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The Royal Government
From 1663 to 1760, Canada lived under the Royal Administration. The King and the Minister of Marine remained in France and put the following people in charge of the colony. The Governor was the highest ranked in the colony. The Intendant was the most influential person in the colony. The Sovereign Council was the colony’s high court. The Bishop controlled the Parish Priests, hospitals, schools, charities. The Captain of the Militia was like a chief of police, but had no seat on the council. -
The Great Peace Of Montreal
40 aboriginal nations agreed to consider the King of France their father and allowed the governor general to resolve their disputes and help France in wars. -
The Royal Proclamation
After Qc capitulates, the colony comes under British military rule until the 7 year war ends. In 1763 the Treaty of Paris is signed and New France is ceded to the King of England except St. Pierre and Miquelon. The goal of the Proclamation Royal is to assimilate the French. The colony is renamed Province of Quebec. The king appoints a governor who appoints members to the executive council. English criminal and civil law were applied. No new bishop would be allowed. No Catholics could hold office -
The Quebec Act
The Quebec Act was created out of fear that the French would join the Americans in rebellion. This Act guaranteed French Canadian loyalty, enlarged the area of Quebec to include great lakes, still denied an elected assembly, allowed an appointed council, reinstated French civil laws and replaced the Test Oath with an Oath of Allegiance. -
The Constitutional Act
The Province of Quebec is split up into 2 Canada's divided by the Ottawa river.
Upper Canada:
- Had a population of roughly 20 000 people
- Was entirely english
- Protestant, used the township system and english civil laws Lower Canada:
- Had a population of roughly 160 000 peoplel
- Mostly french and 10% loyalists and merchants
- Kept their catholic religion, civil laws and francophones could work in the administration of Lower Canada -
The Representative Government
The Constitutional Act introduced the Representative Government which meant the following... The Governor general held the veto power. The Lieutenant governor acted as deputy governor. The Executive council was appointed by the governor to advise him. The Legislative council was also appointed to approve or reject laws from the assembly. The Legislative assembly elected people every 4 years, approved or disapproved taxes and created laws. Land-owning men over 21 had the right to vote. -
Faults in The Representative Government
The Legislative government had the power to make laws but were more often shut down by the governor and council’s right to vote. The Legislative assembly and governor had different interests. The wealthy wanted to invest into big business and tax property to build canals and railways. This situation was worse in Lower Canada because the legislative assembly was french and there were constant battles over language. -
92 Resolutions
Louis Joseph Papineau (a lawyer and seigneur), the leader of the Parti Patriote, wrote a letter containing the demands of the assembly in 1834 and sent it to London to be reviewed. The main demand was for a responsible government. They believed the members on the council should be chosen from the elected assembly, so the government would be made up by the people responsible for its decisions. -
10 Russell Resolutions
The 10 Russell Resolutions is London's response to the 92 Resolutions. They rejected the request for an elected council and instead of gaining power, the elected lost some power. The governor, Lord Gosford, now had the power to take money from the provincial treasury to pay the officials in the colony. This really upsets the Patriotes and thus begins the demonstrations that eventually lead to the rebellions. -
Rebellions of 1837-1838
William Lyon Mackenzie led the rebellions in Upper Canada and Papineau led the rebellions in Lower Canada. Several battles took place in St Charles, St Denis and St Eustache. In the end, the British army overpowered the militia Patriote rebels. -
Aftermath of The Rebellions of 1837-1838
99 captured militants were condemned to death, 12 went to the gallows and 58 were transported to the penal colony of Australia.
In total the 6 battles of both campaigns left 325 dead, 27 of them soldiers and the rest rebels. 13 men were executed, one was murdered, one commited suicide, and 2 prisoners were shot. -
The Durham Report
In 1838, British politician Lord Durham was sent to Canada to investigate the causes of the Patriotes rebellions. His reports led to serious changes including Canada uniting to form a single colony and responsible government. Report contents included:
Recommendation to unite Upper and Lower Canada, Recommendation to instill responsible government, Condemnation of Family Compact and French culture. -
The Act of Union
The British government rejected the idea of a responsible government and accepted the idea of uniting the 2 Canadas from Durham’s reports. The new Province of Canada consists of 2 parts: Canada East and Canada West. English is the official language in order to assimilate the French. The government is unified, there is only one governor, one executive council, one legislative council and one legislative assembly and their powers and laws are unchanged. -
The Quebec Conference
Took place in 1864 and involved the same people as the Charlottetown conference. They agreed on 72 resolutions detailing how the Dominion of Canada would be run. They agreed on:
- A federal system
- 24 seats to each colony
- Assembly elected by representation by population
- A railway to be built between colonies.
The conference went well, but the people were not accepting of their plan. Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island withdrew. -
The Charlottetown Conference
The Charlottetown Conference was held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 1864. The purpose of the conference was to discuss the Canadian Confederation. The conference was originally supposed to be the meeting of 3 maritime province leaders (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island), but the province of Canada (Quebec and Ontario) requested to join in order to discuss a union that would include them. -
The London Conference
Took place on 1866, in London. It was the final conference that lead to the formation of the confederation. 16 delegates from Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia gathered with members of the British government to draft the British North America Act. This act was a continuation of the 72 resolutions. -
British North America Act
It created the Dominion of Canada, which consisted of the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
The capital was Ottawa. It created the government departments including its federal structure, justice system, house system, taxation system and House of Commons. The Dominion had become a self-governing colony. -
The Conscription Crisis
Conscription is the law that makes military participation during wartime mandatory. The conscription of 1917 was put in place because in WW1, many volunteers went to fight in France to support the British troops and the toll of the war was beginning to affect the commanders overseas. In 1917, Prime Minister Borden decided that conscription was necessary. Quebec would never agree to conscription, and if he allowed it he would lose the election in French Canada to nationalist Henri Bourassa. -
The Union Nationale
The Union Nationale are in power from 1936 to 1939 when Godbout takes power for one term the following changes are made:
- Voting rights for women
- Compulsory education until 14
- Nationalization of electricity in mtl (later becomes Hydro-Quebec)
But the Union Nationale are quickly voted back into power in 1944 for the next 15 years until Duplessis’ death. -
The Padlock Law
In 1937, Duplessis' Government made it illegal to strike and promote communist ideas. -
Fleur-de-Lis flag
The Quebec flag which features a fleur-de-lis was created by Maurice Duplessis in 1948. -
Jean Lesage
The liberals under Jean Lesage take power from 1960 to 1966.
Driven by cultural and political assertation of Quebecers and the desire for a government with a more interventionist role. Jean Lesage was a lawyer and a federal politician for 4 terms in the federal parliament with the Liberals and later ran for head of the Qc Liberal Party when the conservatives ousted Mackenzie King’s federal Liberals in 1958. -
Office de la Langue Française
Lesage creates l’Office de la Langue Française to promote the french language in 1961. -
Bill 22
Bourassa (liberal) adopts the Official Language Act (bill 22) in 1974, making French the official language of Quebec. -
Bill 101
Levesque (PQ) enacts the Charter of the French Language (Bill 101) in 1977, making it compulsory for immigrant children to go to French school, forced large companies to adopt French and imposed French on public signs. -
1st Referendum
Referendum on sovereignty association (Rene Levesque’s PQ) in 1980.
- Quebec would still keep the economic benefits of being part of Canada but be a politically independent nation.
- No side won with about 60% of the vote. -
Meech Lake Accord
Created in 1987 and written with various reforms but Manitoba and Newfoundland refused to ratify it
