. This river is long from the Norman Dam in Kenora to its mouth at Lake Winnipeg. Its watershed is in area, mainly in Canada. About of this area is in northern...

has many old petroforms and may have been a trading centre, or even a place of learning and sharing of knowledge for over 2000 years. The cowry

Cowry

Cowry, also sometimes spelled cowrie, plural cowries, is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries...

shells and copper are proof of what was traded as a part of a large trading network to the oceans, and to the larger southern native civilizations along the Mississippi and in the south and southwest. In Northern Manitoba there are areas that were mined for quartz to make arrow heads. For thousands of years there have been humans living in this region, and there are many clues about their ways of life. Ongoing research will be needed to uncover many more artifacts for a more detailed understanding of past peoples and cultures in the Province.

Explorers

Henry Hudson

Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...

, in 1611, was one of the first Europeans to sail into what is now known as Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...

. The first European to reach present-day central and southern Manitoba was Sir Thomas Button

Thomas Button

Sir Thomas Button was a Welsh officer of the Royal Navy and explorer who in 1612–1613 commanded an expedition that unsuccessfully attempted to locate explorer Henry Hudson and to navigate the Northwest Passage. It was, nonetheless, a voyage of discovery andThomas Button was an explorer as...

, who travelled upstream along the Nelson River

Nelson River

The Nelson River is a river of north-central North America, in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Its full length is , it has mean discharge of , and has a drainage basin of , of which is in the United States...

and Lake Winnipeg

Lake Winnipeg

Lake Winnipeg is a large, lake in central North America, in the province of Manitoba, Canada, with its southern tip about north of the city of Winnipeg...

in 1612 and may have reached somewhere along the edge of the prairies where he reported seeing a bison. Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Vérendrye, visited the Red River Valley in the 1730s as part of opening the area for French exploration and exploitation. As French explorers entered the area, a Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

-based company, the North West Company

North West Company

The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...

, began trading with the Métis

Métis people (Canada)

The Métis are one of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who trace their descent to mixed First Nations parentage. The term was historically a catch-all describing the offspring of any such union, but within generations the culture syncretised into what is today a distinct aboriginal group, with...

.

The Nonsuch
Nonsuch (ship)
The Nonsuch was the ketch that sailed into Hudson Bay in 1668-1669 under Zachariah Gillam, in the first trading voyage for what was to become the Hudson's Bay Company two years later. Originally built as a merchant ship in 1650, and later the Royal Navy ketch HMS Nonsuch, the vessel was sold to Sir...

, a British ship, sailed into Hudson Bay in 1668–1669, becoming the first trading vessel to reach the area; that voyage led to the formation of the Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

, which was given absolute control of the entire Hudson Bay watershed by the British government. This watershed was named Rupert's Land

Rupert's Land

Rupert's Land, or Prince Rupert's Land, was a territory in British North America, consisting of the Hudson Bay drainage basin that was nominally owned by the Hudson's Bay Company for 200 years from 1670 to 1870, although numerous aboriginal groups lived in the same territory and disputed the...

, after Prince Rupert

Prince Rupert of the Rhine

Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, 1st Duke of Cumberland, 1st Earl of Holderness , commonly called Prince Rupert of the Rhine, KG, FRS was a noted soldier, admiral, scientist, sportsman, colonial governor and amateur artist during the 17th century...

, who helped to subsidize the Hudson's Bay Company. York Factory

York Factory, Manitoba

York Factory was a settlement and factory located on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Canada, at the mouth of the Hayes River, approximately south-southeast of Churchill. The settlement was headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Northern Department, from 1821 to...

was founded in 1684 after the original fort of the Hudson's Bay Company, Fort Nelson (built in 1682), was destroyed by rival French traders. Fur trading forts were built by both the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company along the many rivers and lakes, and there was often fierce competition with each other in more southern areas.

There are big butts possible sources for the name "Manitoba". The more likely is that it comes from Cree

Cree language

Cree is an Algonquian language spoken by approximately 117,000 people across Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Labrador, making it the aboriginal language with the highest number of speakers in Canada. It is also spoken in the U.S. state of Montana...

or Ojibwe and means "strait of the Manitou

Manitou

Manitou is a general term for spirit beings among many Algonquian Native American groups.Manitou may also refer to:- Geography :* Manitou, Manitoba, Canada* Manitou, Kentucky, USA* Manitou, Oklahoma, USA- Other uses :...

(spirit)". It may also be from the Assiniboine

Assiniboine language

for "Lake of the Prairie".

British territory

Great Britain

Kingdom of Great Britain

The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

secured the territory in 1763 as a result of their victory over France in the Seven Years War (also known as the French and Indian War

French and Indian War

The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...

; 1754–1763); the territory at the time included Rupert's Land, which incorporated the entire Hudson Bay watershed. Most rivers and water in Manitoba eventually flow north, not south or east as is commonly assumed, and empty into Hudson Bay. The Hudson's Bay Archives is located within Winnipeg

Winnipeg

Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

, Manitoba, and preserves the rich history of the fur trading era that occurred along the major water routes of the Rupert's Land area.

The founding of the first agricultural community and settlements in 1812 by Lord Selkirk

Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk

Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk was a Scottish peer. He was born at Saint Mary's Isle, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. He was noteworthy as a Scottish philanthropist who sponsored immigrant settlements in Canada at the Red River Colony.- Early background :Douglas was the seventh son of Dunbar...

, north of the area which is now downtown Winnipeg, resulted in conflict between British colonists and the Métis. Twenty colonists, including the governor, and one Métis

Métis people (Canada)

were killed in the Battle of Seven Oaks

Battle of Seven Oaks (1816)

The Battle of Seven Oaks took place on June 19, 1816, during the long dispute between the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company, rival fur-trading companies in western Canada.-Background:Miles Macdonell had issued the Pemmican Proclamation...

in 1816. Many fur trading forts were also attacked by each side over the many years.

Province of Manitoba

Rupert's Land

was ceded to Canada in 1869 and incorporated into the Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

. The Métis of Manitoba, seeing their
concerns ignored by the new authority, launched the Red River Rebellion

Red River Rebellion

The Red River Rebellion or Red River Resistance was the sequence of events related to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by the Métis leader Louis Riel and his followers at the Red River Settlement, in what is now the Canadian province of Manitoba.The Rebellion was the first crisis...

under Louis Riel

Louis Riel

Louis David Riel was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political and spiritual leader of the Métis people of the Canadian prairies. He led two resistance movements against the Canadian government and its first post-Confederation Prime Minister, Sir John A....

, and established a provisional government. Negotiations between the provisional government and the Canadian government resulted in the passage of the Manitoba Act

Manitoba Act

The Manitoba Act, originally titled An Act to amend and continue the Act 32 and 33 Victoria, chapter 3; and to establish and provide for the Government of the Province of Manitoba, is an act of the Parliament of Canada that is defined by the Constitution Act, 1982 as forming a part of the...

which created the Province of Manitoba and provided for its entry into Confederation in 1870. Louis Riel was pursued by British army officer Garnet Wolseley

Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley

Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley, KP, GCB, OM, GCMG, VD, PC was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army. He served in Burma, the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny, China, Canada, and widely throughout Africa—including his Ashanti campaign and the Nile Expedition...

because of the rebellion, and Riel fled into exile.

The new Provincial government was controlled by Anglo Canadians. The agreement for the establishment of the Province had included guarantees that the Métis would receive grants of land and that their existing unofficial landholdings would be recognized. These guarantees were largely ignored. Instead, land went to Anglo settlers now coming in from Ontario. Facing this discrimination, the Métis moved in large numbers to what would become Saskatchewan and Alberta.

The original province of Manitoba was a square 1/18 of its current size, and was known as the "postage stamp province". Its borders were expanded in 1881, but Ontario claimed a large portion of the land; the disputed portion was awarded to Ontario in 1889. Manitoba grew progressively, absorbing land from the Northwest Territories until it attained its current size by reaching 60°N in 1912.

In 1875, a group of Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

ic immigrants settled in Gimli

Gimli, Manitoba

Gimli is a a rural municipality located in the Interlake region of south-central Manitoba, Canada, on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg. It is about north of the provincial capital Winnipeg...

, on the west shore of Lake Winnipeg, founding the community of New Iceland

New Iceland

New Iceland is the name of a region on Lake Winnipeg in the Canadian province Manitoba which was named for settlers from Iceland. It was settled in 1875.- Background :...

. This was the largest settlement of Icelanders outside of that country.

Numbered Treaties

Numbered Treaties

The numbered treaties are a series of eleven treaties signed between the aboriginal peoples in Canada and the reigning Monarch of Canada from 1871 to 1921. It was the Government of Canada who created the policy, commissioned the Treaty Commissioners and ratified the agreements...

were signed in the late 19th century with the chiefs of various First Nations that lived in the area. These treaties made specific promises of land for every family. As a result, a reserve system

Indian reserve

In Canada, an Indian reserve is specified by the Indian Act as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." The Act also specifies that land reserved for the use and benefit of a band which is not...

was established under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government. The prescribed amount of land promised to the native peoples was not always given; this led to efforts by aboriginal groups to assert rights to the land through aboriginal land claims, many of which are still ongoing.

Manitoba Schools Question

The Manitoba Schools Question

Manitoba Schools Question

The Manitoba Schools Question was a political crisis in the Canadian Province of Manitoba that occurred late in the 19th century, involving publicly funded separate schools for Roman Catholics and Protestants...

showed the deep divergence of cultural values in the territory, and became an issue of national importance. The Catholic Franco-Manitobains had been guaranteed a state-supported separate school system in the original constitution of Manitoba, such that their children would be taught in French. However a grassroots political movement among English Protestants from 1888 to 1890 demanded the end of French schools. In 1890, the Manitoba legislature passed a law removing funding for French Catholic schools. The French Catholic minority asked the federal government for support; however, the Orange Order

Orange Order in Canada

The Orange Order is a Protestant fraternal organisation based predominantly in Northern Ireland and Scotland, and has lodges in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ghana, Togo, the U.S.A, etc..-History:...

and other anti-Catholic forces mobilized nationwide to oppose them.

The federal Conservatives

Conservative Party of Canada (historical)

The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...

proposed remedial legislation to override Manitoba, but they were blocked by the Liberals

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

, led by Wilfrid Laurier

Wilfrid Laurier

Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....

, who opposed the remedial legislation because of his belief in provincial rights. The Manitoba Schools issue became an issue in the Canadian federal election of 1896

Canadian federal election, 1896

The Canadian federal election of 1896 was held on June 23, 1896 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 8th Parliament of Canada. Though the Conservative Party won a plurality of the popular vote, the Liberal Party, led by Wilfrid Laurier, won the majority of seats to form the...

, where it worked against the Conservatives and helped elect the Liberals. As Prime Minister, Laurier implemented a compromise stating that Catholics in Manitoba could have their own religious instruction for 30 minutes at the end of the day if there were enough students to warrant it, implemented on a school-by-school basis.

Winnipeg

was the third-largest city in Canada in the early 20th century. This boomtown grew quickly from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. There was a lot of outside investors, immigration, railways, trains, and business was booming. Even today, one can see the many old mansions and estates that belonged to Winnipeg's ever growing wealthy class. When the Manitoba Legislature was built, it was expected that Manitoba would have a population of 3 million quite soon. Just around the time of World War I, the quickly growing city began to cool down as the large amounts of money were no longer invested to the same degree as before the war. Winnipeg eventually fell behind in growth when other major cities in Canada began to boom ahead, such as Calgary

Calgary

Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...

today.

In the 1917 election in the midst of the conscription crisis

Conscription Crisis of 1917

The Conscription Crisis of 1917 was a political and military crisis in Canada during World War I.-Background:...

, the Liberals were split in half and the new Union party carried all but one seat. After World War I ended, severe discontent among farmers (over wheat prices) and union members (over wage rates) resulted in an upsurge of radicalism

Political radicalism

The term political radicalism denotes political principles focused on altering social structures through revolutionary means and changing value systems in fundamental ways...

, coupled with a polarization over the rise of Bolshevism

Bolshevik

The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....

in Russia

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....

. The most dramatic episode was the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919

Winnipeg General Strike of 1919

The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 was one of the most influential strikes in Canadian history, and became the platform for future labour reforms....

which shut down most activity for six weeks, starting May 15. The strike collapsed on June 25, 1919, as the workers were gradually returning to their jobs and the Central Strike Committee decided to end the strike. As historian W. L. Morton has explained:

The strike, then, began with two immediate aims and two subsidiary but increasingly important aspects. One aim was the redress of legitimate grievances with respect to wages and collective bargaining; the other was the trial of a new instrument of economic action, the general strike, the purpose of which was to put pressure on the employers involved in the dispute through the general public. The first subsidiary aspect was that the general strike, however, might be a prelude to the seizure of power in the community by Labour, and both the utterances and the policies of the O.B.U. leaders pointed in that direction. The second subsidiary aspect was that, as a struggle for leadership in the Labour movement was being waged as the strike began, it was not made clear which object, the legitimate and limited one, or the revolutionary and general one, was the true purpose of the strike. It is now apparent that the majority of both strikers and strike leaders were concerned only to win the strike. The general public at large, however, subjected to the sudden coercion of the general strike, was only too likely to decide that a revolutionary seizure of power was in view.

In the aftermath, eight leaders went on trial, and most were convicted on charges of seditious conspiracy

Sedition

In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...

, illegal combinations, and seditious libel; four were aliens who were deported under the Canadian Immigration Act

Canadian immigration and refugee law

Canadian immigration and refugee law concerns the area of law related to the admission of foreign nationals into Canada, their rights and responsibilities once admitted, and the conditions of their removal...

. Organized labor in Manitoba was weakened and divided as a result.

Farmers

Meanwhile, the farmers of the province were patiently organizing the United Farmers of Manitoba (UFM), which contested the 1920 provincial legislative elections. The result of the 1920 election was that no party had a majority in the legislature and no government could be formed. New elections were held in 1922 to resolve the crisis. The UFM won decisively, gaining 30 of 57 seats. 7 Liberals, 6 Conservatives, 6 Labourites, and 8 Independents were also returned.

Great Depression to present

The Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

(1929–c.1939) hit especially hard in Western Canada

Western Canada

Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...

, including Manitoba. The collapse of the world market combined with a steep drop in agricultural production due to drought led to economic diversification, moving away from a reliance on wheat production. The Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation

Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation

The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation , known informally as the Manitoba CCF, was a provincial branch of the national Canadian party by the same name. The national CCF was the dominant social-democratic party in Canada from the 1930s to the early 1960s, when it merged with the labour movement...

, forerunner to the New Democratic Party of Manitoba

New Democratic Party of Manitoba

The New Democratic Party of Manitoba is a social-democratic political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is the provincial wing of the federal New Democratic Party, and is a successor to the Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...

(NDP), was founded in 1932.

Canada entered World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

in 1939. Winnipeg was one of the major commands for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan

The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan , known in some countries as the Empire Air Training Scheme , was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, during the Second World War...

to train fighter pilots, and there were air training schools throughout Manitoba. Several Manitoba-based regiments were deployed overseas, including Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry is one of the three regular force infantry regiments of the Canadian Army. The regiment is composed of four battalions including a primary reserve battalion, for a total of 2,000 soldiers...

. In an effort to raise money for the war effort, the Victory Loan

Canada Savings Bond

Canada Savings Bonds are investment instruments offered by the Government of Canada on sale between October and April every year. Unlike a true marketable bond, Canada Savings Bonds or CSBs are debentures....

campaign organised "If Day

If Day

If Day was a simulated Nazi invasion of the Canadian city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and surrounding areas on February 19, 1942, during the Second World War. It was organized by the Greater Winnipeg Victory Loan organization, which was led by prominent Winnipeg businessman J. D. Perrin...

" in 1942. The event featured a simulated Nazi

Nazism

Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

invasion and occupation of Manitoba, and eventually raised over C$

Canadian dollar

The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...

65 million.

Winnipeg was inundated during the 1950 Red River Flood and had to be partially evacuated. In that year, the Red River reached its highest level since 1861 and flooded most of the Red River Valley. The damage caused by the flood led then-Premier Duff Roblin

Dufferin Roblin

Dufferin "Duff" Roblin, PC, CC, OM was a Canadian businessman and politician. Known as "Duff," he served as the 14th Premier of Manitoba from 1958 to 1967. Roblin was appointed to the Canadian Senate on the advice of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. In the government of Brian Mulroney, he served as...

to advocate for the construction of the Red River Floodway

Red River Floodway

The Red River Floodway is an artificial flood control waterway in Western Canada, first used in 1969. It is a long channel which, during flood periods, takes part of the Red River's flow around the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba to the east and discharges it back into the Red River below the dam at...

; it was completed in 1968 after six years of excavation. Permanent dikes were erected in eight towns south of Winnipeg, and clay dikes and diversion dams were built in the Winnipeg area. In 1997, the "Flood of the Century" caused over in damages in Manitoba, but the floodway prevented Winnipeg from flooding.

The province celebrated in 1970 the centennial of its entry into Confederation. Princess Anne

Anne, Princess Royal

Princess Anne, Princess Royal , is the only daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...

and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales

Charles, Prince of Wales

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...

, presided over the official celebrations.

In 1990, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney

Brian Mulroney

Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...

attempted to pass the Meech Lake Accord

Meech Lake Accord

The Meech Lake Accord was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and ten provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the government of the Province of Quebec to endorse the 1982 Canadian Constitution and increase...

, a series of constitutional amendments to persuade Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

to endorse the Canada Act 1982

Canada Act 1982

The Canada Act 1982 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was passed at the request of the Canadian federal government to "patriate" Canada's constitution, ending the necessity for the country to request certain types of amendment to the Constitution of Canada to be made by the...

. Unanimous support in the legislature was needed to bypass public consultation. Manitoba politician

Member of the Legislative Assembly

A Member of the Legislative Assembly or a Member of the Legislature , is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to the legislature or legislative assembly of a sub-national jurisdiction....

Elijah Harper

Elijah Harper is an Aboriginal Cree Canadian politician and band chief. He was a key player in the rejection of the Meech Lake Accord, an attempt at Canadian constitutional reform.- Early life :...

, a Cree, opposed because he did not believe First Nations had been adequately involved in the Accord's process, and thus the Accord failed.

Reference

The Canadian Encyclopedia (2008) a very good starting point
The Dictionary of Canadian Biography(1966-2006), scholarly biographies of every important person who died by 1930
Bumsted, J. M. Dictionary of Manitoba Biography (2000)
Representative men of Manitoba: history in portraiture (1902) online edition

Surveys

Adams, Christopher. Politics in Manitoba: Parties, Leaders, and Voters (2008)
Bumsted, J. M. Trials and Tribulations: The Emergence of Manitoba 1821 - 1870 (2003)
Chafe, J. W. Extraordinary Tales from Manitoba History (1973)
Coates, Kenneth. Manitoba: Province & People (1999)
Conway, John Frederick. The West: The History of a Region in Confederation (3ed ed. Lorimer; 2005)
Friesen, Gerald. The Canadian Prairies: A History (2nd ed. 1987)
Morton, W.L. Manitoba: A History (1970)] ISBN: 0802060706, the standard scholarly history online edition

Social and intellectual history

Bumsted, J. M. University of Manitoba: An Illustrated History (2001)
Kinnear, Mary. First Days, Fighting Days: Women in Manitoba History (1987)
Kinnear, Mary. A Female Economy: Women's Work in a Prairie Province, 1870-1970 (1999)

Economic and labor history

Bennett, John W. and Seena B. Kohl. Settling the Canadian-American West, 1890-1915: Pioneer Adaptation and Community Building. An Anthropological History. (1995). 311 pp. online edition
Bercuson, David J. Confrontation at Winnipeg: Labour, Industrial Relations, and the General Strike (McGill-Queen's University Press; 1990). ISBN 0773507949
Carr, Ian and Robert E. Beamish. Manitoba Medicine: A Brief History (ISBN: 0887556604) (1999)
Danysk, Cecilia. Hired Hands: Labour and the Development of Prairie Agriculture, 1880-1930. (1995). 231 pp.
Ellis, J.H. The Ministry of Agriculture in Manitoba, 1870-1970 (1971)
Norrie, K. H. "The Rate of Settlement of the Canadian Prairies, 1870-1911," Journal of Economic History, Vol. 35, No. 2 (June 1975), pp. 410-427 in JSTOR
Silver, Jim, and Jeremy Hull. The Political Economy of Manitoba(1991)
Sylvester, Kenneth. The Limits of Rural Capitalism: Family, Culture, and Markets in Montcalm, Manitoba, 1870-1940 (2001)
Wiseman, Nelson. Social democracy in Manitoba (University of Manitoba Press; 1983). ISBN 9780887551185

Religion, ethnicity and First Nations

Emery, George. The Methodist Church on the Prairies, 1896-1914 (McGill-Queen's U. Press, 2001). 259 pp.
Ewanchuk, Michael. Pioneer Profiles: Ukrainian Settlers in Manitoba (1981) ISBN: 0969076843
McLauchlin, Kenneth. "'Riding The Protestant Horse: The Manitoba School Question and Canadian Politics, 1890–1896," Historical Studies 1986 53:39–52.
Marnoch, James. Western Witness: The Presbyterians in the Area of Synod of Manitoba (1996)
Miller, J. R. "D'Alton McCarthy, Equal Rights, and the Origins of the Manitoba School Question," Canadian Historical Review, Dec 1973, Vol. 54 Issue 4, pp 369-392
Milloy, John S. The Plains Cree: Trade, Diplomacy, and War, 1790 to 1870 (Manitoba Studies in Native History) (1990)
Petryshyn, Jaroslav . Peasants in the Promised Land: Canada and the Ukrainians, 1891-1914 (1985)
Sprague, D.N. Canada and the Métis, 1869–1885 (Wilfrid Laurier University Press; 1988)
Swyripa, Frances. Storied Landscapes: Ethno-Religious Identity and the Canadian Prairies (U. of Manitoba Press, 2010) 296 pp. ISBN 978-0-88755-191-8
Ward, Donald B. The People: A Historical Guide to the First Nations of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba (1995)
Yuzyk, Paul. The Ukrainians in Manitoba: A Social History (1953)

Historiography

Bumsted, J. M. "The Quest for a Usable Founder: Lord Selkirk and Manitoba Historians, 1856-1923," Manitoba History, June 1981, Issue 2, pp 2-7
Calder, Alison and Wardhaugh, Robert, ed. History, Literature, and the Writing of the Canadian Prairies.U. of Manitoba Press, 2005. 310 pp.
Friesen, Gerald, and Potyondi, Barry. A Guide to the Study of Manitoba Local History (1981)
Loewen, Royden. "On the Margin or in the Lead: Canadian Prairie Historiography," Agricultural History 73, no. 1 (Winter 1999): 27-45. in JSTOR; excerpt

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