The Canadian Pacific Railway was Canada’s first transcontinental rail line. Built in the 1880s, it connected the Atlantic to the Pacific and was a key component of Sir John A. Macdonald’s National Policy. The building of the railway, a proposal used to secure British Columbia’s entry into confederation in 1871, became an unparalleled engineering challenge and took 15 years to complete. The project was mired in partisan politics and marred by scandals, labour shortages, racist immigration policies, and the mass displacement of Indigenous people.