Assignment #5: It's Really Cold! (Part:1)

*It has been really cold these days that it feels like as if it is even under the -20s, but I am sure that the early Canadian settlers had a harder time living in the extremely cold Canadian winters.
A long time ago, when the Europeans found North America, a lot of people have immigrated here to Canada. Some of the reasons why they immigrated were:

- They were not allowed freedom of warship.
- The Government had control over their way of life.
- There were no jobs or their jobs were low paying jobs.
- Farmers wanted their own land.
- Men were forced to serve in the army.

The Europeans thought that they would have a better life there because they would be free in Canada.

*Now living in the cold winters of Canada was pretty hard but the trip to Canada was also hard. For the Europeans to come here to Canada, they had to take a trip on a ship first to North America. Some of the poorer families couldn't afford a cabin so they had to sleep below in the steerage with hundreds of different families. It was cold, damp, crowded and noisy. There was also no fresh air to breathe. People fell ill because of the cold and the dampness in the steerage. Diseases spread among the passengers. Some did not survive the voyage. Crossing the ocean took anywhere from ten days to a month depending on the weather and the type of ship.

*After the ships finally arrived in Canada, they were given medicals and their travel papers were checked over. During this time, the immigrants stayed in large buildings called immigration halls. Their next journey was by train to the prairies. The journey to the prairies by train took from four to six days. When they finally arrived at a town close enough to their homestead, they unloaded their belongings and got a wagon or Red River cart. They also bought food, clothing, seed, tools, a plow, lumber and farm animals.

*Now there were many main problems for the the early settlers on how to handle the cold. As Helena said "first, their houses weren't very strong and were usually made of wood and field stone or sod". Glass windows were for the rich, so most windows then were holes in the walls. Also, back then, there wasn't very heavy and warm clothes so they had to wear extra clothes.

*The early Canadian settlers probably had some help from the Aboriginals because they knew the Canadian winters and how to handle them. The Aboriginals probably supplied the Europeans with animal fur to use as clothing. Now this only happened when the Europeans became friends with the Aboriginals.

*End of Part 1