The Fathers of Confederation envisioned an independent Canada with ties to Britain that spanned from sea to sea.
John A. Macdonald and George-Etienne Cartier wrote the British North America Act or BNA as a proposal to Britain for Canada’s independence. On July 1, 1867 the BNA was approved by Britain and Canada became a country. It wasn’t until years later that it would be the country we know today.
Explore this Confederation website for an organized and simplified explanation of key people, events, and issues.
- Identify 5 issues that were resolved by Confederation.
- Explain how/why each was an issue.
- Explain how Confederation resolved each issue.
- How did Confederation both include and exclude peoples of diverse cultural communities? Talk about who was included/excluded and why.
- What idea of citizenship originally shaped Confederation? What were MacDonald and Cartier trying to achieve?
- Which Confederation issues continue to be problematic to this day? Explain.
