HIST 1221 - Post-Confederation Canadian History

Course Description

Students examine the political, social, military, and cultural history of Canada since 1867. Students explore topics such as state formation, relations with Britain and the United States, diplomacy and war, social movements, regional and ethnic diversity, industrialization and urbanization, and French-English relations. Students will be introduced to the diversity and complexity of Indigenous histories, and to relations between Indigenous peoples and federal and provincial governments in post-Confederation Canada. Throughout the course, students pay particular attention to how and why understandings of Canada’s past have changed over time. Additionally, students will critically engage with primary and secondary documents relevant to the post-Confederation period that detail political, social, and economic changes across Canada. Students will demonstrate deep analytical skills as they examine, critically explore, and analyse materials related to the history of Canada.

Learning outcomes

After successfully completing this course, you will be able to:

• Trace and analyze the political history of Canada since 1867.
• Explain the economic and social transformation of post-Confederation Canada and its effects on various social groups and classes.
• Trace Canada's changing relationships with Britain and the United States since Confederation.
• Understand how historians research, craft, and convey historical narratives in monographs, journal articles, and popular newspaper articles.
• Analyze the transformation of modern Quebec and the implications for Canada as a whole.
• Evaluate the impact of regionalism on Canada's development.
• Assess the significance of immigration and settlement for Canada since 1867.
• Analyze the history of women and labour in post-Confederation Canada.
• Recognize and respect the diversity and complexity of Indigenous histories in post-Confederation Canada.
• Describe the cultural development of Canada in the age of ‘modernity.’

Course topics

• Unit 1: Pre- to Post-Confederation
• Unit 2: Birthing Pains—Confederation’s Early Conflicts
• Unit 3: Economic and Social Transformation to 1914
• Unit 4: Victorian and Edwardian Politics
• Unit 5: Immigrant Nation
• Unit 6: Canada at War
• Unit 7: Reform and Reaction
• Unit 8: 20th Century Economy
• Unit 9: Cold War Canada
• Unit 10: Modernity
• Unit 11: Aboriginal People and Politics
• Unit 12: After the Cold War

Required text and materials

The following Open Education Resources (OER) textbook is required for this course:

• Belshaw, J. D. (2016). Canadian history: Post-Confederation. BCcampus.
  https://opentextbc.ca/postconfederation/

Assessments

Prerequisites

None

Exclusions

HIST 1220