EDMONTON - The first Canada Day celebrations started exactly 147 years ago, on June 30, 1867, with a major street party starting that night. No hotdogs, but plenty of roasted ox and, well, a lot of pistol shooting.
As church bells rang at midnight, people poured into the streets of Toronto for “the red letter day for all time,” according to the July 1, 1867 Toronto Globe newspaper.
“As the city clock struck midnight, the Dominion of Canada began its legal existence and the bells of St James Cathederal, under the charge of Mr. Rowlinson, sent forth a merry peal,” reads the report.
While Alberta, thousands of kilometres away and not much more than a collection of scattered settlers making their way on fertile and still untapped land was mostly unaware of the celebrations in the east — and still nearly 40 years from joining Canada — the birth of a nation was in full effect.
“Citizens paraded the streets,” “bonfires were lit” and “small arms went off as rapidly as pop guns,” in Toronto, wrote the anonymous reporter.
Crowds were “marching in different directions singing loyal and patriotic anthems.”
That was just the beginning, according to the newspaper obtained by Sherwood Park history buff Del Hankinson.
“At six a.m., a great ox will be roasted by Captain Woodhouse of the barque Lord Nelson. The roasting will occupy a large portion of the day and the meat will afterward be distributed to the poor of the city.”
There would also be a “balloon ascension at Queen’s Park” to be followed by band concerts, dancing and “the most amazing display of fireworks ever exhibited in Canada.”
Hankinson loves his history and for good reason. His ancestors were United Empire Loyalists who came to Canada from the U.S. generations ago and helped build the country.
The 1867 newspaper is a direct connection to those momentous events as the publisher of the Globe (the precursor of the Globe and Mail) was George Brown, himself a Father of Confederation, Hankinson adds.
Though the yellowing newspaper has little monetary value, it is a priceless reflection of the young country that was well connected to the wider world in those days, judging by the myriad shipping lines advertising in the paper — $125 for a first class cabin to Liverpool, more for a berth to China or Argentina.
The newspaper pages also reflected daily life of the times — columns with notices about lost pets, a dog “with brindal markings,” ads for hooped skirts for fashionable women, and young men looking for places to stay (no rooming houses please), and a $20-reward for finding some stolen horses.
There was plenty of work in the young country. One ad calls for “400 quarrymen” and another ad is looking for a “first class circular sawyer, no others need apply.”
The Great Western railway was looking for 20 choppers who would earn $26 a month.
On the July 1 front page, there’s no big headline. Rather a lengthy front page essay reflecting on the gravity of events and the optimism of the day, boasting of Canada’s many attributes — the massive ship building industry especially in Quebec, its farmers and wonderful soils of Upper Canada and its great climate.
The article gives a detailed history of the colonies leading up to the Confederation of the founding four, Lower Canada (Quebec, population 1.1 million), Upper Canada (Ontario, pop. 1.4 million), Nova Scotia (330,857) and New Brunswick (252,047).
All was ready for Newfoundland, British Columbia, the Red River colony and the Northwest Territories to enter Confederation, says the article.
It just took a little longer than anticipated for them to come together. Alberta joined the Dominion of Canada in 1905, along with Saskatchewan. The Northwest Territories joined in 1870 along with Manitoba; and B.C. joined in 1871, followed by Prince Edward Island two years later. Newfoundland held out until 1949 and Nunavut was created in 1999.