BORDERLINES

AN EXPLORATION OF THE EVOLUTION OF CANADA’S PROVINCIAL AND TERRITORIAL BOUNDARIES

An exploration of the evolution of Canada’s provincial and territorial boundaries

MANY DECADES AGO, I ASKED myself how, if I could do so from scratch, I might draw the boundaries of Canada’s provinces and territories. Though never really answering that question to my own satisfaction, I have delved into Canadian geography, demography, economics and history.

This article is about the history, and let me start in the middle, with the map of Confederation before 1905 (see map above). That is when the federal government had subdivided the old North-west Territories into nine districts. We can reasonably regard the districts as Ottawa’s plan for the creation of separate territories and, eventually, provinces. However, that map only loosely resembles the one we know today. Here is how and why Canada’s boundaries evolved the way they did.

THE NATURAL REGIONS OF CANADA

Most present-day Canadian jurisdictions originate in the British period (and are similar to those established under earlier French rule). One might think the imperial authorities would have divided the country into its natural regions (see map above). Indigenous Peoples who lived in what is now Canada had societies strongly shaped by these landforms, climates and the ecosystems they produced.

Europeans, on the other hand, did not fully understand such geography during the early phases of exploration and settlement. As the colonial powers began to make their own boundaries, they only loosely considered these natural regions. The leaders of British North America (and of New France before them) were, however, influenced by watersheds, the transportation routes by which early European development took place.

AS THE COLONIAL POWERS BEGAN TO MAKE THEIR OWN BOUNDARIES, THEY ONLY LOOSELY CONSIDERED THESE NATURAL REGIONS.

BRITISH ADMINISTRATION BEFORE CONFEDERATION

The British never had fewer than five jurisdictions in what is now Canada. In the Atlantic watershed, there were the original Crown colonies of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Quebec. The greater Hudson Bay drainage system constituted Rupert’s Land — the vast territory granted by charter to the Hudson’s Bay Company. The rest of the Arctic watershed and the Pacific watershed were eventually deemed the North-western Territory. It was a residual entity, first opened by the North West Company and officially leased to the Hudson’s Bay Company when the two fur-trade empires were amalgamated in 1821.

In the decades following the American Revolution (the late 1700s and early 1800s), the British were inclined to divide their remaining Atlantic colonies as new population centres appeared. Newfoundland had already been broken up on two occasions, when a second jurisdiction — the latter being Placentia — briefly existed in the southern part of the island. Nova Scotia was apportioned four ways, creating Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick (which were to last), as well as Cape Breton Island (which proved temporary). Quebec was divided in three and reunited twice. With Confederation, the western third was split off permanently along roughly anglophone-francophone lines and named Ontario. Between 1763 and 1825, the eastern third — Labrador — was passed back and forth as a “dependency” of Newfoundland and Quebec. Most of it ended up in Newfoundland, even though Quebec disputes the boundary to this day (see map above).

On the Pacific coast, the British began removing land from the Northwestern Territory shortly after the 49th parallel boundary was extended west over the Rocky Mountains in 1846. They did so by creating three Crown colonies (Vancouver Island, the Queen Charlotte Islands and British Columbia) and one directly administered territory (Stikine). However, fear of American invasion — the

same reason the British favoured Confederation — led them to just as quickly consolidate their Pacific jurisdictions. The unified colony retained the name British Columbia, although in 1863 the northern boundary changed to the 60th parallel.

The Arctic watershed presented a striking contrast. In the period prior to Confederation, the British never organized this landmass beyond just the two huge claims of Rupert’s Land and the North-western Territory. There, the fur-trade administration of the Hudson’s Bay Company was different from British authority in the farm- and fishery-based Crown colonies. The company generally did not pursue settlement, but instead built numerous lightly defended outposts, called (in order of importance) a factory, fort or house. A post consisted of anywhere from several dozen to a tiny handful of European personnel, along with their Indigenous “country wives,” shared offspring and any missionaries.

The Hudson’s Bay Company was establishing a presence through commercial interactions with First Nations. Its governance was correspondingly light, focused largely on the fur trade and stopping encroachment by foreign states. The upshot: the political geography in this region was unique at the time of Confederation. On the Atlantic and Pacific slopes, British authorities had laid out the boundaries of jurisdictions in all but a few particulars. Conversely, in the enormous Arctic basin, the federal government believed it would be able to draw its own map.

THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORIES AND MANITOBA JOIN CONFEDERATION

In 1870, the new Dominion of Canada purchased Rupert’s Land and the North-western Territory from the Hudson’s Bay Company. They were to be combined under the name Northwest Territories. Disputes soon arose, however, as to precisely what areas the N.W.T. included.

At the heart of these controversies was the Hudson’s Bay Company’s system of territorial administration (see map above), which diverged significantly from the British Crown jurisdictions. Its principal divisions were four “departments,” originally based on watersheds — the Southern (James Bay), Northern (other Arctic), Columbia/western (Pacific) and

Montreal (Atlantic). The boundaries of these departments evolved over time. There were also two anomalous areas — the Arctic Archipelago and the Red River district.

The Arctic Archipelago was treated as an external territory, as the Hudson’s Bay Company did not then operate there. The region was only partly known to Europeans at the time of Confederation. The Royal Navy did periodically explore it, the voyages of, and searches for, Sir John Franklin being the most famous of such journeys. Thus, following the transfer of Company lands to Canada, while both the United Kingdom and the Dominion agreed the area was imperial territory, neither accepted jurisdiction. The situation became worrisome for both, however, with increased American interest in the region.

London finally resolved the issue in 1880 when “all British territories and possessions in North America, and the islands adjacent to such territories and possessions … with the exception of the Colony of Newfoundland and its dependencies” were transferred to Canada. Only then did the federal government recognize the “British Arctic Islands” to be part of the North-west Territories.

The Red River district proved to be more immediately challenging. There, the Hudson’s Bay Company had planted its one colony. It was officially dubbed Assiniboia — originally the 300,000-square-kilometre Selkirk Concession straddling the 49th parallel. By Confederation, its extent had been reduced to just one-tenth that size, roughly described as the zone within 80 kilometres of Fort Garry (the future Winnipeg).

How should Assiniboia be brought into Confederation? Crown colonies had been admitted as self-governing provinces, while other British claims were to be federal territories. Yet Assiniboia was neither a Crown colony nor a true territory. It was a Hudson’s Bay Company colony on territorial land. Even its population, mostly Métis, contrasted with both the European-dominated provinces and the overwhelmingly Indigenous peopled territories.

Ottawa’s plan was to include the Red River Colony in the North-west Territories. For the federal government, a “postage stamp” containing a mere 12,000 settlers was an implausible province. But, for local residents, becoming a small part of a huge territory governed from afar was unacceptable. Even before the transaction with the company was complete, a local resistance broke out. Led by Louis Riel, a “provisional government” took over Assiniboia and demanded provincehood. Riel would be exiled for his role in the uprising, but it was essentially successful. The renamed “Manitoba” (also see sidebar, above) entered Confederation as a province.

TERRITORIAL DISTRICTS AND PROVINCIAL ENLARGEMENTS

In the quarter-century following their purchase, Ottawa comprehensively subdivided the North-west Territories. The first step occurred in 1876. New settlements quickly grew outside the boundaries of Manitoba. To provide additional administration, the federal government established the District of Keewatin. It was given separate territorial status, but it was to be headed by Manitoba’s lieutenant governor.

This proved a stopgap. Thus, in 1881, the federal government extended Manitoba’s borders. To the west and north, this restored something approximating the Canadian half of the Selkirk Concession. To the east, it would have greatly enlarged the province by taking in the entire southernmost portion of Keewatin. This immediately brought a longsimmering conflict with Ontario to a boil.

Both the federal and provincial governments disputed the watershed boundary. Unfortunately for Ottawa, an earlier administration had agreed to “provisionally” recognize an Ontario boundary to the north and west of the watershed in 1874. As a result, after a series of arbitrations, adjudications and enactments, the issue was resolved entirely in Ontario’s favour in 1889. Manitoba’s boundaries would go only a short distance eastward. By comparison, Ontario would stretch much farther west, to Lake of the Woods, and north to the Albany River.

In the meantime, the federal government had been further segmenting the North-west Territories by creating four districts — Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Athabasca — in 1882. All were west of Manitoba, of similar size to that province and in zones thought suitable for agriculture.

In 1895, Ottawa divvied the remaining portions. Keewatin and Athabasca were expanded, and four more districts established — Ungava, Franklin, Mackenzie and Yukon. All were in large northern regions and roughly paralleled the earlier departmental administration of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

A number of other adjustments occurred in this period, but two in 1898 deserve particular attention. First, Ontario’s enlargement generated an expectation of a similar extension in Quebec. It was fulfilled by the transfer of the southernmost portion of Ungava up to the Eastmain River. Second, due to the Klondike gold rush, Yukon became its own territory.

Thus, by the turn of the century, the North-west Territories had been dissected into a dozen parts — nine districts or territories and three provincial enlargements. However, as is evident, the federal government had not had an entirely free hand. Without the resistance in Manitoba and the disputes with Ontario, this history suggests Ottawa would have instead created 10 territorial districts, including one in the Red River area, before giving provincehood to any portion (see map above).

IN OUR MODERN ERA, BOUNDARY CHANGE IS FAR LESS CONCEIVABLE THAN EVER BEFORE.