Canada and the
Victorian Era
Immigrants, First Nations
and the Victorians
Queen Victoria
Immigrants, Rich and Poor
The Reign of Queen Victoria
Immigrants, Rich and Poor
Much like our society today Canada in the 1850’s could
be luxurious or burdensome. The upper class which
possessed money, education, and social standing lived
a splendid life.
While thousands others worked long hours with little
reward.There was no employment insurance, no
universal health care, and no government assistance,
as we know it today.
Many new immigrants to Canada came from Ireland
and Scotland. These desperately poor people worked
as manual labourers, or soiled over the cheapest and
hardest land they could get their hands on.
Native Peoples/First Nations
The Native Peoples
Native peoples were pushed to the outskirts of society.
They were forgotten and ignored unless the Europeans wanted
to buy “Indian” lands to employ “Indian” labourers.
The Indian way of life was changed due to this displacement.
For example Algonquians, had traditionally relied on hunting
and fishing for food. However, they had to turn to small-scale
fruit and vegetable gardening and even started to shop at the
local food stores due to the growth of immigrant settlements
throughout the Eastern woodlands.
The Native Peoples
(cont’d)
Land claims and territorial
disputes were common.

The Ojibwa were embroiled in a
land dispute as several mining
companies got the go-ahead by the
Canadian government to
investigate mineral wealth in the
Shield. Mining operations
continued even though the
government accepted the fact that
the development was encroaching
the Ojibwa territory.

The Native Peoples
Many Native bands had to rent out
their prime reserve land due to dire
living conditions.
Despite many measures to assimilate
Native peoples into White society,
Native cultures stayed alive by oral
histories and traditions passed down
by the elders.
Victorian Attitudes and Values
Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837,
while still in her teens. Her tastes, values,
and behaviours set the standards for many
British subjects, including Canadians and
Americans.
The Victorians had what we call “attitude”,
being sure of themselves and having few
doubts about their values and beliefs.
Victorian society was distinctly Christian and
placed a great value on morality.
The British Empire grew military and
expanded the British Empire around the
world. New discoveries in medicine,
science, and technology were almost
reported daily.
Religion
Religion was very important to Victorians
(someone who lived during the era of
Queen Victoria, from 1837-1901). Most
towns had at least one Anglican (mostly for
British people), Presbyterian (mostly for
Scottish people), Methodist, and Catholic
(mostly for Irish people) church.
The leaders of the church made decisions
about education, schools, and community
matters, and church congregations served
as agencies that aided the destitute.
Victorian Attitudes and Values
Most English Victorians viewed themselves as
superior and claimed that to be born British was
“ to win the lottery of life”.
Victorian values included a strict moral code
and an obsession with social status. Middleclass Victorians were prudish and extremely
materialistic—they liked nice things, and spent
freely on clothes, homes, and furnishings.
The church was the most important building
because it was where most social activities took
place.
Fashion and Décor
Clothing indicated social status and Victorian
values, so even labourers tended to dress
formally. Women wore long dresses and
aprons; men wore hats and ties, even to
sporting events.
Victorian houses were a sign of prestige, as they
were decorated with the fanciest furnishings.
Poorer sections of town were emblematic by the
size of the homes which was most often small.
Fashion (Women)
Fashion (Men)
Victorian Homes/Architecture
Science and Medicine
Science and Medicine
Science and technology dominated and shaped the
Western world after 1860, as discoveries came so
fast that understanding them was often incomplete.
Ideas and discoveries were transplanted across the
globe through newspapers and journals that linked the
continents.
Exciting medical discoveries were regularly featured in
the news, such as aspirin; antibiotics; x-rays;
vitamins; and hormones were discovered in the latter
half of the century. Vaccinations also became readily
available to ordinary people during the Victorian era.
Science and Medicine
People hoped that science
would find cures for many
serious diseases such as
cholera, smallpox, typhoid fever,
influenza, tuberculosis, and
rheumatic and scarlet fevers
which killed many children. Yet
very little was known about
disease and hygiene, until
research on germs and
antiseptics was furthered.
Science and Medicine
Science and Medicine (con’t)
Many surgeons ended up infecting their patients due to poor sanitary
conditions. For example, few would wash their instruments or even
their hands before an operation.
In 1857, a French scientist, Louis Pasteur discovered the tiny
organisms—the bacilli—that cause many diseases. He also discovered
the cause of anthrax (a deadly disease that kills animals and could
infect humans, cholera, and rabies. He used carbolic acid as an
antiseptic, and vaccinated people and animals against disease.
Leisure and Travel
Leisure and Travel
Victorian Canadians liked to be entertained. The city
festivities included parties, concerts, fairs, circuses,
and shows.
In the country barn raisings, quilting bees, weddings
ceilidhs (parties with Scottish or Irish music, dancing
and stories), and barn dances were quite popular.
Leisure and Travel
Books and magazines were popular,
often in serial format so that people
could enjoy next week’s issue.
Victorians also had a taste for many
amusements that are still enjoyed by
modern Canadians—but some
amusements today would be
considered brutal or bizarre.
Leisure and Travel
Leisure and Travel
For example, bare-knuckle boxing matches drew
plenty of spectators, with bouts lasting as many as
a hundred hours. Boxing remained a brutal sport
until Britain’s Marquis of Queensbury issued his
famous rules for boxing in the 1860s; rules that
are the basis for today’s boxing etiquette.
Medicine Shows
The Victorians loved medicine shows
where cures for anything and everything
were sold
Many of these “medicines” were actually
made with alcohol, pepper, or turpentine (a
fluid obtained by distillation from resin
obtained from trees, mainly various species
of pine (Pinus) causing many to get
intoxicated by the medicine.
Parlour Games
Parlour Games
Card games, such as whist, were very
popular, as were checkers and chess;
these games were often ways of socializing
in ofter large gatherings .
Those of Native, Black, French, and
English ancestry had distinct cultural
traditions and develped their own games.
Some popular games were pulling the
stump, pulling the leg, kissing his thumb.
Getting Around/Transportation
The Royal William, 1833
Getting Around
People with money to spare
travelled to Europe or America
and enjoyed the entertainment
within popular cities such as
Paris, France.
Transatlantic travel became much
easier after the invention of the
steamboat, which reduced the
time for an ocean crossing to a
few weeks. The Royal William,
built in Quebec in 1833 corssed
the Atlantic in seventeen days.
Changing Technology
Changing Technology
Steam power improved the travel time both on land
and sea. Railways and steamships also helped to
build the infrastructure of Canada after 1830.
Canada’s first railway was the Champlain Saint
Lawrence Railroad, which ran from La Prairie, a
suburb of Montreal, to Saint-Jean-sur-Richelle, 40
km southease of Montreal. It was completed by
1836. The railway system in British North America
linked towns and created transportation networks.
The Rise of
Newspaper/Communication
The Rise of
Newspapers
Newspapers became important
sources of daily information to
people who lived in cities. The
Halifax Gazette was the
country’s first newspaper
founded in 1752.
By 1873 there were forty-seven
dailies; a daily was a newspaper
published every day of the week.
Newspapers of the Victorian era
did not contain comics,
profession sports (except horse
racing and boxing), horoscopes
and few non-news or specialinterest features.
The Rise of
Newspaper/Communication
What made them so attractive to the readers?
They offered news from the outside world and
were instrumental in going into other peoples’
business. Court reports and the names,
sentences and fines of offenders were usually
published, and made for interesting reading.
Also, helpful recipes, self-help articles, and fad
science type articles, like phrenology (the science
of personality study based on the bumps on a
person’s head), were quite popular.