good canadian history essay topics

good canadian history essay topics

Exploring Key Events and Figures in Canadian History

1. Introduction to Canadian History

Another important aspect of the study involves connecting knowledge strands from the social studies curriculum (the history of Canada from ancient times to the present, the geography of Canada, the history and geography of Canada’s aboriginal peoples) in order to help students gain a more organic understanding of the ways that early historical connections continue to very much matter in the Canada of today. To help students think convincingly about why early Canadian history is important and how many of the underlying connections remain very much alive in the contemporary Canadian scene, classroom activities helped students develop a more consistent and purposeful understanding of the intertwined traditions of Canada’s earliest cultures, as well of the waves of settlers who came later.

In order to help students develop a sense of what has been truly central and vitally important to Canada’s past, they were engaged in a review of and analysis of more than a millennium’s worth of history through the in-depth study of key events and figures. They were asked to closely examine just who the historical Canada actually consists of, what the central stories of our country are, and how the people or events they focused on as being especially important have changed over time.

The decision to explore key events and figures in Canadian history from the period of initial First Nations settlement until the present helped to clarify important connections for students about the meaningful ways that the very earliest periods and the most recent periods of their social studies curriculum connect. In particular, attention was centered on the key question, “How did Canada come to be?”

2. Impact of Indigenous Peoples on Canadian History

The Inuit were the first to settle in Canada’s northern territories, and later, the Thule Inuit arrived on the eastern coast, having migrated from Greenland. The Inuit and their predecessors adopted a nomadic lifestyle, moving over the years according to the migration of animals. It is known that the Inuit hunted for food, clothing, and heat and that they lived in igloos or other temporary shelters. The Dene of Canada’s western provinces still keep alive the cultural and heritage traditions of their ancestors who, at the time when the Dene arrived, had already settled in the area. The Iroquois had also found a suitable place to live. They settled in Canada’s eastern provinces and colonies, becoming farmers who lived together in villages.

If it were not for Canada’s indigenous people, Canadian history would probably have been quite different. The aboriginal peoples, affected by the influx of Europeans, played important roles and often they were parties to serious hostilities. Many times, they were the innocent victims and their way of life was drastically altered by forced migrations and acts committed against them. In some occasions, the aboriginal peoples were successful at stopping foreign invasion and protecting their territories and resources.

3. The Role of Canada in World Wars

During World War I, Canada’s rise to full sovereignty began, due to its victories on world battlefields, second division of the British imperial alliance, and great economic and social expansion. The great loss and the synthesis of victories have led to the disillusionment of the lost workforce, while the Canada War Grap and associated policies athletes, hosts in the Finnish winter event, and its impact was decided by soldiers who established an economic foundation for Canada’s isolation. The country began the policy which the majority of workers and taxpayers across Canada couldn’t afford. Its success in Britain has created cooperating banks and raised its place in the European economy. Successful big business leaders became the directors of those two dominant corporations and became spokesmen for the Salvation Commission, and Canadians developed radical ideas. Their impact became policy compromises, often cited as the apparent benefits of postwar Canada. And got impeachment, double ending.

As part of the British Commonwealth, Canada played a major role in the 1914-18 and 1939-45 wars. In World War I, Canada fought with the British, and in World War II, with Britain and other allied forces. The war helped Canada emerge from the nation’s shadow and grow independently. During the war, Canada undertook various changes that escalated her political, social, and economic state and paved the way for development. The world wars had a huge impact on Canadian culture and lifestyle. National policies, alliances, and Canada’s economic survival were deeply embroiled in the war. Despite lofty military and civilian milestones, it is clear that the war created a path for future economic success. Canada’s increased ability, relative isolation, its will for recognition, its intermediate position, as well as the technical developments and policies that bridge the gap between the world wars, have all made the outcome of the Second World War outweigh.

4. The Evolution of Canadian Identity

To begin to understand the various evolving Canadian identities, it is necessary to trace first the early settlement patterns of First Nations, French, and British. Next, one must comprehend how these communities developed mutual understanding, respect, cooperation, and even friendship. Often, the reversed process surfaced in policies, laws, treaties, and court decisions designed to suppress languages, cultures, and religions and even physical extermination. Massive historical amnesia was employed by European colonists to justify a first creation myth of empty land, discover. They traveled down a different mythography indigenous peoples and fourth and myth Canadian of St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes and observed vibrant, complex societies. These societies enjoyed stable bases of sustenance, communication, medicine, trade, and belief systems and expressive revising the laws of history by creating legislation and buildings about nothing before themselves, thereby validating land occupation policies of expulsion, concentration, and extinction.

The evolution of Canadian identity is a complex and varied process. Throughout different periods of Canadian history, diverse medical, provincial, and national identities emerged and shifted. Various ethnic, linguistic, and religious communities have arisen, and differing regional, class, and gender identities have been constructed and transformed. Over time, Indigenous, British or French, imperial, continental, North American, expatriate, multicultural, cooperative, bilingual, environmental, and organizational identities developed and changed, growing in their complexity and scope. Finally, in the mid-1990s, different complex ideological formations emerged, such as distinct society, inclusive society, multicultural federation, and behind-the-other-community.

5. Current Debates and Challenges in Canadian History

One way to enhance Aboriginal and Canadian history is to embrace the spirit of W.L. Morton’s “Regional History of Canada” that “would permit our attention to spread throughout the land to where people have been and are”. Turning to current trends after turning the confidence around historical development, moving away from the large contours of the long narrative, real engagement with the past could address local and national Native concerns to join the historical mission and help spread some of the responses in the process of truth and reconciliation. Smaller studies for periods and regions forcing peoples to be really notable or decline the “marginalization approach” that has been criticized give many of our survey overviews. However, it is important to realize there is still much to be gained from looking at how the Aboriginal experience has changed over time on a national scale often or with a focus on particular nations’ histories.

Aboriginal and Canadian history have entered a period of exciting ferment, judged by the surge of activity and publications in both fields. Current debates and challenges act as alternatives and potentially push the Canadian history traditional period narrative away from Eurocentric and state-centered history. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in commodities, making better links between historical periods, pushing back against periodization studies, mixing traditional boundaries both inside and out, and giving experience to different regional and local societies. The volume of studies on the Beothuk, the Inuit, and First Nations people around Halifax, much of it rooted in archaeology, illustrates the diversity of Aboriginal peoples who have lived, live, and traversed throughout Canada’s history and have left a legacy that stretches back millennia.