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A Railway from Sea to Sea
British Columbia joined Canada in 1871 after Ottawa promised to build a railway to the West Coast. On
November 7, 1885, a powerful symbol of unity was completed when Donald Smith (Lord Strathcona), the
Scottish-born director of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), drove the last spike. The project was financed
by British and American investors and built by both European and Chinese labour. Afterwards the Chinese
were subject to discrimination, including the Head Tax, a race-based entry fee. The Government of Canada
apologized in 2006 for this discriminatory policy. After many years of heroic work, the CPR’s “ribbons of
steel” fulfilled a national dream.
Your Canadian Citizenship
Study Guide
20
Members of the train
crew pose with a
westbound Pacific
Express, at the
first crossing of the
Illecillewaet River near
Glacier, B.C., 1886
Chinese workers’ camp
on the CPR, Kamloops,
B.C., 1886
Moving westward
Canada’s economy grew and became more
industrialized during the economic boom of the
1890s and early 1900s. One million British and
one million Americans immigrated to Canada at
this time.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier became the first French-
Canadian prime minister since Confederation
and encouraged immigration to the West. His
portrait is on the $5 bill. The railway made it
possible for immigrants, including 170,000
Ukrainians, 115,000 Poles and tens of thousands
from Germany, France, Norway and Sweden to
settle in the West before 1914 and develop a
thriving agricultural sector.