Confederation

The Fight for Responsible Government After years of unrest and rebellions, Britain suspended civil rights, dissolved the assemblies of Upper and Lower Canada, and sent over a new governor general, Lord Durham, to assess the situation and report back. While in Canada, Durham met with reformer Dr. William Baldwin, who argued persuasively for granting self-government to the colonies.

The Durham Report In 1838, Durham submitted his Report on the Affairs of British North America. In it, he made three central recommendations: That Upper and Lower Canada be united under one government (the better to overwhelm and assimilate the French Canadians) That the governor be required to name the leaders of the elected assembly as his ruling advisors (that is, elected members would now, finally, be in control) That the colonies be given authority over their own internal affairs. Only on imperial matters would the governor be allowed to override them. Although it sounded radical, Durham was simply suggesting that the colonies should be given the same parliamentary rights available to the citizens of Britain.

Act of Union, 1841 In 1841, the Act of Union united Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada. Lower Canada became Canada East and Upper Canada became Canada West. French Canadians suspected that the intention of the union was to assimilate them and erode French influence. At last, two politicians, Robert Baldwin from the West and Louis- Hippolyte Lafontaine from the East formed a coalition and agreed to work together In 1848, Lord Elgin became the new Governor General, and agreed with Durham’s recommendations, and called upon Baldwin and Lafontaine to form the executive council from members of the assembly. Elgin was Durham’s brother in law and understood that the governor was obligated to “govern within the well-understood wishes of the people”

Representation by Population By 1861, due to a large influx of immigrants into Canada West, the census showed that Canada West had almost 300 000 more people than Canada East. Due to this imbalance, politicians from the west began to advocate that representation in the legislature should be according to population. “Rep by pop” would give equal representation to each vote in the assembly.

Forming new Alliances Two influential leaders, George-Étienne Cartier (East) and John A. Macdonald (West) began to work together to try to remain in control of the elected assembly. They both believed that rep by pop was not the answer to Canada’s problems. Despite their differing beliefs, they agreed that the Act of Union was not working, and thought that Confederation, a political union of the colonies, was the answer

The Great Coalition George Brown (the politician from the West who suggested rep by pop), John A. Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier believed that there had to be a better way to structure Canada. In 1864, the men were able to put aside their personal feelings to form the Great Coalition. Their single goal was the creation of a union of all the British North American colonies.

Movement for Maritime Union & The Charlottetown conference The Maritime colonies were skeptical about Confederation and were concerned that because of their small population, they would have little influence in a united parliament. In September, 1864, it was decided that a conference would be held in Charlottetown to discuss the possibility of a Maritime union. During the conference, the coalition reminded the Atlantic colonies that a centralized government would help them defend themselves, and they would assume the debts of the colonies.

The Québec Conference In October 1864, delegates arrived in Québec to discuss the details of a confederation of the colonies. The delegates agreed that ties with Britain would be kept and that the British constitution would be adhered to as closely as possible in creating the confederation’s constitution. They also agreed that the union would be a federation, meaning that there would be more than one level of government. There was disagreement though, on how power would be shared between the two levels of government. In the end, the colonies reached an agreement that included 72 resolutions on how the new country would be run. There would be a national (federal) government that would address the needs of all the regions, and there would also be provincial governments that would look after regional concerns.

This did not mean that Confederation would be a reality…each of the delegates had to return to his colony and get support for the plan.

Pros & Cons of Joining Confederation

The Pressure Builds… Britain continued to let it be known that it strongly approved of the union. The British government stated that it would convene a conference in London to expedite the process. Behind all of these outside pressures was the additional perceived threat that if the colonies did not join, they risked being annexed by the United States.

The London Conference In November 1866, the Confederation delegates met in London to discuss the final details and to present their constitution, known as the British North America Act, to the British government for approval. A draft of the BNAA, complete with doodling by John A Macdonal

Queen Victoria signed the British North America Act into law on March 29, 1867, and agreed it would become effective on the first day of July.

The new nation was given the name the Dominion of Canada, and consisted of Ontario, Québec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

The Fathers of Confederation at the London Conference

“The great majority of nations have been formed, not by people who desired intensively to live together, but rather by people who could not live separately.” Analyze this statement, made by French Canadian historian Jean Charles Bonenfant in 1966. To what extent does this statement apply to French Canadians, people from the Atlantic colonies, and colonists from Canada West in the 1860s?

Many people believe that First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples should have been included in the discussions surrounding Confederation because of their position as Indigenous peoples. Others argue that they were a minority group in BNA and that this expectation is not realistic for the time of Confederation…

Thomas D’Arcy McGee warned that Canada would remain intact only so long as respect was given to all of its peoples. He stated, “So long as we respect in Canada the rights of minorities, told either by tongue or creed, we are safe. For so long it will be possible for us to be united.” In your opinion, has Canada ever been truly united given that Indigenous peoples were not included during the Confederation process?