Jubilee Address by Senator Daniel E. Riley July 1, 1927
Jubilee Address,
High River
July 1, 1927
Senator Daniel E.
Riley
Today in every village, town, and city in Canada from
ocean to ocean the people are gathered together just as we are gathered here to
celebrate the signing of an agreement which joined the scattered provinces of
Canada together under one Central Government. This event took place on July 1st,
1867, sixty years ago, and in the light of those years it may truly be called –
The Birth of a Nation.
I deeply appreciate the great honor you
have done me in having me speak on such an historic occasion as the present.
Only in the briefest way do I intend to
mention the early history of our country.
The name Canada comes from the Indian
word “Kannata” meaning “the settlements” and this name written down by Cartier
as “Canada” is the name our Dominion from Atlantic to the Pacific now inherits.
The story of the early history of Canada
is one of the most fascinating tales that has ever been written. Absolute
ignorance of what lay beyond their vision, the country on all sides covered
with dense forests peopled in many cases by hostile Indians, the early wars
between the French and English, in which the Indian was uses as an ally were
waged in a most barbarous manner, no communication except the sailing ships
with Europe whose voyages were long and hazardous at the best and whose failure
to arrive with supplies meant starvation and death. We pioneers of the West
have had hardships but they seem trifling when you compare them with what the
pioneer settlers of Eastern Canada had to endure.
The history of Canada or as it was then
called “New France” dates from 1534 when Jacques Cartier landed on Gaspe shore.
Seventy-one years later Fort Royal was founded on the shores of the Bay of
Fundy. In 1608 Champlain established a colony at what is now Quebec and so
Champlain is considered to be really the founder of Canada – he also founded
the city of Quebec the most picturesque on the continent.
Canada, or New France, was under French
rule until 1760 not coming under British rule until after the defeat of the
French forces by Wolfe in 1759. From 1760 to the date of Confederation a little
over a hundred years later, the scattered parts of Canada each under a
different system of Government had no unity of purpose or anything in common
and it was felt by many of the Public Men or as we now call them the Fathers of
Confederation that some change whereby the widely scattered sections of the
country could be united under a central Government was absolutely necessary in
order to preserve to the Empire a country that they forsaw was in future to be
an Empire within itself, so after long and tedious negotiations the terms of
Confederation were agreed on.
On 15th of March 1867 the
British North America Act was passed and on July 1st a Royal
Proclamation brought into being the Dominion of Canada with a system of
government which has proved well suited to the requirements of the country.
Today in the Dominion there are nine provinces each with its own Provincial
Government and with a central Government at Ottawa. North of these Provinces
and stretching from ocean to ocean and up to the Artic lie the vast regions
controlled by the Dominion Government and known as the North West Territories
although little thought of today they nevertheless contain untold wealth in
minerals, timber, fish, fur, and other resources.
Just a word in regard to the progress
Canada has made in the sixty years of Confederation –
60 years ago Canada had 2000 miles of
railway.s, today she has 40,352 miles and two of the greatest railway systems
in the world.
Canada’s total trade with all countries
now reaches the enormous total of 2300 millions, these figures are twenty times
as large as at Confederation and more amazing still six times as large as at
the beginning of the century, only four nations exceed those figures, these
being United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and France. On a per capita
basis, Canada’s trade is now the largest in the world.
In 1886 the first statistics on mining
were gathered and the output then was ten million dollars and today it is 241
million.
In 1867 Agricultural products 111
million and last year 1121 million and the Western provinces which were then a
Buffalo pasture are now the granary of the world.
No country in the world with as small
and scattered a population has made the progress that Canada has made in the
last sixty years.
So much for material progress, Canada
has also in that time built up a strong national spirit. It has been truly said
“That a nation is great not because of its great wealth or population, but by
the character of its people”, and in this respect I think it can be truly said
that Canada is richly endowed for Canadians are known the world over as a God
fearing, law abiding, industrious, and virile race. And at this particular time
when there are large numbers of people from foreign countries coming to this land,
it behooves Canadians to impress on these people that they are welcome to share
in this country’s prosperity but that we insist that they shall become good
Canadians in every sense of the word and be loyal to Canada and her
institutions.
From a scattered Colonial possession in
the last sixty years Canada has risen to the status of a nation. Canada’s
jubilee year has seen two far reaching innovations that is the appointment of a
Canadian as Ambassador at Washington, and the reciprocation by Washington
appointing a United States Ambassador at Ottawa, and this, I believe, will
greatly facilitate trade with our good neighbor to the south. So more
applicable today than ever are the words of Kipling in regard to Canada –
“Daughter am I in my mother’s house, but mistress in my own”.
No event in the history of Canada placed
Canada among the nations of the world as Canada’s part in the Great War. It may
not be the proper place or the proper time to say what I am going to say now
but I am going to say it anyway. In almost every town and village in Canada,
particularly Eastern Canada, that I have visited, the people have erected some
memorial to men who gave up their lives in the struggle. Generally on it is
inscribed the names of all who made the supreme sacrifice and over all the
words “Lest we Forget”. These three little words explain as none others can the
reason why this should be done. To those of us who had living contact with
these things it is not so important but to coming generations some visible
token will do more to build up and strengthen a strong national spirit than
anything I know of, and something to show that their heritage was not secured
without sacrifice.
We have always heard a lot of loose
talk, particularly in hard times, about annexation and secession etc., but the
best answer to that has been the response to the call for the defense of Canada
that I myself have heard on three different occasions since I have lived in
this country first the Riel Rebellion, secondly the Boer War, and thirdly the
Great War, and the people are more loyal if possible to Canada today than they
ever were. I believe the place for Canada is within the British Empire. We
could have no more freedom under any Government than we have under the Canadian
system.
One word to the boys and girls and I am
through. Now I am not going to give you a lecture. In these days when we hear
so much criticism of the pace the young people cut, I am not going to tell you
what you should or should not do or how you should live any more than to urge
the use of the educational facilities the country has so generously provided,
and to see that in your work, in your play, or in your pleasure you do nothing
that will mar or blight the possibilities of splendid manhood and womanhood I see
in you. For remember that you testing time will come as come it does to every
one, and if you can meet the stress and responsibilities of life with a sane
mind in a strong healthy body, the overcoming of difficulties will not be a
hardship. This is something you owe not only to yourselves but you owe it to
your country. Today you are boys and girls, tomorrow you will be the men and
women on whom the duties and responsibilities of making Canada the country that
it should be will rest. That responsibility rests on you today to prepare
yourselves for this work. The future of Canada is in your hands. Take this
thought away with you “You belong to Canada and Canada belongs to you”.
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