As you said, our pre-Confederation history and the importance of it were the reason we supported so robustly the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City. It's why we're very proud of our commemorations of the bicentennial of the War of 1812. The War of 1812 was the most important thing, pre-Confederation, that led to the confederation of Canada in 1867. Without the War of 1812, you don't have the protection of aboriginal peoples. Aboriginal Canadians would have had much the same future as American Indians did. There is the protection of the French fact in North America, and the defining of our territorial boundary and integrity with the United States. It also paved the way to Confederation in 1867, with the conferences in Quebec City and Charlottetown in 1864. It was the most important event that happened prior to Confederation itself.
So you're right. But to answer your bigger question, I always phrase it this way: Canada is the second-largest country in the world, but in terms of population we're the 34th-largest country in the world. A great number of things can be said about this country. The most impressive thing is that in spite of extraordinary differences of east and west, north and south, Protestant and Catholic, francophone and anglophone, and aboriginal and non-aboriginal, this is a country in which, with extraordinary tensions east and west all over this country, we have been able to not only endure and stay united, but to thrive in a way that few other countries in the world have. It's a remarkable achievement by all Canadians that we've been able to do that over the years.
It's a very impressive story, and I think Canadians should know more about it. We should have institutions like the Canadian museum of history that talk about that. And by the way, it should wrestle with not just the great and glorious and wonderful stories, but also with some of the more challenging questions of our time: Japanese internment, the Chinese head tax, the treatment of aboriginal peoples in our residential schools. We've had some very challenging parts of our history, issues we should not be afraid to discuss and debate. The War Museum does it already in some ways. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights will do it as well.
Canada's history is a story of really impressive achievements in the face of extraordinary odds. These are the things we want to highlight and talk about and celebrate in a non-partisan way as we head towards 2017.
Again, I hope that all political parties will take me up on it when I say sincerely that this is really what we're trying to do. It's really what we want to accomplish. That's why we put people on the board of the new Canadian museum of history who are not Conservatives. Richard Gwyn is on the board. He's a columnist with the Toronto Star who is very thoughtful and smart, an intelligent man. He is Pierre Trudeau's biographer. He also wrote the biography of John A. Macdonald. He's a very thoughtful guy. We put him on the board as well because of his expertise in Canadian history.
I hope all parties will see the merit of this effort and support the legislation when it comes before this committee.