Grade by Grade
A. Creating Canada, 1850–1890 · Creating Canada, 1850–1890

Life in Canada, 1850–1890: Women, Workers and Newcomers

A1 A2 A3About 55 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can describe social, political and economic life for different groups in Canada between 1850 and 1890.
  • I can describe the roles and rights of women, workers and newcomers in this period.
  • I can compare life in 1850–1890 with life in Canada today, identifying change and continuity.
  • I can use the historical inquiry process to investigate a question about this period.

Words to know

industrialization
The growth of factories and machines that make goods in large amounts.
urbanization
The growth of towns and cities as people move from farms to cities.
trade union
An organization of workers who join together to bargain for better pay and conditions.
suffrage
The right to vote.
immigrant
A person who moves to a new country to live.
standard time
A system of time zones, proposed by Sandford Fleming and adopted by North American railways in 1883.

Let's start with a question

Would you rather be thirteen in 1875 or today? Before you answer, think about school, work, travel, medicine, and who gets a say.

In this lesson you will look at everyday life for different people between 1850 and 1890 and compare it with your own. Then you will use the historical inquiry process to investigate a question of your own.

Work, cities and new technology

  • Factories grew in cities like Montreal, Toronto and Hamilton, making shoes, clothing, farm machines and more. Many workers, including children, worked ten hours or more a day, six days a week, often in unsafe conditions.
  • In 1872, Toronto printers went on strike for a nine-hour day. Printers' leaders were arrested, because trade unions could be treated as illegal "conspiracies" under old British law. That same year, Macdonald's government passed the Trade Unions Act, making unions legal.
  • Most Canadians still lived on farms. Families worked together; children did chores before and after school, and many left school young.
  • New technology: railways and the telegraph spread; in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell made an early long-distance telephone call between Brantford and Paris, Ontario; in 1883, railways adopted standard time zones, proposed by Sandford Fleming.
Factory worker, 1870s10+ hours × 6 days60+ hoursNine-hour goal, 18729 hours × 6 days54 hoursCommon full-time week today8 hours × 5 days40 hours
Hours in a working week, drawn to scale. Toronto printers in 1872 fought to bring the week down to 54 hours; many people today work about 40.

Women's lives and rights

  • Women could not vote in federal or provincial elections and could not be elected. Married women had limited rights to own property for much of this period; Ontario began to change this with married women's property laws in the 1870s and 1880s.
  • Most women did unpaid work running homes and farms, which kept families alive. Many young women worked as servants, teachers, or in factories like textile mills.
  • Women were usually kept out of universities and professions. Dr. Emily Stowe had to train in the United States and began practising medicine in Toronto in 1867; she received her Ontario licence in 1880. She is known as the first woman to practise medicine in Canada.
  • In 1876, Stowe helped found the Toronto Women's Literary Club, which became the Toronto Women's Suffrage Association in 1883, part of the long fight for women's right to vote.
  • Indigenous women held important roles in their nations' governance and economies, which the Indian Act ignored and undermined. Black women like Mary Ann Shadd and Ann Maria Jackson led in their communities.
A reconstructed 1800s farmhouse kitchen with a black cast-iron wood stove, hanging pots, a wooden table with bread, a butter churn and a spinning wheel.
This reconstructed farmhouse kitchen shows the unpaid work that kept families alive: cooking on a wood stove, baking bread, churning butter and spinning wool. Most of this work was done by women and girls. AI-generated image

Newcomers

  • Chinese immigrants came to BC for the gold rush (from 1858) and the railway, and then faced the head tax (1885).
  • Mennonites, German-speaking farmers from Russia, began settling in Manitoba in 1874, attracted by the promise of land and freedom to practise their faith.
  • Icelanders founded New Iceland, around Gimli on Lake Winnipeg, in 1875.
  • Black newcomers arrived from the US, as you saw in Lessons 2, 6 and 12.
  • Newcomers from Britain and Ireland continued to be the largest group.

Inuit in this period mostly continued to live by hunting, fishing and travelling on the land and sea in their own communities, though in some places, such as Baffin Island and Hudson Bay, they met and traded with whaling ships.

Topic1850–1890Today
Who can voteMen with enough property; no women; most First Nations excluded; Chinese excluded federally from 1885All citizens 18 and over
SchoolMany children left school young to workSchool required to age 18 in Ontario
Work10+ hours a day, 6 days a week; unions legal only from 1872Laws on hours, safety, minimum wage; unions common
TravelHorse, boat, train (CPR finished 1885)Car, plane, train, transit
CommunicationLetters, newspapers, telegraph; first telephonesPhones, internet
Women in professionsMostly excluded (Emily Stowe the exception)Women work in every profession
Comparing life then and now. What has changed? What has continued?
Worked example

Modelled inquiry: How did Confederation change life for different groups?

Follow the five steps of the historical inquiry process.

  1. 1. Formulate a question: "To what extent did the creation and growth of Canada between 1867 and 1890 improve life for different groups?"
  2. 2. Gather and organize: make a chart with groups (Ontario settlers, French Canadians, First Nations, the Métis Nation, Black Canadians, Chinese workers, women) and columns for gains and losses, using sources from this unit (BNA Act, treaties, Indian Act, head tax, Albert Jackson's story).
  3. 3. Interpret and analyse: Ontario settlers gained land, railways and rep by pop. French Canadians gained a province but were divided by 1885. First Nations faced the Indian Act and residential schools despite the treaties. The Métis won Manitoba but then lost land. Black Canadians broke barriers but faced segregation. Chinese workers built the CPR and were then taxed. Women gained little political voice.
  4. 4. Evaluate and draw conclusions: the gains went mostly to English-speaking settlers and businesses; others had mixed results or serious losses.
  5. 5. Communicate: a short report or slideshow stating the conclusion, the strongest evidence for each group, and a list of sources.

Conclusion: Canada's creation and growth improved life for some groups and harmed others. The answer depends on perspective, and a strong conclusion shows evidence for each group.

1. Formulatequestions2. Gatherand organize3. Interpretand analyse4. Evaluate,conclude5. Communicatenew questions often lead you back to step 1
The five steps of the historical inquiry process. Good inquiries often raise new questions, which start the process again.

Choosing good sources

For your own inquiry, use reliable sources: The Canadian Encyclopedia, the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Library and Archives Canada, Parks Canada, the Ontario Heritage Trust, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, and the websites of First Nations, Métis and Inuit organizations and Black historical societies. For each source ask: who made it, when, why, and whose voice is missing?

Just for fun

Funny-but-true: before standard time, every town set its clocks by the sun, so noon in Toronto and noon in Montreal were more than 20 minutes apart. Imagine trying to catch a train when every station had its own idea of what time it was! 🕰️

Hands-on activity

Your own inquiry project

You need: paper, a pencil, and library or internet access with a grown-up.

  1. Choose a question about 1850–1890 that interests you. Examples: "How did Chinese Canadian families respond to the head tax?" "How did women's lives on farms differ from women's lives in cities?" "How did a First Nation near me experience the 1870s and 1880s?"
  2. Find at least three sources, including at least one primary source (a photo, letter, newspaper, map or treaty text) and one from the perspective of the group you are studying.
  3. Take notes in a chart: source, what it says, who made it, perspective.
  4. Write a conclusion in one paragraph with your two strongest pieces of evidence.
  5. Share it with your family as a short talk, poster or slideshow, and list your sources.

Look for: an open question, more than one perspective, evidence in the conclusion, and a source list.

Your turn

1

What did Toronto printers strike for in 1872?

2

What did the Trade Unions Act of 1872 do?

3

Could women vote in federal elections between 1867 and 1890?

4

Who was Emily Stowe?

5

Name two groups of newcomers who arrived between 1850 and 1890.

6

Who proposed standard time?

7

Give one way life for a 13-year-old in 1875 differed from today.

More practice: warm-up

1

What is suffrage?

2

Where did Icelanders settle in 1875?

3

In what year did railways adopt standard time?

4

What is urbanization?

5

Where was Alexander Graham Bell's 1876 call made between?

More practice: on your own

1

Why were printers' leaders arrested in 1872, and what changed afterward?

2

Why did Emily Stowe have to study medicine in the United States?

3

Explain one way the Indian Act affected Indigenous women's roles.

4

Identify one continuity between 1850–1890 and today in the lives of workers.

5

Why might Mennonites have been attracted to Manitoba in 1874?

Challenge

1

"Life in Canada got better between 1850 and 1890." Evaluate this claim for three different groups.

2

Use historical perspective: why might a factory owner and a factory worker in 1872 have seen the nine-hour movement differently?

3

Choose the most significant change in daily life between 1850 and 1890 and justify it with criteria.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

What did the Trade Unions Act of 1872 do?

2.

Who was the first woman to practise medicine in Canada?

3.

Which group founded New Iceland around Gimli in 1875?

4.

Which statement about voting in 1880 is accurate?

5.

What is the first step of the historical inquiry process?

6.

Who proposed standard time zones?

7.

Which is the best conclusion about life in Canada, 1850–1890?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Students analyse social, political and economic aspects of life between 1850 and 1890 and compare them with today (A1), and use the inquiry process to investigate perspectives (A2), drawing on events from the whole unit (A3).

How to help: Support the inquiry project: help choose a manageable question, find age-appropriate reliable sources, and keep a source list. Praise good questions and use of evidence more than polish. Ask older relatives about how work and school have changed in their lifetimes.

Common difficulties: Writing one-fact questions; using only one perspective; assuming change is always progress; copying instead of analysing.

Online safety: Supervise internet searches and steer toward trusted sites.