Luciana M. C. and Aoife M.
The Canadian Pacific Railway
Luciana M. C. and Aoife M.
Calgary and Central Alberta Regional Heritage Fair
Calgary, AB
The CPR all started with an idea from John A. Macdonald. He was Canada’s first Prime Minister and was also a Father of Canada’s Confederation. For British Columbia to agree to the idea of the Confederation, he had to build something to connect B.C. to the rest of Canada. The building of the CP railway started in Montreal, Quebec. As the terrain grew tougher, the Government hired Immigrants from China to help with the work. Tough lands and no machines made this work very hard. As they drove through the Prairies, many Chinese died from sickness and malnourishment. As the CP went through the prairies, the Bison started creating problems due to crashing into the train cars regularly. The government forced the CP Railway workers to shoot the bison so they wouldn’t crash into the train cars. Sadly, the bison were nearly extinct, which leads us to how the First Nations were affected. First Nations also stood in the way. The CP Railway took away the First Nations lands, their homes, culture, and traditions. Roughly 5,000 First nations were expelled from the Cypress hills. When the last spike was in the ground, the CPR was done and ready for travel. Now, the CPR went chugging along Canada, transporting settlers and goods. Business was booming! The CP railway had lots of passengers travelling. Through the years, they have created over 2,500 posters to advertise their company around the world. But they didn’t have just one company; they had a lot! They created companies including radio, telegraphs, steamships, hotels and airlines!. As the years passed, the CP grew and grew into a transcontinental railway! Today, the CP Railway has joined Kansas City, turning into CPKC. The railway also has tracks crossing into the United States.
Although the CPR caused many bad things, in the end it was built to create job opportunities, to improve the economy across the country, to move settlers around Canada, to discover new places, and to connect Canada as one single Nation.
What sources and evidence did you consult for your project? What different perspectives did they provide on your topic?
We used our Social Studies textbook, since there was some information about the CPR. It was mostly talking about all the cons of the CPR. The source that we used the most was the internet. We went on a lot of websites, and we found lots of information. The textbook mostly talked about the cons, like how the CPR affected the chinese and the bison, but the websites talked about the cons, pros, and history.
What is the historical significance of your topic?
The historical significance was that the CPR played a key role in the unification of Canada connecting eastern and western provinces, and transporting resources to other provinces in Canada. It made Canada grow, and today, it is still helping with the economy of the country. It affected the First Nations as they were moved out of their lands. It also affected the poor immigrants from China, due to inadequate and dangerous working conditions. And it also affected the bison who roamed the lands, bringing them to an almost extinct population.
Why did you choose this topic?
We chose this topic because we thought that it was a really interesting topic, and we could learn lots of information about it.
We also chose this topic because in school, we have a social textbook, and there was some information about the CP Railway, and it was very interesting, so we wanted to learn more about it.
