text: [Themes: edutainment, historical]
  
  The year is 1830. Your name is Jay Turner and you are 28 years old. You are currently living in Liverpool, England and are working as shipwright. Lately you have been seeing a lot of posters around town advertising free land in a new British colony called Canada. It seemed like it was an amazing opportunity. In England, life isn't that great. Social class is a very important part of life and you are part of the lower class. Which means you are not rich and do not have the privileges the upper class have. As a shipwright, you are making an ok amount of money. It is enough to survive. With the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, more people are moving to Liverpool. It is getting so crowded and opportunities to make money are hard to find. Also people are using the railway more, ships do not seem to be in demand as much as before. Diseases were also coming to Liverpool. Especially one called cholera. This opportunity to move to Canada is a chance to make a better life! According to the posters, the land that would be granted to you is fertile and would be close to markets and towns. What a great deal that is! One of the ports receiving immigrants is Halifax, Nova Scotia. That is perfect because the shipbuilding industry in Halifax is blooming because of its trade with the European countries. So you decide to board a ship at Waterloo Docks and immigrate to Canada. This ship will take you to Halifax, Nova Scotia to start a new life.
  
  [Author's Note: This story is based on research on what a Canadian immigrant's life might have been like in the 1830s. From the moment they leave their home country and the new challenges they must face in a new land, Canada. We follow a young shipwright, 28 years of age, named Jay Turner. Help decide what Jay should do each chapter and watch the story unfold.]
  
  > Arrival in Halifax
  You arrive in Halifax on May 12, 1830. You couldn't wait to get off the ship. It was over crowded and disgusting. The conditions aboard were horrible. There were no actual beds to sleep on. All the people who couldn't afford cabins were all stuffed together below the decks. The place you slept in were just cargo storage spaces turned into a place for people to sleep in. As you get settled in at your new home in Halifax, you must pick a job that will allow you to make money.
  
  > continue being a shipwright
  So you have chosen to continue to be a shipwright in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This is a great choice because the shipbuilding industry in blooming in Halifax. Ships are in high demand because of trade with European countries. Ships are also a good way to travel. In the Maritimes, fishing and overseas trade was big. In Halifax, you've have learned many new skills that made you to be a great carpenter and sail marker. Even though you are learning lots of new skills, you also bring new skills and methods of building ships to Halifax in return. Cultures were different comparing England and Canada. Technology was also improving. Living in Halifax as a shipwright is great.
  
  You live happily for seven years. Life was decent. Newspapers are very popular. They reported on everything. They advertised new inventions, new medical discoveries and many more. People also wrote letters to each other regularly, describing their daily lives. Neighbors are very close. Often visiting friends and family. Religious services were held on Sundays. You are Christian so you attended regularly. People of the town very much enjoyed tea, rum and tobacco regularly.
  
  As the colonies of British North America develop and more settlers are coming in, so does the government. Unfortunately, the government is ran by the upper classes and does not treat you, the lower class, fairly at all. A very limited amount of people has the right to vote. You do not because you do not own property. Even though some people get to vote, the voted representatives have very little power in the government. Many people in Upper Canada and Lower Canada decide to rebel against the government and fight for a better, fairer government. Are you as angry as others and do you choose to join the rebellion?
  
  > travel to Upper Canada and join the rebellion
  You arrived in Upper Canada in December. Just in time to fight with other rebels in the march down Yonge Street from Montgomery's Tavern. William Lyon Mackenzie, the leader of the Upper Canada rebellions, raided a Toronto armory and organized the march. On December 5th, you and several poorly armed rebels marched south and exchanged fire with a small group of Loyalist militia. Loyalist leader Colonel Robert Moodie was shot dead. A group of rebels fled in confusion once the firing started. Three days later, loyalist dispersed the full group of rebels. The rebels have lost. After the battle, Mackenzie and other rebel leaders have fled to the United States. There is nothing in the States for you and the government is starting to capture the rebels. What do you do?
  
  > Upper Canada (Aftermath of the Rebellions)
  After the rebellions of Upper and Lower Canada, Lord Durham (pictured right) was sent by the British Government to assess why the rebellions happened and what solution was needed in the provinces. After a couple months of investigation, Lord Durham recommended uniting Upper and Lower Canada, and also let one Responsible Government govern the united province. He issued a report in 1839 mostly blaming the French for the rebellions. He thought he could assimilate the French by uniting Upper and Lower Canada.
  
  A couple of years have passed. In the 1840s, the building of canals and railways are increasing drastically. The Intercolonial Railway is built linking the Maritimes with Montreal. Another important railway that is built at this time is the Grand Trunk Railway, extending from Sarnia through Montreal to Portland, Maine. In addition to railways, canals on both the St. Lawrence and Niagara rivers were being constructed. There is also an influx of Irish immigrants, fleeing their famine-ridden homeland. With the arrival of the Irish immigrants, the cholera disease broke out, threatening the population of the Canadas.
  
  If you are a shipwright:
  
  Unfortunately, your attempt to escape debt did not work well here. The shipbuilding industry is even worse is Upper Canada. You continue to grow deeper into debt. Luckily, you hear of these gold rushes that are happening in the British Columbia and Vancouver Island colonies, and you need money. But currently you are in Upper Canada and there are no cross Canada railways, so the journey there will be extremely difficult and harsh. What do you choose to do?
  
  If you are a farmer:
  
  Unfortunately, your attempt to escape debt did not work well here. The land in Upper Canada should have been good for farming, or that's what you have heard. It seems you are just a very unlucky person. Once a year, you harvest crops to the very minimum, food that you need to feed yourself so you have nothing to sell. You go further into debt. Luckily, you hear of these gold rushes that are happening in the British Columbia and Vancouver Island colonies, and you need money. But currently you are in Upper Canada and there are no cross Canada railways, so the journey there will be extremely difficult and harsh. What do you choose to do?
  
  > Cariboo Gold Rush
  You have decided to face the challenge of journeying overland towards British Columbia for the Cariboo Gold Rush. Going overland was really the only option because there are no railways built at this time that go across Canada from East to West. You must travel on foot and on horses. You have packed 160lbs of pemmican (dried buffalo meat) and 600lbs of flour for this journey. As you leave your home, your supplies are packed in carts and on oxen. You are not alone in making this trip. When you reach first camp, you and several other gold seekers are split into companies. Each company had captain and he would lead the group and do business with the Natives. Your first stop was Edmington House. Here you had to abandon your carts and trade them for horses. The horses were needed to cross the mountains in the west coast. The crossing took four weeks. Money was no use in the mountains, people only traded. It was a tough four weeks. You encountered clouds, snow, and ice. When you and the company needed to cross a river, you must swim across it, often holding on to the animals for support. Food quickly disappeared on this dangerous journey. Some men within the group had to live off one meal a day. Luckily, you were the few that traded with the Natives along the way and acquired more food. Others would kill any animal they see just to survive. By the time you arrived in the Cariboo District, many other overland companies were lost. The overall journey to get to Cariboo took five months. As you make your way up the Fraser River, you have to be cautious or else you will drown due to the heavy rapids. Many of your fellow gold seekers have died because of this. Before you start mining, you must first purchase a mining license at Fort Victoria. Hopefully it's not too expensive because the whole reason you are here is because you are in debt. After you have received you license, you discover that it takes even more money to find gold! The gold is not simply on the surface of the ground, you first have to dig a deep mine to get to the actual gold. This costs even more money. Before you can get to the actual digging, you have spent almost all of your money. By this time of year, a lot of people have already tried to find gold here before you. They have built roads and houses along the route to the gold fields. The main road, Cariboo Wagon Road is used by almost everyone. People have also built bridges along mountains sides. Because of the gold rush, it brought many people to British Columbia, and many mining towns are emerging. You tried very hard to find a job in these towns to make some money. But you were unsuccessful because your skillset is not mining. You are deep in debt and need money. What do you do?
  
  > do nothing and stay in debt
  You are not a criminal. You are not going to steal. But unfortunately you cannot avoid this any longer. Because you have not been paying your taxes, having too much debt and not paying it off, you are arrested by the government and sent to jail.
  
  > Jail
  You have been sentenced to a lifetime in jail. What you did was a serious crime. It seems it was you fate to end up in jail.