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The Canada Company was a private British land development company that was established to aid in the colonization of a large part of Upper Canada. It was incorporated by royal charter on August 19, 1826, under the (6 Geo. 4. c. 75) of the British parliament,, later amended by 1916 c. xiv which was given royal assent on June 27, 1825. It was originally formed to acquire and develop Upper Canada's undeveloped and Crown reserves, which the company bought in 1827 for £341,000 ($693,000) from the Province of Upper Canada.
Founded by the Scottish novelist John Galt, who became its first Superintendent, the company was successful in populating an area called the Huron Tract – an enterprise later called "the most important single attempt at settlement in Canadian history". This resulted in the Ojibwe people being dispossessed of their ancestral lands.Taylor, David (2022), The People Are Not there: The Transformation of Badenoch 1800 - 1863, John Donald, Edinburgh, pp. 172 - 174,
The company is unrelated to the modern-day Canadian charity of the same name (Canada Company: Many Ways to Serve), founded in 2006 by Blake Goldring, which assists former Canadian military members and their spouses in regaining civilian employment after service in the Canadian Armed Forces.
| + Acquisition of Canada Company lands | ||
| £195,850 ($398,000) | Crown reserves | |
| £145,150 ($295,000) | Recently acquired by the government, from the Chippewa First Nation, in what would become the Huron Tract, located on the eastern shore of Lake Huron, in substitution for the originally contemplated of clergy reserve lands. One-third of the purchase price went to fund public works and improvements, while the remaining two-thirds was paid to the Crown. |
The company surveyed and subdivided the massive Huron Tract, built roads, mills, and schools and advertised lots for sale to buyers in Europe. The town of Goderich was laid out on the shores of Lake Huron to be the centre of the settlement of the Huron Tract. The company then assisted in the migration of new settlers, bringing them to the area by means of a steamboat, which the company also owned, on Lake Ontario.
John Galt was dismissed and recalled to Great Britain in 1829, for mismanagement, particularly incompetent bookkeeping. General mismanagement and corruption within the company, and its close alliance with the Tory elites, known as the Family Compact, were important contributing factors to the Upper Canada Rebellion in 1837.
In 1833, his colleague William "Tiger" Dunlop took over as Superintendent of the Company and continued Galt's work for a short time before resigning.
At the first meeting of the board, it was declared that four directors would rotate off the Company beginning in 1829.
| + Structure of Canada Company | |
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| Chairman |
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| Secretary |
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| Auditors |
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| Solicitors |
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| + Key Canada Company staff | ||
| John Galt | Founder (1824–26), secretary (1824–1832), and first superintendent (1827–1829). | |
| William Allan | Commissioner of the Canada Company (1829–1841). | |
| Frederick Widder | Commissioner of the Canada Company (1839–1864). | |
| Thomas Mercer Jones | Commissioner of the Canada Company (1829–1852). | |
| William Benjamin Robinson | Commissioner of the Canada Company (1852–1865), Senior Commissioner after 1865. | |
| Dr. William "Tiger" Dunlop | Warden of the Forests, later becoming Superintendent of the Canada Company. |
| + People influential in Canada Company affairs | ||
| Richard Alexander Tucker | Provincial Secretary of Upper Canada, having considerable influence over decisions made concerning the Company in its early years. | |
| Sir Peregrine Maitland | Lieutenant governor of Upper Canada. He became associated with the Family Compact. His authoritarian leadership style was one of the causes of the Rebellion of 1837. | |
| Bishop Macdonnell | Roman Catholic Bishop attacked by William Lyon Mackenzie.
Alexander Macdonell was a Roman Catholic Scotsman who accepted the government promise of in Upper Canada to every soldier who emigrated. He had been the chaplain of a Catholic Scottish Glengarry regiment. Macdonell was a conservative legislative councillor from 1831 leading the mainly Irish settlers against the Reform movement and Mackenzie. | |
| John Strachan | Protagonist in the Clergy Reserves issue.
An executive councillor in 1817 and legislative councillor in 1820 in the government of Upper Canada, Bishop Strachan sought special status for the Anglican church. |
In 1928, a plaque was erected in Huron county, Pioneers of the Huron Tract 1828-1928, commemorating the work of the men who developed the Huron Tract and the families who lived there, starting in 1828.
By 1938, the Canada Company held just over of unsold land, while the company shares were valued at 10 shillings. It had become a land company in the process of liquidation. By 1950, only remained in its possession, distributed amongst Lambton County, the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville and Lanark County.
In 1951, the remaining land was disposed of, and land that was unsold became Pinery Provincial Park.
The company voted to Liquidation its affairs on August 12, 1953, and was dissolved on December 18, 1953.
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