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1500
First Nations
The chiefs of the native groups hold the power. The chief of Algonquian groups is the best spokesperson and they follow a patriarchy. The chief of Iroquoians is the best warrior and they follow a matriarchy. There no countervailing power as they are all trying to survive and be one with nature. -
Period: 1500 to
First Nations
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Who holds the Power in 1608
In France, King Louis 14th holds the power. In New France, nobody is really is in charge yet, although we can argue Samuel de Champlain has some control, a few companies, and merchants perhaps as well as they founded New France for trading posts. The countervailing powers in France are the British Church, population, industrialization and in New France, it's the Aboriginals who hold the countervailing power. -
Daily life in New France
3 levels of civilians, Nobility: governor, intendants & councillors, Middle class/ bourgeoisie: seigneurs & richer merchants, Peasants/Habitants/artisans: censitaires who worked the land, craftsmen The distinct groups thrived because of the distance from France, even though there were representatives of the King, he had less direct control compared to France. Contact with the Aboriginals also led some to develop an independent spirit & worked/ lived with the natives; voyageurs/ coureur de bois. -
Collaboration between state and Catholic Church
The church involved in political decisions because it’s role in sovereign council. Priests acted as missionaries and were in charge of parishes and Nuns worked in hospitals and some education
Church had a monopoly on religious matters: expected to be Catholic and practice was obligatory. The church would encourage the population to listen to governor and intendant, in exchange the church was allowed the tithe and had insurance that religious matter were respected. -
Period: to
French Regime
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Power of the state: Royal Government
From 1608-1663, the Charter companies were supposed to protect & populate the colony in exchange for the fur trade monopoly.
In 1663, King takes back control of fur trade from the Charter companies as they did not do what they were told and Canada lives under the Royal Government. -
Roles in the Royal Government (In France)
King and minister of marine: Remained in France and in charge. -
Role in Royal Government (In New France)
Governor: Highest rank in colony, commander of army, deals with external affairs
Intendant: Most influential person, chief administrator, deals with people, deals with internal affairs
Sovereign Council: Colony’s highest court, include governor, bishop, intendant, several councilors
Bishop: Administered over Parish Priests, hospitals, schools, charities
Captain of Militia: Like chief of police, dealt with issues on the seigneuries but had no seat on the council -
Power relations between the French and Amerindians
French allied with Hurons and Montagnais. They were looking for control over the fur trade. “Petite Guerre” → guerilla warfare: Europeans weren’t used to this. In 1701, Great Peace of Montreal.
40 aboriginal nations from around Great Lakes agreed to consider the king of France like their father and allowed the governor general to resolve their disputes and help France in wars. -
Treaty of Utrecht
1713: End of the war of Spanish succession. Countries are fighting in Europe, leads to war between colonies. Great Britain gets control of the Hudson’s Bay area, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland from France. -
7 years war and the articles of capitulation
1756- 1763: 7 years war. Starts in Europe, Great Britain vs. France (as well as in the colonies). Fighting over territory, resources control of mainland Europe. France focuses its efforts in Europe so New France has to defend itself. Wolfe (british general) and Montcalm (french general) fight, English win. Big battle for New France happened in the Place of Abraham. British found a passage that would allow them to get their troops on mainland → French caught off guard and lose. -
Period: to
British Rule
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Royal Proclamation
1763: 7 years war ends, Treaty of Paris: New France ceded to Great Britain. King needed something to control the French population: Royal Proclamation
- Renames the colony The Province of QC
- Decreases the borders to around the St. L. Valley
- Civilian Gov: King appointed a governor who appointed members to executive council
- English civil and criminal Laws were applied
- No new bishop would be allowed
- No Roman Catholics could hold office (Test Act)
GOAL: ASSIMILATE THE FRENCH! -
Quebec Act
American Revolution is happening → Fear that french will join the 13 colonies rebellion:
- Guaranteed french Canadians loyalty
- Enlarged the area of Quebec to include the great lakes once again
- Still denied an elected assembly (why: 1% of pop in QC is english)
- Did allow for an appointed council
- French civil laws were reinstated
- Test oath act was replaced by an oath of allegiance. (Loyal to King=Hold office)
- Allow bishop -
America comes to fruition
After the American war of independence, many people remain loyal to the king of Britain and do not want to remain in America.
Where do they go? approx 36 000 loyalists came to Canada, they settled in the Maritimes or around the great lakes and approx 6000 loyalists came to Quebec, they settled in the West of Montreal or eastern townships. Change in territory: with American independence south of Great lakes belongs to the US. -
Effects on the loyalist
English population of Quebec goes from 1% to 10%, Settled the land using townships instead of seigneuries, The loyalists were used to:
English civil laws (French civil laws used in Quebec) and Elected assemblies (none in Quebec at the time). They Petitioned London to demand changes to the way Québec was being run. -
Representative Government
Governor-general: held veto power
Lieutenant governor: Acted as deputy governor
Executive council: appointed by the Governor to advise him
Legislative council: appointed, approve or reject laws from assembly
Legislative assembly: people elected every 4 years, had the power to approve or disapprove taxes and could create laws
Ordinary people: right to vote for the first time, but only to land-owning men over 21 -
Faults in the Representative Government
The Legislative assembly had the power to make laws but was more often than not shut down by the governor and councils right to veto as they had different interests. Wealthy wanted to invest in big business and tax property so they could build canals and railways. LA wanted to tax goods, not property and didn’t want to invest in large projects that would not benefit them. This situation was worse in lower Canada because the LA was French and there were constant battles over language. -
Constitutional Act
Quebec splits up: Ottawa River was used as the boundary between the 2 Canadas
Upper Can → 20 000 people, Entirely English, Protestant, used the township system and English civil laws Lower Can → roughly 160 000 people, Mostly French people (remember the 10% loyalists and merchants), Kept their Catholic religion, civil laws and now francophones could work in the administration of Lower Can This act brings a change in government: representative government= big step forward -
Political Parties in Upper Canada
The political parties in Upper Canada:
Family compact: wealthy British Tories, want the government to stay in hand of British and no elected assembly (conservatives), they had the connection to stay in power because they are rich.
Reformers: Intellectuals and professionals, led by Robert Baldwin, they want responsible government. -
Political Parties in Lower Canada
The political parties in Lower Canada:
British Party (Chateau Clique & Tories): wealthy British and French who supported British Rule
Parti Canadien (Parti Patriote): Wealthy and poor French, early separatists. Leaders= Louis Joseph Papineau, Jean-Olivier Chénier and Wilfred Nelson. Wanted elected house of assembly, greater power for assembly members, increased ministerial responsibility and eligibility for appointed to the council. -
92 Resolutions → 10 Russell Resolutions
92 Resolutions (1834): Louis Joseph Papineau (leader of patriots), wrote a letter containing the demands of the assembly. Main demand: responsible government → members on council should be chosen from an elected assembly, therefore, the government made by people would be responsible for its decisions. 10 Russell Resolutions: reject the request for an elected council.
Instead of gaining power, the elected assembly actually lost some. This really upsets the Patriots & leads to the rebellions. -
The Rebellions of 1837-1838
William Lyon Mackenzie led the rebellions in Upper Canada dealt with quickly. Papineau led the rebellion in Lower Canada.
Several battles including St. Charles, St. Denis (which french won) and St. Eustache. Finally, the British army overpowered the militia patriot rebels as they were poorly organized and not well equipped to fight these skirmishes either.
Aftermath: 99 captured militants were condemned to death,
12 went to gallows and 58 were transported to the penal colony of Australia. -
Act of Union
Creates the province of Canada consisting of Canada East and West (former upper and lower Canada). Canada east and west each had 42 members to its assembly. Governor still had control and veto power. Canada east and west would equally pay for Canada’s debts (Canada West owed 10x) -
Results of Act of Union: Responsible Government
The structure of the Responsible Government:
The people would now elect the legislative assembly.
The Prime minister would form the Executive Council who would propose laws that had to be approved by the assembly. The Governor and legislative council were still appointed but did not intervene. Governor at the time= Lord Elgin (1848) → first to not use his power of veto and let the PM have executive power. Still not a parliamentary system (governor still has power of veto). -
Charlottetown Conference
1864: Province of Canada meets with New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island to discuss the terms of a merger. Agree to meet again. -
Quebec Conference
1864: same members of last time, as well as Newfoundland, agree on 72 resolutions that would make merger possible. Main ones= federal system: 24 seats to each colony (72 in total), elected assembly by “rep by pop” and build a railway linking the provinces. -
Breakdown of power in the Dominion of Canada
Federal: Defense, Banking and currency, Trade, Postal service, Criminal law, Disallow provincial laws, Federal taxes (only intervened in the provinces in crisis situations)
Provincial: Education, Municipal institutions, Hospitals and health care, Property and civil rights, Infrastructures, Natural resources
Shared Responsibilities: Immigration and Agriculture -
London Conference → British North America Act
1867: a new self-governing entity created under the BNA Act. Created the Dominion of Canada: Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick. Capital is Ottawa. Came into existence in Canada on July 1st, 1867. Other provinces joined later, Newfoundland was the last in 1949. -
Period: to
Contemporary
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WW1 and Conscription
1914: War measure act passed (centralized federal government power)
Quebec & Ontario are upset that taxes were imposed by Feds to finance the war (still today)
1917: Conscription crisis → French Nationalist criticized Canada’s involvement in UK wars and voted against conscription
40 000 French Canadians refused to show up -
Duplessis Platform
1936-39: Maurice Duplessis was premier of Quebec and founded the Union Nationale Party. 1944: Union Nationale is voted back for next 15 years until Duplessis dies. Duplessis is against a welfare state; state should not intervene in social and economic sectors He believes that agriculture should be heart of Quebec’s economy in order to avoid urbanization and unemployment. He defended provincial autonomy. -
The Quiet Revolution
Reason: the cultural and political assertion of Quebecers and desire for an interventionist government. 1960-66: The Liberals under Jean Lesage take power.
Accomplishments:
1961: free & compulsory school and public hospitals
1963: nationalization of hydroelectricity
1964: ministry of education formed (church no longer in charge of school but they were still divided by Catholic and Protestant)
1966: Quebec Pension Plan
1969: CEGEPs created -
Language within Quebec
1961: Lesage (Liberal) creates the Office de la Langue Francaise (promote French language)
1974: Bourassa (Liberal) adopts the Official Language Act, Bill 22= French official language of Quebec
1977: Levesque (PQ) enacts Charter of the French Language, Bill 101= compulsory for immigrant children to go to French school, forced large companies to adopt French and French on public signs. -
FLQ and The October Crisis
Radicals (extremist) that think the only way to achieve Quebec's independence was through violence.FLQ kidnapped James Cross (British Diplomat) and Pierre Laporte (Journalist). PM Trudeau used War Measure Act to call out the army and arrest hundreds of FLQ members. Laporte body is found in the trunk of his car. Consequences: leads to the rise of the PQ -
Quebec and the Canadian constitution
Response to referendum 1980: Trudeau attempts to unify the country by patriating the constitution= full independence from Great Britain.
All provinces agreed, except Quebec but Constitution and Charter of Rights and Freedoms were implemented in 1982.
1984: Prime Minister Brian Mulroney tried to organize a deal to amend the constitution that would satisfy Quebec and the other provinces.
Premiers agreed, then Canadian Referendum on the agreement was voted against by the people. -
Referendum on an Independant Quebec - Round 1
Federalists= want Quebec to stay // Separatists= wants Quebec to become independent.
Why? Cultural differences and oppressive struggle since conquest.
1980: Referendum on sovereignty-association (held by Rene Levesque’s PQ)= Quebec would still keep econ benefits of being part of Canada but be a politically independent nation: 60% voted against separation. -
Referendum on an independant QC - Round 2
Constitutional Agreement failed because:
English Canada refused to give Quebec special status, Quebec’s mixed feelings towards independence weakened their negotiations and other groups saw Quebec making demands and wanted their interests heard as well.
1994: PQ return to power under Jacques Parizeau
1995: Referendum on sovereignty
This time vote was for a completely independent Quebec: 50.6% voted against.
