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ARCHIVED - Framing Canada:
A Photographic Memory

Archived Content

This archived Web page remains online for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. This page will not be altered or updated. Web pages that are archived on the Internet are not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards. As per the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada, you can request alternate formats of this page on the Contact Us page.

Essays

Nation Building

Gallery - Nation Builders

While official portraits of the "Fathers of Confederation" abound, Library and Archives Canada also has important photographic collections of people who helped to build the country through their own labour. This group of photographs features rarely acknowledged construction workers, factory labourers and wartime internees whose skills were put to use building the nation's economy and infrastructure.

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Photograph of four men standing over two tuna on a wharf beside a wooden building, near Lockport, Nova Scotia, circa 1939

Tuna fishing
Near Lockport, Nova Scotia, ca. 1939
Photographer: Unknown
PA-048062
Source

Photograph of Victoria Bridge, Montréal, Quebec, circa 1858-1860

Victoria Bridge
Montréal, Quebec, ca. 1858-1860
Photographer: Notman William
PA-185119
Source

Photograph of the construction of Parliament Buildings, Centre Block, rear view, Ottawa, Ontario, 1862

Construction of Parliament Buildings, Centre Block, rear view
Ottawa, Ontario, 1862
Photographer: McLaughlin, Samuel
C-018016
Source

Photograph of the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings under construction, Ottawa, Ontario, 1865

Centre Block, Parliament Buildings, under construction
Ottawa, Ontario, 1865
Photographer: Samuel McLaughlin
C-003039
Source

Photograph of a group of men, women and children near a tent and a covered wagon, circa 1873

Métis traders with members of the North American Boundary Commission
Unknown location, ca. 1873
Photographer: unknown
e000009381
Source

Photograph of a large group of men lined up outside a two-story log building, Dawson, Yukon, 1898

Miners waiting their turn to register claims
Dawson, Yukon, 1898
Photographer: unknown
PA-013413
Source

Photograph of a group of men participating in a barn raising, unknown location, June 2, 1908

Barn raising
Unknown location, June 2, 1908
Photographer: Boyd, John
RD-000066
Source

Photograph of five men and their dogsleds crossing a snow-covered lake or flat land, near Dawson City, Yukon, 1909

Royal North West Mounted Police patrol,
"Dawson to Herschel Island"
Near Dawson City, Yukon, December 27, 1909
Photographer: Jerry Doody
PA-029622
Source

Photograph of two men watching as gas gushes from a well, Turner Valley, Alberta, 1927

Gas gushing from a well owned by the Home Oil Company
Turner Valley, Alberta, [June 9, 1927]
Photographer: unknown
C-080878
Source

Photograph of a woman examining the front legs of a calf while a man behind her on horseback holds a rope that is attached to the calf's hind legs, near Medicine Hat, Alberta, 1944

Roping calves
Near Medicine Hat, Alberta, 1944
Photographer: Harry Rowed
PA-108041
Source