In the context of today, with Canada being criticised for any number of reasons - some worthy, some not so - perhaps it is time to take a look at this land of ours - The True North Strong and Free - and see where it all began.
According to The Canadian Encyclopaedia, the country's name was derived from the Huron-Iroquois kanata meaning a village or settlement. On 13 August 1535 Jacques Cartier was informed by two Indian youths he had with him when he returned from France, that the route to Canada [chemin de Canada] lay to the south of Ile d'Anticosti. By Canada, they meant the village of Stadacona, on the future site of Quebec City. Cartier used the word in that sense but also referred to the "province of Canada," meaning the area subject to Donnacona, chief of Stadacona. The name Canada was soon applied to a much larger area. The 'Harleian' world map of c1547, the first to show the discoveries made on Cartier's second voyage, gave the name to an area north of the gulf and river St. Lawrence, and by 1550 maps were also placing the name south of the river.
The Canadian Encyclopaedia goes on to inform us that Cartier referred to the St. Lawrence as the "riviere de Canada." In time, others added to the area known as Canada. In March 1762, after the Conquest, General Thomas Gage informed General Jeffery Amherst that the limits between Canada and Louisiana had never been clearly described. He could only state "what were generally believed … to have been the Boundaries of Canada & give you my own Opinion." He judged "not only the [Great] Lakes, which are Indisputable, but the whole Course of the Mississippi from its Heads to its Junction with the Illinois" had been considered by the French to be part of Canada. This may be one reason why the British abandoned the name and called the colony the Province of Quebec.
As any Canadian who attended school in this country knows, "Canada came into its own in 1791 when the Constitution Act [or Canada Act] divided Quebec, then considerably enlarged, into the provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada. In 1841, they were joined to form the Province of Canada. In 1867, the British North America Act united the Province of Canada [divided into Ontario and Quebec] with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to form "One Dominion under the name of Canada." The new area was relatively small but it expanded quickly. The purchase of Rupert's Land in 1870 extended the country to the Rocky Mountains and the Arctic Ocean; the addition of British Columbia in 1871 created a Canada that extended from sea to sea. Prince Edward Island was added in 1873 and Britain handed over title to the arctic islands in 1880. This gave Canada substantially its present boundary; Newfoundland and Labrador were added in 1949. [Alberta and Saskatchewan were formed from the vast prairie region and became Canadian provinces in 1905 while Manitoba - created by the Manitoba Act of 1870 - grew from the small southeast corner of present day Manitoba to encompass the current province. The current boundary was set in 1912.]
As a footnote to the above information - gleaned unapologetically from the Canadian Encyclopaedia - distinguished American historian Samuel Eliot Morison remarked that "never, since the Roman Empire, have two local names received such a vast extension as Canada and St. Lawrence."
Since those heady days when John Cabot first set eyes on Canada [Newfoundland] circa 1497 - five years after Christopher Columbus 'discovered North America' when he landed in the West Indies - and 38 years before Jacques Cartier first named the area Canada, this vast land has become home to millions from around the world. There is evidence, however, that Cabot was not the first European to set eyes on Canada. According to historical evidence and Scandinavian records, that honour most likely goes to Bjarni Herjolfsson, a trader, who belatedly sailed to join Eric the Red [985/86] but was blown far off course. His first sighing of land was probably off Newfoundland. At about the turn of the century, Eric's oldest son, Leif Ericsson decided to exploit Bjarni's discovery. After searching along the coastline [Baffin Island and Labrador] young Leif established a settlement in Newfoundland called Vinland, probably in the Strait of Belle Isle area.
The question, 'Why did the Norse not stay?' has been asked many times. The best answer lies in a tidbit of history that suggests the Norse had established a site called Hop somewhat south of Vinland; there, grapes and timber were harvested for export to Greenland. It was at Hop that the aboriginals attacked the Norse people frequently and sufficiently that the Norse simply left.
What the Norse began and what Cabot and Cartier and other Europeans continued and what the Natives graciously shared, is our home. Nurture it and treat it with all the respect that is its due. Today, are we who call ourselves Canadians, doing that? Are we treating this vast country with respect? Or, are we destroying what the Natives, the Vikings, Cabot and Cartier gave us?
Bob Orrick is a private tutor of English grammar, literature, poetry and Canadian history to off-shore youngsters. His pupils hail from such places as Taiwan, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Venezuela. He was previously in international marketing, was a ministerial assistant to a provincial cabinet minister, spent a few years as a reporter then editor of a community newspaper and enjoyed a career in the Royal Canadian Navy.
Advertising Information 
