Gough Barry M. Historical Dictionary of Canada

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300 • NORMAN WELLS

Tilly-la-Campagne and by 2nd Division to seize May-sur-Orne and

Verrières village. The second phase would see these units plus 7th

Armored Division capture the remaining high ground of Verrières

Ridge. The third phase involved exploitation of the breech by the

Guards Armored Division.

Like many a battle, the operation did not go according to plan. On

the night of 24 July, units of 2nd Division attempted to secure St.

André-sur-Orne and May-sur-Orne but met only limited success. The

one outstanding success occurred when the Royal Hamilton Light In-

fantry, commanded by Lt. Col. J. M. “Rocky” Rockingham, captured

Vierrières village and held it against repeated German counterattacks.

The second phase of the operation witnessed one of the blackest days

in Canadian military history. On the morning of 25 July, the Black

Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada bravely attempted to

carry out its assigned mission in the face of overwhelming odds, but

it was virtually wiped out on the western slope of Vierrières Ridge.

The regiment suffered 322 casualties that day, including 120 killed.

Late on the 25th, Simonds called off Operation Spring when it be-

came apparent that no further ground could be gained. It had been

a costly battle for the Canadians—it is estimated that over 1,500

casualties were suffered, including 450 dead. This made it the second

costliest day of the war for Canada, behind only the Dieppe Raid.

There has been considerable debate over Field Marshal Montgom-

ery’s intentions for the attack. Some say Spring was a failure because it

failed to break through to Falaise. Others say it was a success because

it accomplished its goal of holding the bulk of the German armor in

the area south of Caen. In any case, Spring kept the attention of the

Germans during the crucial period of 24–26 July when the Americans

were breaking through in the west. By the time the German armored

divisions were released to head west, it was too late to contain the

American breakout. Spring, however costly, was an important contri-

bution to the Allied victory. Falaise was seized 16 August, and Cana-

dians and Poles met American forces to complete a pincer movement.

This ended the Normandy campaign. Canadian forces suffered 18,444

casualties in the campaign. See also CANADIAN ARMY.

NORMAN WELLS. Oil was discovered at Norman Wells, on the

Mackenzie River, Northwest Territories, in 1916. Imperial Oil’s

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NORSE • 301

1920 well led to the building of a small refinery, the first north of

the 60th parallel, to produce gasoline and diesel for the local and

riverine market (in those days moved by summer barges). As mining

activity grew, a larger refinery was built in 1939. The Norman Wells

field supplied the wartime Canol (short for Canadian oil) pipeline.

In the 1980s, increased southern Canadian demands led to a further

expansion of the plant. Many of the well heads are serviced from

production islands lying in the river, which is five kilometers wide.

Currently the oil plant at Norman Wells is owned by Imperial Oil

Resources Ltd. (ESSO Resources) and now markets its products in

Edmonton, beginning in 1985, via Interprovincial Pipe Line Ltd.

NORSE. The Norse, or Vikings, are credited with the first known Euro-

pean settlements in North America. Around 985, an Icelandic trading

vessel was blown off course en route to Greenland, and sailors aboard

reported new lands to the west, which they called Vinland. Fifteen

years later, Leif Ericson wintered at a settlement called Straumfiord

or “Lief’s Camp,” a grassy terrace near present-day L’Anse aux

Meadows, Newfoundland. In following years, the Norse ventured

farther southwest toward New Brunswick and Acadia.

Snorri Thorfinson, famed in Viking lore as the first European

born in the New World, is thought to have been born at L’Anse aux

Meadows. Conflict with aboriginal peoples is one of the probable

reasons for Norse withdrawal from North America and their return to

Greenland within a decade. Norse contacts with America continued

off and on until at least the mid-14th century. Knowledge provided

by the Norse was kept alive by sailors, who facilitated, through

discovery and fishing, the reopening of contact in the era of John

Cabot. The English, Portuguese, Basques, and others replaced the

Norse in America. Canada’s first European connection was a north-

ern, maritime frontier.

Who was the first European to discover America, and was that

person Norse? The most likely claim to primacy goes to Biarni

Heriulfson, a Norwegian ship owner trading with Iceland. The date

was 985 or 986, and the event is said to involve a bit of chance,

for Heriulfson went looking for his father, who is said to have left

Iceland for Greenland. Heriulfson reached America, or Canada, and

found an unknown land “level and covered with woods”—obviously

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302 • NORTH AMERICAN AIR DEFENSE COMMAND

not Greenland. In other words, half a millennium before Columbus

reached North American shores, they had already been discovered.

From Newfoundland and northern waters, the Norse exported a

number of products, via Greenland, and marketed them in Europe.

These included walrus ivory, ropes made of walrus hide, narwhal

horns, polar bear furs, white gyrfalcon (the prize sporting bird), and

eider-duck (from which comes eiderdown).

The end of Norse intermittent occupation in America may also

relate to the effect of the Black Death in Norway after 1349, the

rise of the Hanseatic League, which gradually controlled Norwegian

commerce, and inroads made by Bristol merchants in the trade and

economy of the North Atlantic. Besides, there was no peaceful co-

existence with the indigenous people, the Skaelings.

L’Anse aux Meadows is the only authenticated settlement of

Norse Vikings in North America. It is on UNESCO’s World Heri-

tage List. Here the Vikings built three timber and sod longhouses

and five smaller buildings. Here too was the first iron-working in

the New World. In 1960, Norwegians Helge Ingstad and Anne Stine

Ingstad, using Viking sagas and local advice from fisherman George

Decker, located the ruins of Straumfiord. By dating the settlement to

c. 1000 CE, they were first to document that Vikings reached North

America before Columbus. Excavations by them, begun in 1960, and

subsequently by Parks Canada have unearthed remnants of various

buildings and Viking artifacts.

NORTH AMERICAN AIR DEFENSE COMMAND (NORAD).

NORAD was established between Canada and the United States in

1957 to oversee and coordinate the air defense of North America.

NORAD is a complex, integrated system of early detection defenses

that make both countries aware of impending attacks. Both Canada

and the United States have aircraft and bases situated in strategic po-

sitions to intercept attacking missiles or aircraft. The senior Canadian

officer at Colorado Springs, the base, is always second in command.

NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT (NAFTA).

Signed by Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Mexican Pres-

ident Carlos Salinas, and U.S. President George H. W. Bush, NAFTA

came into effect 1 January 1994. The agreement has generated eco-

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NORTH WEST COMPANY • 303

nomic growth and rising standards of living for the people of all

three member countries. By strengthening the rules and procedures

governing trade and investment throughout the continent, NAFTA

has provided a solid foundation for future prosperity. It was initiated

by the Canadian administration, urged on by Thomas d’Aquino, a

private sector free trader. The Canadian Departments of External Af-

fairs, Finance, and Trade were all involved. U.S. President Ronald

Regan was a powerful supporter.

NAFTA has created the largest free trade zone in the world. Trade

in commodities, manufactured items, and services have all increased.

Trade liberalization has aided cross-border trade, but significant dif-

ficulties have developed in consequence of security concerns relating

to the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. Disputes about forest

products were persistent and nagging, though finally resolved in

2008. Although the biggest trade increase has been between Canada

and the United States, Canada’s trade with Mexico has more than

quadrupled. Approximately 80 percent of Canada’s total merchan-

dise exports are destined for NAFTA partners. The agreement has

various dispute resolution mechanisms and revision clauses.

NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION (NATO). Can-

ada was an original signatory on 4 April 1949 to the NATO military

organization of Western and Atlantic security, which was also agreed

to by the United States and 10 European countries. Designed to deter

Soviet aggression during the Cold War, the NATO alliance rede-

fined its goals after 1989 in keeping with assorted security and peace-

keeping obligations. As of 2009, NATO had 28 member countries.

Article 5 of the treaty specifies that an attack on one country is an

attack upon all; in other words, NATO is a mutual defense arrange-

ment. Following the terrorist attacks against the United States on 11

September 2001, its obligations have been extended to Afghanistan.

NORTH WEST COMPANY (NWC). This company, an association

of 16 shareholders, grew out of the consolidation of various partner-

ships in the 1780s. New contracts were drawn up from time to time,

reflecting the organic changes to the concern. The costs of getting

European manufactures, spirits, and tobacco to Canadian forts and

itinerant traders engaged in trade with Indian tribes drove these

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304 • NORTH WEST COMPANY

competitors toward association. Labor costs increased with distance

traveled. The arrangement was remarkably transcontinental in scope.

The NWC was based in Montréal for its banking, shipping, and

warehousing, and there its principal capitalists lived; they had part-

ners and agents in London. The interior partners and clerks profited

directly from their own energetic activities, a situation quite different

from that of rival Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), where those who

kept posts were on fixed incomes. In turn, Michilimackinac, Grand

Portage, and beginning in 1807, Fort William (now Thunder Bay)

became depots and places for annual rendezvous, where plans for

exploration were considered and sometimes authorized.

The need for new trading areas prompted company-sponsored

exploration as well as specific trading ventures into hitherto unex-

ploited territory. One such area was Athabasca, where Peter Pond and

then Alexander Mackenzie pushed the trade as pioneers. A second,

in succession to Athabasca, was the Mackenzie River, where William

Wentzel opened posts. Yet a third was New Caledonia (in central

British Columbia), where Simon Fraser led parties to examine riv-

ers and build various posts. The fourth area was the Columbia River

basin, explored by David Thompson, completing his work by 1811.

In these four areas, the North West Company engaged in vigorous

development, partly pushed forward by the necessity of getting new

sources of furs (and trading their own wares) and partly because they

had to expand to be competitive. Economy in operation necessitated

cheaper transportation, and this spurred the Nor’Westers to send

ships from England to the mouth of the Columbia, beginning with the

Isaac Todd, which opened NWC direct trade to China.

Various traders examined rivers and tributaries, most notably

Donald Mackenzie and Alexander Ross in the Snake River country

of the Columbia basin in the years before the union of the NWC

with the HBC. Such exploration went hand in hand with commer-

cial development, and traders invariably had to look after costs of

exploration. The zeal of individual traders for exploration counted

mightily in the resulting discoveries. These explorers used native

advice and, on numerous occasions, Indian maps, a few of which

survive. Scientific instruments for astronomy and the ability to take

longitude by chronometers and sightings made possible getting au-

thentic longitudes and latitudes. Thus Thompson, sent in 1798 to the

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NORTHWEST REBELLION • 305

Mandan and Hidatsa villages, obtained readings of true locations of

villages. He did likewise for a source of the Mississippi River. NWC

was keen to use science for commercial benefit or security—in the

case of Thompson’s Missouri and Mississippi discoveries to verify

watersheds, locate the 49th parallel (a possible boundary), and, so as

to avoid feared American regulations and taxes on commerce and es-

tablishments, remove its depot and place of rendezvous from Grand

Portage to Fort William.

The NWC faced rivals on all sides: the HBC, the Spanish Missouri

Company, John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Fur Company, maritime fur

traders (principally Americans and British) on the Northwest Coast,

and the Russian America Company. Lacking a charter, the NWC

found itself thrown back on its own resources and methods. The

NWC explored because it had to. The HBC remained the dominant

rival to the north, except in Athabasca where NWC, on grounds of

Pond and Mackenzie activity, was first. Rivalry with the Missouri

Company, and need for new sources of beaver, led to the NWC send-

ing Francois-Antoine Laroque to the headwaters of the Yellowstone.

Lewis and Clark’s discoveries spurred NWC to advance control of

the upper and middle Columbia basin. These explorations were of-

ten too little, too late to make much difference in sovereignty, even

though NWC and its aggressive partners and clerks remained trium-

phant in trade. Explorers selected sites for trade posts, which were

nascent locations for later hamlets, towns, and cities. Historian Har-

old Adams Innis argued that NWC east-west trade foreshadowed

Canadian federation. The company’s motto was “Perseverance.” The

NWC engaged in bitter, violent rivalry with the HBC, especially

near the forks of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. The result was a

government-forced union under the name and charter of the HBC,

effective 1821.

NORTHWEST PASSAGE. See EXPLORATION.

NORTHWEST REBELLION (1885). This rebellion was signifi-

cant in what historian George Stanley called “the birth of Western

Canada.” He saw it as an extension of the Red River Rebellion

of 1869–70. Food shortages and failed treaty promises among na-

tives and Métis in the Upper Saskatchewan River valley led to the

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306 • NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

native rebellion against the North West Mounted Police in 1885. The

violence continued for four months but was crushed by the Canadian

Militia. Plains Cree leaders, Big Bear and Poundmaker, featured

prominently in the rebellion; Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont did

likewise for the Métis. The availability of the railroad and steam

navigation allowed the Canadian government to send troops to the

resistance effectively. Riel was tried and hanged. However, a general

amnesty for natives was proclaimed shortly after the rebellion ended.

Not all joined the revolt; Crowfoot, a Blackfoot Confederacy chief,

was a notable opponent to the uprising. Although it is commonly as-

sumed that the natives of the Plains joined the Métis in the resistance,

each revolted for distinct reasons, and the amount of native resistance

was lower than previously assumed. The Canadian government used

the Northwest Rebellion as a means of breaking the power of the

Plains Cree and Blackfoot nation and forcing the tribes into a submis-

sive role on the prairies.

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES (NWT). Located in the northern part

of Canada, the Northwest Territories make up one-third of Canada.

The region is bounded by the Yukon Territory, British Columbia,

Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the natural boundaries of

Hudson Bay, Baffin Bay, the Arctic Ocean, and the Beaufort Sea.

The NWT includes 18 islands in the Arctic, the largest being Baffin

Island. The capital of the NWT is Yellowknife, the only city in the

territory.

The Canadian government acquired the NWT from the British in

1870. At that time, the territory included present-day Alberta, Sas-

katchewan, Manitoba, the Yukon, and parts of Québec and Ontario.

In 1880, the Arctic Archipelago was added to the NWT when the

British ceded it to Canada. The Inuit have constituted a majority of

the population. In the sub-Arctic areas, the Dene and Métis also pop-

ulate the region. The discovery of oil at Norman Wells dramatically

increased the northern extension of Canadian interest in this region.

The NWT is governed by an elected 24-member territorial council.

A commissioner is appointed by the federal government and reports

to the minister of Indian affairs and northern development. Federally,

the NWT has two seats in the House of Commons and one senator.

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NOVA SCOTIA • 307

The population in 2006 was 41,464. Nunavut became a separate ter-

ritory in 1999.

NOTMAN, WILLIAM (1842–1891). Canada’s first prominent (and

transcontinental) photographer, Notman is chiefly remembered and

celebrated for having captured aspects of Victorian-era Montréal,

especially its inner core, in all its contrasts, winter and summer,

indoors and outdoors, old and new, and much else besides. A visual

historian, he captured the gloried spirit of Canadian winters, espe-

cially carnivals, and was equally a master portrait photographer. He

and his camera ranged far and wide—to Halifax and to Esquimalt.

The gallery of his portraits shows “the great and the good” of his

time and is thus a record of the social and material world of Canada

in the post-confederation era. He was preoccupied with his current

world, not with posterity. Many of his photographs and plates reside

in the Notman Archives, McCord Museum, McGill University. In-

cluded among his photographic portraits are children, revelers, John

A. Macdonald, John Sanfield Macdonald (prime minister of On-

tario), Charles Tupper, George Etienne Cartier, Thomas D’Arcy

McGee, and Buffalo Bill, as well as many others unknown to history.

NOVA SCOTIA. One of the Canadian Atlantic provinces, Nova Scotia

is surrounded by the ocean except for a 22-kilometer land boundary

with New Brunswick. Cape Breton Island is a part of the province

and is connected to the mainland by the Canso Causeway. In 1605,

the French, led by Samuel de Champlain and Sieur de Monts, built

Port Royal, which the British first attacked in 1613. The long battle

between the British and French saw the colony of Port Royal change

hands many times; in 1713, it was renamed Annapolis Royal.

William Alexander, a Scot, was sent to the area to establish a

colony under a British royal charter in 1621. The colony was named

Nova Scotia (New Scotland). Originally, the capital of Nova Scotia,

Halifax, was called Chebucto, a Mi’kmaq word meaning “great,

long harbor.” The harbor at Halifax is one of the best and most stra-

tegically placed natural ports of the world.

In 1760, New England planters settled in various townships. In

1763, the Treaty of Paris gave Great Britain control over all the land

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308 • NUNAVUT

that is now Nova Scotia. By 1770, the settler population numbered

20,000. Nova Scotia received an influx of American Loyalists after

the American Revolution and, in consequence, New Brunswick was

created from Nova Scotia’s western lands. In 1773, Highlanders es-

tablished the community of Pictou. Nova Scotia was one of the four

original provinces to join the confederation in 1867.

Nova Scotia’s good harbors have been important militarily and

economically. Halifax, established for strategic purposes in 1749,

was a major naval port for the Royal Navy. It was headquarters of

the North American station, closed under the Fisher Reforms before

1914. The Annapolis Valley is the agricultural center of the prov-

ince. The economy is resource based. The fishing industry is a major

contributor to the province. The forest and coal mines play a lesser

role. Nova Scotia is the largest producer of gypsum in Canada and

has the only North American tin mine.

The provincial legislative assembly has 52 members. Federally,

the province has 11 members in the House of Commons and 10

senators. The population is 940,397 as of 2009. See also HALIFAX

EXPLOSION.

NUNAVUT. Created in the eastern Canadian Arctic through an

agreement between the federal government and the Inuit, Nunavut

comprises 3.5 million square kilometers of land that includes the

eastern area of the Northwest Territories and the Canadian Arctic

archipelago.

Nunavut represents the culmination of more than two decades

of efforts by the Inuit of the eastern Arctic and the Canadian gov-

ernment. The agreement, ratified 25 May 1993, was implemented

1 April 1999. It is the combination of a land claim agreement and

a political agreement. The land claim is an exchange between the

Inuit (under the Tungavik Federation of Nunavut) and the Crown in

Right of Canada (federal government). By this agreement, the Inuit

agreed to give the government their aboriginal title to both the lands

and waters of the area in exchange for certain rights and privileges

as defined in the agreement. These include: title to 350,000 square

kilometers of land with mineral rights to 36,000 square kilometers;

the rights to harvest lands and waters within the Nunavut settlement

areas; a share of the royalties that the federal government receives

from oil, gas, and mineral development on crown lands; and capital

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OCTOBER CRISIS • 309

transfer payments of $1.14 billion over 14 years. The political agree-

ment includes the creation of a new public government and legisla-

ture within Nunavut that ensures equal Inuit membership within the

new institutions to be established. These include boards to oversee

land management, wildlife management, and development impact

projects. By election (February 1999), Paul Okiak became Nunavut’s

premier. The Nunavut government was to take over full powers of

the new territory in 2007.

NUU’CHAH’NULTH. A native people—previously known as

Nootka—who lived on the coast of Vancouver Island from Cape

Cook to Port San Juan. Their history is richly documented in legend

and written form. The Nuu’chah’nulth were possibly the only whale

hunters in what is now British Columbia. Like the Haida, they were

great sea voyagers. A unique aspect of this tribe was that the chief of

a clan was the only person allowed to harpoon a whale. The Moachat

and Muchalat, two peoples who now form the Nuu’chah’Nulth Tribal

Council (NTC), first met Europeans when James Cook of the Royal

Navy was at Nootka Sound for a month in March/April 1778. They

later encountered the Spanish and the Americans. They met all the

great mariners of the Pacific who came to the Northwest Coast to

trade and or explore. They experienced the same fate that met other

tribes: smallpox and other diseases greatly reduced their numbers.

The NTC has offices in Port Alberni and runs various enterprises,

notably a tree nursery. The Land of Maquinna Historical Society

promotes the historical heritage of Nootka Sound.

– O –

OCTOBER CRISIS, 1970. In the Province of Québec, terrorists

known as the Front de Libération de Québec (FLQ) promoted gen-

eral anarchy in 1970. The FLQ consisted of a number of left-wing,

autonomous “cells.” Two of its leaders, Pierre Vallières and Charles

Gagnon, were arrested by Québec authorities. Subsequently, the FLQ

changed its tactics from bombings to kidnapping. Not all of its plans

worked, but on 5 October 1970, the FLQ kidnapped James Cross,

the British trade commissioner in Montréal. The FLQ demanded

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