The Manitoba Act received royal assent, creating Manitoba as a new province and helping resolve the Red River Resistance, led largely by Métis political organizing. Manitoba’s entry into Confederation showed that western expansion would shape Canada’s politics and would not be smooth or uncontested.
An imperial order transferred Rupert’s Land and the North-Western Territory into Canada, greatly expanding the young Dominion westward. This transfer made it urgent for the federal government to establish authority, negotiate agreements with Indigenous nations, and create reliable transportation links across the continent.
British Columbia entered Confederation after Canada promised a railway connection to the east, making a transcontinental line central to national unity. The pledge turned railway building from an economic project into a political requirement for keeping Confederation together across long distances.
Treaty 1 was signed in southern Manitoba between First Nations and the Crown, part of the early “Numbered Treaties” that the federal government used to facilitate settlement and development. The treaty relationship became deeply contested, especially when promised provisions were disputed and newcomers moved into the region.
Parliament passed the Dominion Lands Act to encourage agricultural settlement by offering land to settlers under set conditions. This policy accelerated western expansion and increased the demand for a railway to move people, tools, and crops—while also intensifying conflicts over Indigenous land and sovereignty.
Ottawa created the North-West Mounted Police to enforce Canadian law and project federal authority in the West after the 1870 territorial transfer. The force became a key tool for stabilizing areas targeted for settlement and for supporting treaty-making and the infrastructure needed for expansion.
Treaty 3 was signed with Ojibwe leaders, covering a large region in what is now northwestern Ontario and eastern Manitoba. It was especially significant to the federal government because it helped secure a safer route linking the Great Lakes region to the Prairies, supporting future rail and settlement plans.
Accusations that election donations influenced the awarding of a transcontinental railway contract triggered the Pacific Scandal. Macdonald resigned, and the episode delayed progress while showing how central—and politically risky—the railway had become to keeping national promises and building Confederation westward.
The federal government signed a major agreement with a new private syndicate to build the transcontinental railway, after earlier plans had failed. This contract set the stage for faster construction and tied the project directly to national goals of settlement, economic integration, and holding the West within Confederation.
The Canadian Pacific Railway Company was incorporated, creating the organization that would build and operate Canada’s first transcontinental railway. The company became a major partner of the federal government in western expansion, using large land grants and public support to finance construction.
Fighting began when Métis forces defeated North-West Mounted Police and volunteers at Duck Lake, marking the first major clash of the 1885 conflict. The CPR, though not yet complete, became crucial for moving troops and supplies west quickly, linking rail construction to Canada’s ability to enforce federal authority.
Canadian forces defeated Métis defenders at Batoche, collapsing the Provisional Government of Saskatchewan. The outcome strengthened Ottawa’s control of the region and cleared political obstacles to continued settlement and railway completion, while leaving lasting grievances about land, rights, and representation.
A ceremonial “last spike” was driven at Craigellachie, British Columbia, marking completion of the CPR’s transcontinental route. The finished railway helped fulfill the promise that had brought British Columbia into Confederation and became a powerful symbol—and practical tool—of a Canada connected coast to coast.
Louis Riel was hanged for treason after the North-West Rebellion, an event that deepened political divisions, especially between many Francophones and Anglophones in Canada. Coming days after the CPR’s completion, his execution underscored how western expansion and railway-building were tied to coercive state power as well as nation-building.
The Canadian Pacific Railway, western expansion, and their impact on Confederation (1870–1885)