Editing Canadian Confederation (section)

==Joining Confederation==
<!-- This section is linked from [[Provinces and territories of Canada]] -->

After the initial ''BNA Act'' in 1867, [[Manitoba]] was established by an act of the Canadian Parliament on July 15, 1870, originally as an area of land much smaller than the current province.<ref name="Sprague1988">{{cite book |first=Douglas N. |last=Sprague |title=Canada and the Métis, 1869–1885 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D0BnHT9zHYIC&pg=PA117 |date=June 2, 1988 |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-88920-964-0 |page=117}}</ref> British Columbia joined Canada July 20, 1871, by an Imperial order-in-council enacted under the authority of the ''British North America Act''.<ref name="Murphy1993">{{cite book |first=Rae |last=Murphy |title=The essentials of canadian history: Canada since 1867, the post-confederate nation |url=https://archive.org/details/essentialsofcana00crow |url-access=registration |year=1993 |publisher=Research & Education Assoc. |isbn=978-0-87891-917-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/essentialsofcana00crow/page/6 6]–7}}</ref><ref>''[http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/bctu.html British Columbia Terms of Union]'', May 16, 1871.</ref><ref>[https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-4.html#h-31 ''British North America Act, 1867'', s. 146.]</ref> The order-in-council incorporated the Terms of Union negotiated by the governments of Canada and British Columbia, including a commitment by the federal government to build a railway connecting British Columbia to the railway system of Canada within 10 years of union.<ref>''[http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/bctu.html British Columbia Terms of Union]'', para. 11.</ref> Prince Edward Island (PEI) joined July 1, 1873, also by an Imperial order-in-council.<ref>[http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/peitu.html Prince Edward Island Terms of Union], June 26, 1873</ref> One reason for joining was financial: PEI's economy was performing poorly and union would bring monetary benefits that would assist the province in avoiding bankruptcy.<ref name="lop.parl.ca">{{Cite web|title=How Canadians Govern Themselves – Time Travel – Timeline Content|url=https://lop.parl.ca/about/parliament/senatoreugeneforsey/time_travel/timeline_content-e.html|access-date=February 21, 2021|website=lop.parl.ca}}</ref> One of the Prince Edward Island Terms of Union was a guarantee by the federal government to operate a [[ferry]] link, a term deleted upon completion of the [[Confederation Bridge]] in 1997.<ref name="Murphy1993" /> [[Alberta]] and [[Saskatchewan]] were established September 1, 1905, by acts of the Canadian Parliament. Newfoundland joined on March 31, 1949, by an act of the Imperial Parliament, also with a ferry link guaranteed.<ref name="Murphy1993" /><ref>[http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/nfa.html Newfoundland Act], 12 & 13 Geo. VI, c. 22 (U.K.).</ref>

The Crown acquired Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1869 (though final payment to the Hudson's Bay Company did not occur until 1870), and then transferred jurisdiction to the Dominion on July 15, 1870, merging them and naming them [[North-West Territories]].<ref name="Dominion Lands Policy">{{cite book |title=Dominion Lands Policy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BagO6FRx6I0C&pg=PA1 |access-date=February 20, 2012 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP |pages=1– |id=GGKEY:ND80W0QRBQN |date=January 15, 1973}}</ref> In 1880, the British assigned all [[North American Arctic islands]] to Canada, right up to [[Ellesmere Island]].<ref name="Diubaldo1999">{{cite book |first=Richard J. |last=Diubaldo |title=Stefansson and the Canadian Arctic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0KXDzBWKdq8C&pg=PA6 |date=January 18, 1999 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP |isbn=978-0-7735-1815-5 |page=6}}</ref> From this vast swath of territory were created three provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta) and two territories ([[Yukon Territory]] and North-West Territories, now Yukon and Northwest Territories), and two extensions each to Quebec, Ontario, and Manitoba. Later, the third territory of [[Nunavut]] was carved from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999.<ref name="DahlHicks2000">{{cite book |first1=Jens |last1=Dahl |first2=Jack |last2=Hicks |first3=Peter |last3=Jull |author4=International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs |title=Nunavut: Inuit regain control of their lands and their lives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wm-yttszFTMC&pg=PA20 |year=2000 |publisher=IWGIA |isbn=978-87-90730-34-5 |page=20}}</ref> The Yukon territory was formed during the Klondike gold rush. People from all around Canada and the United States flocked to the area due to rumours of an easy way to get rich. The Canadian government sought to regulate this migration and tax gold findings, whether American or Canadian.<ref name="lop.parl.ca"/>

Below is a list of [[Canadian provinces and territories]] in the order in which they entered Confederation; territories are italicized. At formal events, representatives of the provinces and territories take [[Canadian order of precedence|precedence according to this ordering]], except that provinces always precede territories. For provinces that entered on the same date, the order of precedence is based on the provinces' populations at the time they entered Confederation.

{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background: #efefef;"
! Date !! Name !! Previously
|-
| rowspan = "4" | July 1, 1867
| [[Ontario]] || [[Canada West]] region of the Province of Canada{{refn|Later received additional land from the Northwest Territories.|group=n|name=plusnwt}}
|-
| [[Quebec]] || [[Canada East]] region of the Province of Canada{{refn|group=n|name=plusnwt}}
|-
| [[Nova Scotia]] || Province of Nova Scotia
|-
| [[New Brunswick]] ||Province of New Brunswick
|-
| rowspan = "2" | July 15, 1870
| [[Manitoba]] || Part of [[Rupert's Land]]{{refn|group=n|name=plusnwt}}{{refn|In 1870 the [[Hudson's Bay Company]]–controlled Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory were transferred to the Dominion of Canada. Most of these lands were formed into a new territory named North-West Territories, but the region around [[Fort Garry]] was simultaneously established as the province of Manitoba by the ''[[Manitoba Act]]'' of 1870.|group=n|name=hbc}}
|-
| ''[[Northwest Territories]]'' (North-West Territories) || All of [[Rupert's Land]] and the North-Western Territory except for the part which became Manitoba{{refn|group=n|name=hbc}}
|-
| July 20, 1871
| [[British Columbia]] || [[United Colony of British Columbia]]
|-
| July 1, 1873
| [[Prince Edward Island]] || Colony of Prince Edward Island
|-
| June 13, 1898
| ''[[Yukon|Yukon Territory]]''{{refn|Renamed [[Yukon]] in 2003.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/040006/f2/040006-15-e.pdf| title=Yukon Territory name change to Yukon |access-date=July 14, 2009| author=Library and Archives Canada| author-link=Library and Archives Canada}}</ref>|group=n|name=yk}}
 || Part of the North-West Territories{{refn|group=n|name=hbc}} 
|-
| rowspan = "2" | September 1, 1905
| [[Saskatchewan]] || Part of the North-West Territories
|-
| [[Alberta]] || Part of the North-West Territories
|-
| March 31, 1949
| [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]]{{refn|group=n|name=nl|Renamed [[Newfoundland and Labrador]] in 2001.}} || [[Dominion of Newfoundland]]
|-
| April 1, 1999
| ''[[Nunavut]]'' || Part of the Northwest Territories
|-
|colspan = "3" | '''Notes'''
{{Reflist|group=n}}
{{notelist}}
|}