Learn / People who shaped Canada
John A. Macdonald
Architect of Confederation and of the railway, and of the policies that bore hardest on Indigenous people.
Life story
- January 11, 1815 · Glasgow, Scotland
Born in Glasgow; the family emigrated to Kingston when he was five - 1844 · Kingston, Ontario
Elected to the legislature of the Province of Canada for Kingston - September 1864 · Charlottetown
Carried the union case at the Charlottetown and Quebec conferences - July 1, 1867 · Ottawa
Became the first prime minister of the Dominion of Canada - November 5, 1873 · Ottawa
Resigned over the Pacific Scandal after taking railway money for the campaign - 1878 · Ottawa
Returned to power on the National Policy of tariffs, railway and settlement - 1885 · Craigellachie, British Columbia
Saw the railway finished and Riel hanged in the same year - June 6, 1891 · Kingston, Ontario
Died in office weeks after a last campaign; buried at Cataraqui Cemetery
In the timeline
- 1864 — The Charlottetown Conference
- 1864 — The Quebec Conference
- 1867 — Confederation
- 1870 — Manitoba joins
- 1871 — British Columbia joins
- 1872 — Unions become legal
- 1876 — The Indian Act
- 1883 — The residential school system
- 1885 — The Chinese head tax
- 1885 — The Last Spike
- 1885 — Riel is hanged