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1500
Native Leadership
The Iroquois had a matriarchy, so the women made all the important leadership decisions. It was the opposite for the Algonquinsm who's society was a patriarchy. In their lives, it was the fathers who had control and power. -
Importance of Church in Early 1600's
In the 1600's the Church was everywhere in French society. The bishop had a seat on the Sovereign Council, so they had an important political presence. They were also in hospitals and schools, and were constantly on missions to convert people, especially the Native Americans. -
Implementation of Royal Government
In 1663, the fur companies that had been put in charge of running the colony were doing a terrible job, so the King of France decided to try something new , where he brought in a new type of governement called the Royal Government. The main difference was that the colony was run by a minister of marine, who would stay in France. Underneath him would be the Sovereign COuncil, which would operate in the colony. This council was composed of the Bishop, an intendant and a governor. -
The Great Peace of Montreal
The French needed peace in New France to develop their colony, so in 1701 they created a huge peace treaty between them and 40 other Native tribes. Officially signed on August 4th, the governor of New France, Louis-Hector de Callière was present alongside over 1300 Native Americans. The peace treaty held for 16 years after this. -
Beginning of Coureurs des Bois
This is when we start to see more and more "coureurs des bois". These young Frenchmen started to live with the Natives and traded with them. They slowly started to adopt more and more of the Aboriginal culture. -
Development of the Canadian People
The group of people known today as the Canadians became a distinct group of people in the 18th century. These were the people who moved from France to it's colony, New-France. Because of the fact that they were so far from France, they slowly drifted away from French culture. This, coupled with the fact that they were living side by side with the Natives led to the development of their new culture. -
Articles of Capitulation
The Articles of Capitulation was the document that the French used to show their surrender to the British. It said that the French militia could go home, without consequence, the French military would leave, the people could practice their religion except for the Bishop and that anyone who stayed would have to become a British Subject. -
Problems for James Murray
James Murray was the first governor. He had problems implementing and enforcing the Royal Proclamation because only one percent of the population was anglophone and the Proclamation was trying to assimilate the French. Because of this, Murray decided to change the rules slightly, and did things like bringing in a new Bishop, not calling an assembly and using French law in the lower courts. These things favoured the French and so the English Merchants got upset. -
Royal Proclamation
The Royal Proclamation was a constitution implemented by the King of Britain when he took control of New France. The constitution renamed the territory the Province of Quebec and made it smaller so that the boundary was the St.Laurence river. They also implemented English civil and criminal laws and didn't let a new Bishop in or allow for a Roman Catholic to hold office. Finally, they brought in a civilian government where they would have a governor who would be advised by an executive council. -
Guy Carleton
After James Murray is forced to return to France, he is replaced as governor by Guy Carleton. Even though his predecessor was fired for doing the exact same thing, Carleton doesn't follow the Royal Proclamation, as there are still too many French in the colony. He wants them to be happy so that if they have to fight the American's, the French will be on their side. -
Quebec Act
The Quebec Act was created in 1774 to assure that the French Canadians would stay loyal to Britain. The Act enlarges Quebec territory, gets rid of the assemblies, creates a council that the French can be elected to, and gets rid of the law saying that no RC could hold office. -
Loyalists
After the American Revolution, those that still held allegiances to the British moved to Quebec. They were called the Loyalists. because they still loyal to Britain. When they arrived in Quebec, there were suddenly a lot more English people in the colony, which changed the dynamics drastically. These people were used to societies where English people had all the power, and so they started protesting and sending complaints to Britain. -
American War of Independance
The Americans have become very upset with the British. One reason is that they wanted to expand further West towards Ohio. Another is the fact that they no longer needed protection from the French, and so they were just paying taxes to the British. They had the War of Independence and ended up taking control of their own country. -
The Constitutional Act
The Constitutional Act was signed in 1791 in response to the complaints of the Loyalists. It separated Quebec into Upper Canada, which was mostly English, and Lower Canada, which was mostly French. Upper Canada used English civil laws and could practice Protestant religion, while Lower Canada stayed the way Quebec was before the constitution. -
Representative Government
Brought along with the Constitutional Act in 1791. Was an important step, as it was the first time that the people had a say in how things were done. There was a governor, and then in each Canada there was a lieutenant governor, an executive council, a legislative council and a legislative assembly. -
Problems with Representative Government
Although it was a step in the right direction, there were still many problems with this new form of government. Specifically, even though the electedpeople could create laws, none of them were passed because the Governor and Council had veto power. The richer people wanted to invest in bigger things but the elected people didn't want to take these risks. It was made worse in Lower Canada by the fact that there was also a language barrier and lots of tension between the two groups. -
Tensions in Lower Canada
Because of the aforementioned lack of real democracy, the French became very angry over the fact that they had no real power. The two main groups that formed, the British Party and the Partie Canadien were so far apart that they wouldn't even negotiate. -
92 Resolutions
In 1834, the leader of a rebellious group called the Patriotes, Louis Joseph Papineau sent a document entitled "Les 92 Résolutions" to Britain. The document had 92 requests, that generally speaking pushed for a more democratic system. -
10 Resolutions
The 10 Resolutions was a document penned by Lord John Russel in response to 92 Resolutions. His document almost completely ignored the Patriotes' requests and in fact made their situation much worse. The fact that Russel could not comply with a single one of the requests angered the French Canadians and was one of the main reasons for the rebellions that followed. -
Canadian Rebellion
In Upper Canada the rebellion was led by William Lyon Mackenzie but had no real effect as they were quickly stopped. In Lower Canada the rebellion was much more effective and was led by Louis Joseph Papineau. They won one battle but were ultimately also stopped.As a result 12 Patriotes were hung and 58 others were exiled to Australia. -
Act of Union
The Act of Union was the colony's 4th constitution. It was created with the help of Lord Durnham. The constitution did 4 main things:
1.Reunites Upper Canada and Lower Canada, but this new province is separated as Canada West and Canada East.
2. Gives the two Canada's the same amount of representatives, 42, even though they didn't have the same population size.
3. Leaves the governor with Veto power]
4. Makes the two Canada's repay the debt equally even though Canada West had way more debt. -
The Responsible Government
Adopted alongside the Act of Union, the responsible Government was the most democratic and fair government the colony had seen so far. There was now a legislative assembly that was elected by the people. The Prime minister would then form the executive council from the assembly, and these people would create laws that had to be passed by the assembly. The governor still had veto power but starting in 1848 he didn't use it anymore -
Charlottetown Conference
The leaders of Canada West and Canada East decide to have a meeting in Charlottetown with the leaders of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince-Edward Island. At the end of the meeting they have decided to think about merging -
Quebec Conference
The same people from the Charlottetown Conference as well as Newfoundland meet again to finalize their merger. They come up with 72 resolutions that will define their merger. One of these is the construction of a railroad between the provinces, and this is the reason why PEI and Newfoundland withdraw, since as islands they don't benefit from this. Confederation passes even with Dorion's opposition. -
London Conference
In 1867 the leaders meet once more, and they decide on everything for their new Dominion, which is to govern itself seperately from Britain. They pass the British North AMerican Act, set Ottawa as their capital, and officially become the Dominion of Canada, which includes the four provinces of Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
