by Maurice Y. Michaud (he/him)
— Public domainThree conferences were held prior to the founding of Canada on July 1, 1867: two in 1864 (Charlottetown and Québec City) and one in 1866 (London). The idea was to unite as a single country the then-province of Canada, and the colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland. But after those rounds of talks, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island backed out.
On July 1, 1867, the province of Canada was formally split into two provinces. What was known as Canada East became Québec, and Canada West became Ontario. And although New Brunswick and Nova Scotia did join, the populace was none too pleased about it, especially in Nova Scotia. Of that province's 19 elected members to the new parliament in Ottawa, all but one (Charles Tupper) were from the Anti-Confederation Party, including Joseph Howe, who only accepted the union as a fait accompli in 1869.
Prince Edward Island eventually joined in 1873, and Newfoundland in 1949 — by that point run by a commission government. The colony of British Columbia joined in 1871. And between 1870 and 1999, two original provinces were enlarged and three provinces and three territories were created from the vast expanse referred to as the North-West Territory, which the United Kingdom had transferred to Canada in July 1870. As a consequence, Canada has been the second largest country in the world through its entire existence, except its first three years, surpassed only by Russia.
By the way, this list includes one man who, arguably, is not a Father of Confederation: Joey Smallwood. He is sometimes referred to as the last one because of the late entry of Newfoundland. Another man included on this list was not considered a Father of Confederation in his time but now is. Otherwise, this list shows the conference(s) that each man attended.
