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Nov 25, 1500
First Occupants
The Natives had no official leadership. The Iroquois did have a matriarchal society, meaning that decisions were made by the women.
The Alqonquins had a patriarchal society, meaning that decisions were made by men. -
Period: Nov 25, 1500 to
Official Power and Countervailing Power
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Power relations between the Native Americans and the French, Part 1
The French allied with the Amerindians to protect their interests. The French were traded with the Hurons and the Algonquins. They also had a military alliance with these groups. The Iroquois, who were allied with the British, were their enemies, with whom they fought over control of the fur trade. The Iroquois would've been better allies, since they are semi-sedentary. The Iroquois stay in one place, so they would be easier to find and meet with. -
Power relations between the Native Americans and the French, Part 2
The Iroquois fought with guns given to them by the British. The French didn't trust the Hurons and Algonquins with guns. The Hurons were eventually decimated by the Iroquois, so the French had to find furs on their own.
The coureurs de bois are created, they are Frenchmen who live deep in the forest with the Natives and traded with the Amerindians.
The Great Peace of Montreal was signed by New France and 40 Native nations in 1701. It signified peace between the French and the Natives. -
The Minister of Marine
In 1663, the minister of marine was Jean-Baptiste Colbert. The minister of marine was in charge of all the King's colony. He never sets foot in these colonies. He is sent information from people in the colonies, which he reports directly to the King. -
The Bishop
The Church is implicated in political decisions because of its role on the Sovereign council. The Clergy was everywhere in society, since the Church controlled education, health, and social services. The Bishop, who sat on the sovereign council, oversaw anything that was controlled by the Church. He was the head of the Catholic religion in New France. He collected the tithe and he could excommunicate people. He was appointed by the king and the pope. He had some say, but he had no real power. -
The Royal Government
The King of France, Louis XIV, realized that the chartered companies controlling New France were destroying the colony. The King ended the monopoly that these companies had and implemented a royal government. He appointed Jean-Baptiste Colbert as the Minister of Marine. The absolute monarchy of the King of France still applies in New France. The King names administrators of the colony, but he can reverse any decision they make. The members of the Council controlled the colony nevertheless. -
The Governor
The Governor was a member of the Sovereign council. The Governor had the most power of anyone in New France, since he had veto power. He was the commander of the army and dealt with external affairs. The Governor basically ran New France. -
The Intendant
The Intendant is a member of the Sovereign council in New France. The first intendant in New France was Jean Talon. The Intendant controlled the budget and taxes. He influences the daily life in New France by overseeing the seigneurial system, building roads, and setting up industries. He was the chief administrator of the colony. -
Captain of the Militia
The captain of the militia did not sit on the sovereign council, but still had power. He was a sort of police chief; he dealt with issues in the seigneuries. He is in charge of the militia army. -
Articles of Capitulation, Part 1
After the War of the Conquest, The British had not officially taken over New France, since the Seven Years' War was still going on in Europe. While waiting for the end of the war, The British established the Articles of Capitulation, detailing the British rule in the colony.
The document stated:
The French militia could keep their property, while the French military had to lay down their weapons and leave New France.
The Catholic religion could still be practiced, but the Bishop had to leave. -
Articles of Capitulation, Part 2
The people who stayed in New France became British subjects. The French elite left the colony because they could afford to do so, but the majority of French Canadians stayed in New France. The colony was under the rule of the British military of James Murray until the Seven Years' War ended in 1763. -
Treaty of Paris
The Seven Years' War ended in 1763. The Treaty of Paris, which officially established the passage of the territory of New France from France to Britain, was signed the same year. All of New France is given to the British, except for two fishing islands called St. Pierre and Miquelon, which France retains. -
Royal Proclamation, part 1
The King needed to do something about the large population of French speaking subjects in the colony. This need to assimilate the French and Catholic population lead to the creation of a constitution, the Royal Proclamation.
The Royal Proclamation:
gave the colony a new name: "The Province of Quebec"
decreased the colony's territory to only the St. Lawrence Valley to bring the subjects close together and to placate the Amerindians. -
Royal Proclamation Part 2
Put in place a government, consisting of a Governor and an executive council appointed by the king.
Applied English criminal and civil laws.
Replaced the Seigneurial system with the Township system.
Did not allow a new Bishop to be appointed.
Did not allow Catholics to hold public office.
The French were brought close together to be watched over and their rights were taken away.
French people were not chosen to immigrate to the colony. Many of the British immigrants were rich merchants. -
James Murray
James Murray was the first Governor of the Province of Quebec.
Murray realized that the Royal Proclamation was inapplicable, because the French-Catholics made up 99% of the colony's population. Murray bent the rules of the Proclamation to make the French Canadians happy and prevent a rebellion.
He allowed a new Bishop to be appointed.
He allowed French civil laws in lower courts.
He did not call en elected assembly because it would favour the British merchants. -
James Murray, Part 2
The British merchants were angry with Murray for not giving them privileges. They wrote to the King, denouncing Murray. Also, the French were not satisfied with Murray, since his leniency did not restore their rights. Murray tried to make everyone happy, but no one was satisfied. James Murray was replaced by Guy Carleton. -
Guy Carleton
Carleton became the new Governor. Carleton realized that the assimilation of the French was impossible, as Murray had, so he kept the same tolerant policies that Murray had created. Carleton wanted to placate the French because of the tensions in the Thirteen Colonies. Carleton feared the French Canadians would align with the Americans if they were to rebel. He tried to make the French Canadians happy to ensure their loyalty to Great Britain. -
Unhappiness Among British Subjects
The Americans in the Thirteen colonies were unhappy because they had fought alongside the British army during the War of the Conquest to gain control of the Ohio Valley, yet the territory was denied to them.
British merchants in Quebec were unhappy because they wanted an elected assembly in the colony and they weren't getting special treatment.
The Canadians didn't like the changes brought by the Royal Proclamation. They were scared about the possible loss of their religion and their rights. -
Quebec Act
The purpose of the Quebec Act was to guarantee the loyalty of French Canadians, in the face of a possible American rebellion. The Act enlarges the territory of Quebec. It denied an elected assembly, but allowed an appointed council. French civil laws (tithe, and the seigneurial system) were re-established. Catholics were allowed to occupy administrative positions if they swore their allegiance to the British King. -
American War of Independence
Great Britain was upset with the Americans, because they didn't think they fought hard enough during the war. Great Britain imposed ridiculous taxes on the Americans and strict trade rules.
The Americans were unhappy with the British for not giving them the Valley of Ohio. This leads to the War of Independence, which the Americans win.
Those who are still loyal to Great Britain and living in the Thirteen Colonies leave. They move to British colonies, like Quebec. They are called loyalists. -
Loyalists
36 000 loyalists come to Canada, 6000 of them settle in Quebec. The English population increases from 1% to 10% of the total population of Quebec. The loyalists settled according to the township system and gave their settlements English names. They were used to English civil laws and an elected assembly. They started writing petitions to London. After years of complaining, they got their wish in the form of the Constitutional Act in 1791. -
Constitutional Act
The Constitutional Act split the Province of Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada.
Lower Canada was almost entirely French with a total population of 160 000. The French kept their religion, civil laws, and Catholics could work in administration
Upper Canada was entirely English with a total population of 20 000. The English kept their religion, civil laws, and the township system. -
Representative Government
Each colony had its own government. The colonies had the same King, British Parliament, and governor general. Each Canada had a:
Lieutenant Governor, who acted as a deputy governor
Executive council, appointed by the governor and advised him.
Legislative Council, which approved/rejected laws. They are upper class and appointed by the governor.
Legislative Assembly, which created laws and could approve taxes. They were elected by the people, so it was made up of low class people (French in L.C.) -
Problems with Representative Government, Part 2
Since the governor had veto power, he could reject whichever laws he didn't like, so the people had no real power. Also, only land-owning men over the age of 21 could vote for the members of the Legislative assembly. Representative government was really a trick to make the people feel like they had a say in government, without actually giving them any real power. -
Problems with Representative Government
The Legislative Assembly had the power to make laws, but whenever they proposed laws, they were rejected by the Legislative Council and the Governor. There was a conflict of interests. The Assembly was made up of common people who wanted to tax businesses. However, the wealthy governor and council members wanted to create laws to help the wealthy businesses. This was made worse in Lower Canada, where the Legislative assembly was French and the council members and governor were English. -
Rebellions in the Canadas Part 1
English immigration increased, mostly in Upper Canada. The population of Upper Canada eventually grew higher than the population of Lower Canada. The Irish immigrated to Lower Canada because they were Catholic. Tensions grew in Lower Canada after the establishment of a representative government. Two groups formed: The British Party, who controlled the councils, and the Parti Canadien (Parti Patriote), who controlled the assembly. The two groups opposed one another and nothing got done. -
Rebellions in Canadas Part 2
French people known as "Patriotes" began to talk of a violent uprising as a solution to the problems in Lower Canada. The leader of the Patriotes, Louis Joseph Papineau, wrote the 92 Resolutions, detailing the assemblies' demands. The main demand was a responsible government, meaning the members of the councils would be selected from the elected assembly. Great Britain responded with the 10 resolutions, which didn't solve any of the Patriotes' demands and even limited the power of the Assembly. -
Rebellions in Canada Part 3
The 10 Russell Resolutions made the Canadians more upset and caused rebellions to erupt. In Upper Canada, the rebellions were less violent and were quickly stopped. However, the conflict was more drawn out in Lower Canada due to the added ethnic issues. Several battles broke out at St-Charles, St-Denis, and St-Eustache. The Patriotes did not have enough support and organization to beat Great Britain and the rebellion failed. Some Patriotes were hanged and many other were sent to Australia. -
Durham's Recommendations
Lord Durham was sent to Canada during the rebellions to council Great Britain on the situation there. After the rebellion, he wrote a report outlining what the British should do. He believed that English immigration should be increased to assimilate the French. He also thought that Lower and Upper Canada should be united, so the English would have the majority in Canada. Also, he believed the British should allow responsible government, eliminating veto power. -
Act of Union
The Act of Union officially unites Lower Canada and Upper Canada to form the province of Canada. Canada would consist of Canada West and Canada East. Canada East and Canada West would each have 42 members in the assembly and they would equally pay for the debt (even though Canada West had ten times more debt than Canada East). There was still representative government. This system was still flawed and eventually responsible government was accepted. -
Responsible Government
Responsible government slowly came into effect. The Prime Minister would select members of the executive council from the assembly. Lord Elgin was the first governor to not use his veto power.
The people would elect the legislative assembly.
The Prime minister would choose the members of the executive council from the legislative assembly.
The executive council would propose laws that had to be approved by the assembly.
The governor and legislative council did not intervene. -
Influence of the Church
The Church had a lot of power at the beginning of the 19th Century. It continued to control education, with many Protestant and Catholic universities. Religious universities taught biblical studies. The Church managed charities, orphanages, and hospitals. Church attendance was very high. -
Charlottetown Conference
After responsible government was enacted, no one knew what to do about who should be in charge and winning a majority government was very unlikely. Representatives from New Brunswick, Canada West, Canada East, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia met to discuss a merger between the colonies. At the Charlottetown Conference, they decided to move forward with the Confederation project. -
Quebec Conference
The following month, the same provinces, including Newfoundland agreed on 72 Resolutions to make the Canadian confederation possible. They agreed on a federal system that would oversee all the colonies. Each colony would have 24 seats in the federal government. The assembly would be elected according to "rep by pop", the colony with the largest population would have the most seats. They agreed to build a railway between the colonies. -
Opposition of the Confederation
P.E.I. and Newfoundland didn't want to pay for a railway that wouldn't benefit them, so they withdrew their support for the confederation.
Dorion's Parti Rouge also opposed the confederation because they didn't want the French to be further assimilated.
The Canadas' assembly passed the confederation passed narrowly. -
The London Conference
In 1867, the confederation received the support of Great Britain to become a "self-governing" colony. The British North American Act was adopted. The BNA Act established the Dominion of Canada. It had four provinces: Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Ottawa was the capital. The other provinces joined the confederation over the next century. -
Federal and Provincial Responsibilities
The federal government is responsible for defence, criminal law, postal services, and money. The provincial government is responsible for education, health, property and civil rights, and municipalities. Immigration and agriculture were shared responsibilities, The federal government could overrule provincial laws if it felt that they were not in Canada's best interest. -
Power Relations between Union Movements and the State
Unions demand laws regarding health and safety in the workplace, the protection of children, and a minimum salary for all workers.
Unions were partially legalized in 1872.
The Padlock Law was an anti-labour law that criminalized strikes.
In 1944, the Labour Relations Act is adopted and the Labour Code recognized the right to strike for all workers in 1964. -
Conscription
During WWI, more soldiers were needed to fight for Great Britain, so conscription was adopted. French Canadians did not agree with conscription because they didn't feel connected to Great Britain and they didn't want to die to fight for their "mother country".
In WWII, conscription was not going to be applied at first. However, more soldiers were needed once again, so conscription was adopted again. -
Maurice Duplessis, Part 1
Maurice Duplessis was the premier of Quebec from 1936 to 1949, and then from 1944 to 1959. Duplessis was a large supporter of the Catholic Church, because of the traditional values that it supported. So, the Church controlled education, health and social services. The Church continued to support large families, rural life, and Christian values, which Duplessis also promoted.
Duplessis believed that the government should not intervene in the social and economic sectors. It had a supporting role. -
Maurice Duplessis, Part 2
Duplessis believed that agriculture should be the heart of Quebec's economy to avoid urbanization and unemployment. He also supported rural communities, since they are the best places to promote traditional values.
Duplessis also allowed American companies to invest in Canada. American industries thrived under Duplessis. -
Duplessis' Nationalist Policies
Duplessis defended provincial autonomy and had numerous battles with Ottawa over federal intervention in provincial jurisdictions.
Duplessis' nationalist policies consisted of:
adopting Quebec's flag,
introducing the provincial income tax,
refusing federal subsidies destined for Quebec universities and opposing federal allowance payments to families because he didn't want the government intervening in provincial jurisdictions. He refused this funding to prove Quebec was independent. -
Opposition to Maurice Duplessis
Union leaders, intellectuals, and journalists opposed Duplessis. Union leaders believe that Duplessis opposed social progress and cared more about American interests than he did about Quebec workers. Duplessis hated unions because he believed that businesses should sort out their own problems however they like.
Intellectuals like Pierre Elliot Trudeau and René Lévesque opposed Duplessis' conservative policies and denounced them in newspapers and on television. Intellectuals wanted progress. -
The Quiet Revolution, Part 1
The Quiet Revolution began with the election of Jean Lesage of the Liberal Party in 1960. The Quiet Revolution was meant to catch Quebec up with the rest of the provinces, which progressed during the 50's, while Quebec did not. The goals of the Quiet Revolution were to:
Increase government intervention to make Quebec's government a major force behind social and economic progress.
Modernize Quebec's education system to catch up with the rest of the provinces.
Weaken the influence of the Church. -
The Quiet Revolution, Part 2
During this time, Hydro-Quebec became government owned, the Trans-Canada highway expanded, and the Montreal Metro was built. The MEQ was created and children were forced to attend school until the age of 16.
More people were attending university, including women, who became more involved in the workplace during this time. Jobs moved away from rural areas and union membership doubled. -
Power Relations between Feminist Movements and the State
Women were given the right to vote in Quebec in 1940. In 1961, Marie-Claire Kirkland-Casgrain was the first woman to be elected to Quebec's Legislative Assembly.
In 1965, the Federation des Femmes du Quebec is founded. They revised the Civil Code, established maternity leave, and decriminalized abortion.
Pay equity was only adopted in 1996. -
Power Relations between the Financial Circles and the State
The Quebec government becomes hands on when it comes to politics and businesses. The government uses bursaries and loans to do so. Businessmen became more involved in politics which facilitates access to grants, laws, and regulations in favour of companies and banks. The funding of political parties by business men leads to corruption. -
The October Crisis
The FLQ, a French nationalist terrorist group, planted bombs in mail boxes in Westmount and targeted military establishments. The organization wanted Quebec to gain its independence from Canada through violence. The group also kidnapped James Cross and Pierre Laporte. Prime Minister Trudeau used the War Measures Act to give the federal government full control over Quebec and allowed any laws to be changed. Trudeau could arrest anyone he chose to without charging them. The FLQ was defeated. -
French Nationalist Laws
In 1961, Lesage created the Office de la langue francaise to promote the French language.
Bill 22, enacted by Bourassa, made French the official language of Quebec.
Bill 101 allowed only French signs in public. Also, children could only go to English school if their parents went to English school in Quebec. If not, they had to attend French school, even if they had no prior knowledge of the French language. This bill was highly criticized.
The English create Bill 86 and Bill 178. -
Quebec's First Referendum
Political parties in Quebec are either separatist or federalist. Federalist parties want Quebec to stay a part of Canada and Separatists want Quebec to separate from Canada. Separatists want to separate because of the cultural differences between Quebecois and Canadians, since many Quebecois do not identify as "Canadian".
In 1980, Rene Levesque and the PQ proposed Quebec's first referendum on the issue. 60% of the population voted "no", they wanted to stay a part of Canada. -
Attempts to Unify Canada
In 1982, Prime Minister Trudeau united the provinces to patriate the Constitution from Great Britain, thus acquiring the complete independence of Canada. All of the provinces agreed, except Quebec, since the premier of Quebec did not want to support a Canadian initiative.
In 1984, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney tried to satisfy the provinces.
The Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Accord were a series of reforms that tried to make the provinces happy. They both did not pass. -
Native Issues
In 1990, when a gold course tried to expand onto Native land, Mohawk warriors established road blocks in Oka and organized themselves militarily. The Canadian Forces were called in. The Oka Crisis lasted 78 days and ended without violence.
The Charlottetown Accord dealt with Native issues.
The Indian Act of 1876 established Native reserves.
The James Bay Agreement and the Northern Agreement give more power to the Natives and the repatriation of the Constitution recognized their rights. -
Quebec's Second Referendum
Quebec's second referendum had much closer results than the first one, 50.6% of people voted "no". This referendum was lead by Jacques Parizeau.
