SAKS006 Frankofonní kultury Severní Ameriky

FJ0B764 Culture francophone Amérique du Nord


European colonization


1.      Discoveries at the end of the 15th and during the 16th century

The main motives for the first voyages were:

1. the search for a northwest route to China;

2. the desire for gold, the myth of Eldorado.


1497 - John Cabot alias Jean Cabot alias Giovanni Caboto, Venetian in the service of the King of
England; sets sail from Bristol; important news of Atlantic fish off Newfoundland: cod;

1500-1501 - Portuguese Joaõ Fernandes with brothers Gaspar and Miguel Corte-Real

1520-1525 - Portuguese Joaõ Alvarez Fagundes

1524-1525 Florentine Giovanni da Verrazano and his brother Girolamo, author of the name „La
Nouvelle- France“

1610 - Henry Hudson


Jacques Cartier’s voyages are important for the French presence - 1534, 1535-6, 1541-43; he first
sailed on 20 April 1534 with 61 men from Saint-Malo: he already meets Basque whalers on the coast;
this means that the Canadian coast is not unknown. Importance of Cartier’s voyages: accurate map of
the St. Lawrence River, precise description of the route as far as Stadactoné (Quebec) and
Hochelaga (Montreal); the Lachine rapids above Hochelaga prevent further westward progress. The
first attempt at French colonization (Roberval 1542-43) fails due to climatic adversity, internal
conflicts and conflicts with the Iroquois.



2.      Economic and climatic factors


Cod, Whale, Beaver and Trade

            The first lasting link between Europe and North America was fishing industry since the
end of the 15^th century: hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of fishermen arrive each year
from the Basque Country, Brittany, France, Ireland and England to the shores of Nova Scotia,
Newfoundland, Gaspésie, etc. The fishermen stay all summer, camping on the coast, sometimes
overwintering. The main commodities are cod, salted and dried in fishing villages on the
Newfoundland coast, and whale, caught in the Belle-Isle Strait and at the mouth of the Saguenay
Fjord. Dried cod is exported mainly to the Mediterranean (Spain, Italy). Where Europeans settle,
even if only seasonally, some conflicts arise: see Newfoundland and the fate of the Beothuk tribe
who fed on fishing.

            Fishing activities are linked to the fur trade, which had developed so much since the
second half of the 16th century. The reason: the massive development of the hat-maKing industry,
which was based on the processing of felt from the 16th to the beginning of the 19th century. Only
then is felt replaced by silk. The best quality felt was made from beaver seed. At the end of the
16^th century, Western Europe lost direct commercial access to the Russian and Siberian resources,
controlled by Russia and the Hansa towns, nor did it know until the end of the 18th century how to
process „castor sec”, i.e. the removal of long pistils, to a high quality.

            „Castor gras” and „castor sec”: the situation until the end of the 18th century was
favourable for the Indigenous tribes, since what is a valuable raw material for Europeans is waste
for the Autochtones (see the testimony of the Jesuit Father Le Jeune in 1634). The beaver becomes a
symbol of the Nouvelle-France for three centuries, appearing on the first postage stamps and coats
of arms, even after the British Conquest of Canada.


The fur trade influenced deeply the history of the North America:

            1. The modality of contact between Europeans and Natives.

            2. The penetration of Europeans to the continent: all the important discovery and
colonization plans are closely linked to trade intentions, from the expedition of Samuel de
Champlain, who in 1608 begins the colonization of the St. Lawrence Valley, to Sir Alexander
Mackenzie, who in 1789 reaches the mouth of the Mackenzie River and in 1793, on another expedition,
penetrates the Rocky Mountains, descends to the Pacific.

            3. The frontiers of Nouvelle-France and later the English Dominion: they expand and
take shape in close dependence on these very trading activities.

            4. Relations between Indigenous tribes: control of trade routes becomes the main reason
for fighting between tribes; the way of warfare also changes: it is less important to win captives
or obedience than to exterminate a rival or to drive him out of the territory altogether;
inequality between tribes increases: the more successful traders are better armed with European
weapons; see wars between the Iroquois (armed by Dutch settlers from Nieuw Amsterdam, later New
York) and the Wendats (allies of the French): 1609-15; 1645-1655; the Wendat were nearly
exterminated.

            5. Indigenous way of life: it is not true that the Natives were content with trinkets.
On the contrary, the Autochthons invest wisely: they buy hunting equipment (guns, gunpowder, metal
tools - knives, axes, woodworking tools), domestic tools and implements (needles, scissors,
cauldrons, pots); trade on the North American continent is carried out over great distances: every
time Europeans come into contact with a hitherto unknown tribe, they find mostly European products
already there.

            6. Quality and composition of European products and exports: Canadian winters test the
quality of steel, rifles, etc.

            Alcohol problem: reason - Europeans’ desire to reduce trade costs; situation was
tolerable until mid-1800s, only when trading posts penetrate into Autochton’s  territories did it
become dramatic.

            More than the Europeans, the Indigenous tribes are victims of  mutual wars; more than
wars, European diseases (measles, whooping cough, smallpox) and alcohol kill them.

See: Denys Delâge : Le Pays renversé (sous-titré Amérindiens et Européens en Amérique du Nord-Est,
1600-1664) (1985). The triangular trade, in which Europe subordinated Africa and the Americas to
its commercial interests and its production, radically subverted the economic life of the
Amerindians and brought competition and struggle into their relations with each other.


            The fur trade is costly to transport, hence the need for a strong concentration of
capital and the drive for a monopoly, or at least a monopoly position.


Phase 1 1604-ca 1660

- 1588 Henry III’s privilege. Jacques Denoël, Cartier’s nephew; role of François Gravé du Pont and
Étienne Brûlé;

- 1604 Samuel de Champlain and Poutrincourt organize the colonization of Acadia (Nova Scotia),
where they found Annapolis (Port-Royal);

- July 1608 Samuel de Champlain invades the depopulated territory of the St. Lawrence Valley, from
which both the Stadactones and the Hochelages had disappeared since Cartier’s time (war?); Quebec
is founded: as a trading post, it allows direct trade with the Wendats and allows bypassing the
intermediary of the Innu (Montagnais) settled at the mouth of the Saguenay;

- 1609-1615 Champlain expeditions, participation in the Iroquois-Wendat Wars; ideological support
of the Catholic Church: missionary activities of the Franciscans (1615) and Jesuits (from 1625);

- 1628 foundation of the „Compagnie de la Nouvelle-France ou des Cents Associés”, a private
monopoly enterprise under the patronage of Cardinal de Richelieu; objective: trade and
colonization; promotion of missionary activity;

- 1634 - foundation of Trois-Rivières;

- 1635 death of Samuel de Champlain;

- 1642 Paul de Chomédy, sieur de Maisonneuve founds Ville Sainte-Marie, i.e. Montreal, on the site
of the vanished Hochelaga;

            The colonization is relatively unsuccessful; see below on the causes. The fur trade is
hampered both by the destruction of Huronia (Wendat country), which was the main intermediary, and
by the oppressiveness of the monopoly controlled by the royal crown, which insists more on
agricultural colonization.


Phase 2 1660-1760

            The search for new direct trade contacts: the period of the „coureurs des bois”
(„trappers”):

- 1656 Médard Chouart, called Des Groseillers, penetrates to the western end of the Great Lakes;

- 1659-1663 Des Groseillers and his brother-in-law Pierre-Esprit Radisson penetrate beyond Lake
Superior, perhaps as far as James Bay; they learn from the Ottawas and the Ojibways of the northern
frozen sea, in which they identify Hudson Bay: the idea of a northern route is born, allowing
direct trade with the „producers” - the Crees, Ojibways and Assiniboines - and excluding from trade
the tribes that had hitherto had been intermediaries;

- 1663 Jean-Baptiste Colbert abolishes the monopoly of the „Compagnie des Cent Associés”;La
Nouvelle-France is directly subordinated to the royal dominion with all its trade monopoly;
moreover, the King’s policy favors agricultural colonization; the „Compagnie des Indes
Occidentales” is established as a royal monopoly subordinated to the ministry; therefore, Radisson
and Des Groseillers fail to gain the support of the French King and sail to London;

- 1667 founding of the „Compagnie des Aventuriers” becoming „Hudson Bay Company” in England:
support of King Charles II, the King’s brother James, Duke of York, cousin of Prince Ruppert;
participation of enterprising English nobility: the Earl of Shaftesbury, Peter Colleton, George
Monk, Duke of Albemarle (founders of the colony and of the present-day state of Carolina in the
USA, colony in the Bahamas);

- 1670 Charter of the Hudson Bay Company is signed by Charles II, granted exploitative territory,
the so-called Ruppert Line; establishment of stations in Hudson’s Bay (Churchill, York);
penetration into new territories, but preservation of the Indian-French mode of trade.

The period of competition between the merchants of Noubelle-France (Compagnie des Indes
Occidentales; Montreal, Quebec) and the Hudson Bay Company is the defining period for the
penetration of the North American continent until 1820. The English try to outflank the French from
the north, and the French in turn gradually build and expand trading posts along the 50th parallel
and southward into the Ohio and Mississippi basins to New Orleans to isolate the English on the
Atlantic coast:

- 1682 Cavelier de la Salle reaches Illinois and Mississippi

- 1688 The French are at Lac à la Pluie (Rainy Lake)

- 1701 Antoine de La Motte-Cadillac founds Détroit

- 1727 Pierre Gaultier de Varenne de la Vérendrye penetrates Lac des Bois and Manitoba

- 1740 French settle in Manitoba and penetrate Saskatchewan


Phase 3 1760-1830

            The Franco-British War (1757-1763), the fall of Quebec (1759) and the subsequent loss
of Canadian territory mark the end of the French monopoly on the fur trade through the southern
route (the French elite are repatriated, trade contacts disappear), but less than a decade later
trade is fully restored on English Liberal principles. The „Compagnie de Nord-Ouest” („North West
Fur Company”) is formed, bringing together enterprising French and English. The new company
reorganises the whole trading system (two types of ship, transhipment points), stimulating the
search for a route to the Pacific coast, discovered and described by James Cook (1784-85), where
there is already strong competition from Russia (Alaska), America and Spain.

            Peter Pound (a native American), Alexander Mackenzie and Fraser of the North West
Company undertake westward voyages, as does Hearne of the Hudson’s Bay Company; they penetrate with
the help of native guides to the Arctic Ocean, then to the Pacific (1793). Trade is conducted on a
continental scale, gaining in volume. Consequences:

a) significant enrichment for the Indian tribes at first;

b) rapid depletion of hunting grounds, within 50 years (1780-1830);

c) collapse of the whole market, the emergence of a crisis which leads, on the one hand, to a
strong pauperization of the Indians, on the other to a further concentration of capital: the two
competing companies merge and switch to other commercial activities (construction timber, grain).
By the second half of the 19th century, the Canadian government had already bought the Hudson’s Bay
Company’s territories from the Canadian government and incorporated them into Canadian territory.


Conclusion

            (a) three centuries of fur trade created a „Canadian horizon”, an awareness of Canadian
space, established trade routes, established portage points;

            (b) over a long period of time, a balance in the relationship between Europeans and
Natives was maintained and a certain symbiosis allowed for mutual adaptation and integration;

            (c) this equilibrium broke down in the early 19th century. The Europeans no longer
needed the Natives either as trading partners or as war allies in mutual conflicts after the last
war on the Canadian-American border ended in 1814. Symbolically, in 1829, the death of the last
member of the Beothuk tribe, the first tribe to be exterminated in Canada.



3. Settlement and administration of Nouvelle-France

            The immense efforts and perseverance of Samuel de Champlain in Quebec, Jean Biencourt
de Poutrincourt in Acadia, and the patient work of other organizers, traders and ordinary
colonists, are finally crowned with success. The French element takes a permanent hold in Canada,
already able to resist both the English (the occupation of Quebec by the Kerk brothers in 1628 and
1629-32) and the Iroquois. The Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries have an equally firm grip on
Canada, especially in outposts in Wendat territory. Many also undergo martyrdom there during the
Iroquois Wars (Antoine Daniel, Jérôme Lalemant, his nephew Gabriel Lalemant, Jean de Brébeuf). When
Champlain died in Quebec in 1635, a large colony of three hundred people had already gathered at
his grave.

            After 40 years of activity by the Compagnie des Cent Associés, the main organiser of
colonisation and monopoly holder of the Nouvelle-France trade, the balance sheet is not great,
especially when compared to the activities of the Dutch and the English. In 1660, the population of
Nouvelle-France (in the valley of the St. Lawrence and Acadia rivers) was approximately 3,000, 1/3
of whom were children under 15, and among the adults, men outnumbered women twice over.

            Causes: 1. the wars in Europe, the Huronia wars; 2. French financing the Thirty Years’
War in Europe; 3. the lack of development of handicrafts and industries: the exclusive focus on the
fur trade, to which the local agriculture of the colonists serves as a food supplement, prevents
the development of industrial activities. The decision-maKing powers in the trade are in the hands
of the partners in France, and it is from their point of view, not Canada’s, that commercial
activities are therefore organized. The products destined for commercial exchange come from Europe,
and the profits from commercial transactions go to Europe. Quebec and Montreal serve only as
intermediaries, standing outside the stream of investment.

            In New England and the Nieuw Amsterdam area, on the other hand, there is a multifaceted
economic development. From agriculture, including export agriculture (tobacco in Virginia), to
crafts and trade. Over the same period as Nouvelle-France, New England grew to a population of
100,000.


4. Nouvelle-France as part of the „domaine royal” 1663-1760

            When King Louis XIV of France took personal rule and Colbert became his prime minister,
the situation in Nouvelle-France changed radically. Nouvelle-France passes into the direct
administration of the „domaine royal”. Trade is entrusted to the state monopoly company „Compagnie
des Indes Occidentales”. However, the royal power emphasizes agricultural colonization.

            The King therefore first ensures the security of the territory and sends a regiment of
the standing army – „le régiment Carignan-Salière” - to Nouvelle-France in 1665. After peace is
secured with the Iroquois, the regiment is disbanded and the King’s wish to settle permanently in
Nouvelle-France is indicated to the soldiers and officers: 400 soldiers comply. This procedure was
then repeated several times with other units sent from France. In addition to the royal army, the
Ministry of Marine organizes permanent infantry units, the „Compagnies franches de la Marine”,
whose members are recruited both in France and Canada, while the commanding cadre already comes
from the newly formed colonial nobility.

            The royal power also directly organizes the recruitment of settlers, whose number
reaches 500 a year in some years. This is done on the same contractual basis as in the days of the
Compagnie des Cent Associés. The settler undertakes to work for 3 years for the King or for
whomever the King has hired the workforce. He is paid for his transport there and, if he wishes,
back at the end of the contract period; he is provided with lodging and food and paid a modest
salary (150 livres a year). More than half of these workers then remain in Nouvelle-France.

            The King also addresses the shortage of women (men outnumber women twice over). There
is talk of  „filles du roi’” Contrary to legend, these are not convicts or prostitutes, but mostly
poor unmarried girls, often orphans without resources. The King grants them passage to
Nouvelle-France and, if they marry there, a dowry - usually 50 livres - as further bait for
potential husbands. An important institution here are the monastic institutions - especially the
Ursuline convent in Quebec, where the newly arrived girls are housed and educated until their
eventual marriage.

            One example: in the summer of 1669, Nicole Saulnier, an 18 year old Parisian, orphaned
on her father’s side, leaves for Quebec, marries in the fall to a settler who has been settled for
7 years. In 40 years of marriage and hard work, she raises a large family.

            More than a hundred such girls sail for Nouvelle-France each year, the total number of
„recruiting actions” reaching just under 800 from 1663 to 1673.


The origin of the settlers: they were mostly urban, relatively well educated (at least one-third
literate, well above the French average at the time), skilled in crafts, but generally poor. The
main areas of recruitment for men were Normandy (1/3; especially la Perche), later Poitou and the
area around La Rochelle, and for girls rather Paris and the surrounding area. In the new
environment, where autarkic farming became the main activity, these educational advantages were
quickly lost and in the second generation the settler population of Nouvelle-France was 90%
illiterate, especially since the influence of Protestantism, and thus the cult of Scripture
cultivated in the Protestant environment, was almost eliminated after 1627.


            The organisation of the settlements took over the Compagnie des Cent Associés, the
French feudal system of „seigneuries”, based on the principle of „nulle terre sans seigneur”.
Firstly, the noblemen are allocated the land under their civil administration and protection, and
these „seigneuries” are subdivided into „rotures” and distributed to the „censitaires”. They then
pay a tax (about 15%) to their lord and a tithe to the Church. However, in the conditions of the
hard colonial life, the position of the settlers is incomparably freer, more independent than that
of the peasants in France. The settlers consider all property as theirs, they dispose of it freely,
they move freely. Often the title of „seigneur” is a mere social ornament without any economic
effect, for the payment of taxes is very lax, and the settlers do not respect even such customs as
the obligation to grind grain in the lord’s mill. After all, the settlers call themselves neither
censitaires nor paysans, but „habitants” (i.e. owners). This word has been retained in Canadian
French to refer to a countyman to this day and reflects the pride of the early settlers.

            The area of each roture is usually 60 acres - arpents (i.e. about 20 hectares of dense
forest). It is necessary to grub and grub, so that the forest land is gradually converted into
arable land through hard work. The historian Louise Dechêne describes it thus:


À sa mort, tente ans après avoir reçu la concession, l’habitant de la première génération possède
30 arpents de terre arable, une pièce de prairie, une grange, une étable, une maison un peu plus
spacieuse, un chemin devant sa porte, des voisins, un banc à l’église. Sa vie a passé à défricher
et à bâtir.


When he dies, thirty years after receiving the concession, the first-generation inhabitant owns 30
arpents of arable land, a piece of meadow, a barn, a stable, a slightly larger house, a road in
front of his door, neighbors, a pew in church. His life was spent clearing and building.


After 1673, the King’s targeted colonisation policy came to an end, the flow of settlers ceased. In
1681, Nouvelle-France had a population of 10,000, and these are the grandparents of the most of
Canada’s current francophone inhabitants. The growth of the settler population is remarkably rapid:
15,000 around 1700, 18,000 in 1713, 35,000 in 1730, 65,000 at the time of the British Conquest in
1760, nearly 8-9 million today.

            In the 17th to 19th centuries the birth rate is 50-65 per mille, mortality, including
infant mortality, is relatively low, and in the countryside, where health and food conditions are
better, it is even lower than in the cities. A full 3/4 of children live to adulthood (in Europe at
that time it was only half). Yet agricultural production is growing twice as fast as the
population, and food prices had been falling continuously for two centuries. Half the girls marry
by the age of 20, half the families have more than ten children, widowers and widows mostly remarry
and remarry.

            The reason: an autarkic settler economy needs a lot of labour; the stronger and larger
the family, the more likely it is to establish itself, become rich, and buy and improve more land.
In the absence of agricultural exports and limited urban markets, the farm must produce everything
itself, from food to furniture, iron tools, basketry, and often cloth and clothing. Tesurization is
almost impossible, and if there are any savings, they are usually invested in buying new land.
Indeed, in a subsistence-oriented economy, the only guarantee of survival is sufficient land and a
healthy workforce.



5. Governance of Nouvelle-France

            The territory of Nouvelle-France is incorporated into the „domaine royal” (personal
property of the King), thus falling under the direct administration of the King, or rather the
King’s ministers, especially the Minister of the Navy, whose remit included the administration of
the colonies.


            The royal administration had two heads:

- „gouverneur general”: commander-in-chief of the army, France’s representative in relation to
„foreign countries”, i.e. to the English settlements in America and to the Indian tribes, the
supreme representative of the royal power in various negotiations. Governors were chosen from among
the highest nobility („noblesse d’épée“) of the Kingdom, first in France, later among the nobility
settled in Canada. The most famous governor was undoubtedly the energetic Louis Buade de Frontenac,
in office from 1672 to 1682 and from 1689 to 1698, when he died at the age of 76. His distinguished
successor is Philippe Rigaud de Vaudreuil (1703-1725).

 - „Intendant“: he is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the territory, the army’s
finances, the army’s supplies, the civil administration, but also the regulation of economic
activity (appointment of „commis“, „garde-magasin“ for the fur trade), the administration of the
fisk, customs, the administration of the port (appointment of „fonctionnaires du port“) and the
care of all the transport routes. He is chosen from the clerical nobility („noblesse de robe“). His
powers are extended via facti and he becomes the central figure in the life of the colony. In the
18th century, the intendants Hocquart (col. 1740-48), François Bigot (1748-60) stand out.

- The „Conseil souverain“, later the „Conseil supérieur“, appointed from among the leaders of
Nouvelle-France (nobility, clergy, army, notables), is at first an advisory council to the
governor, later fulfilling the role of supreme court, having under it at the local level the local
royal courts. This conception of „parlement“, purely judicial and French, differs substantially
from the local representative councils of England.


Ecclesiastical administration

            Among the early settlers, the ratio of Catholics and Huguenots was originally balanced,
but from the beginning the Huguenots had no claim to the establishment of self-government of church
affairs. The situation changes with the royal decree of 1627, when Nouvelle-France is reserved for
Catholics only, the Huguenots are only tolerated and denied the right to perform weddings and
church ceremonies. Nouvelle-France becomes the domain of Catholicism, thanks in large part to the
missionary activity first of the Franciscans, then of the Jesuits (see above). Their influence is
only weakened during the Iroquois Wars and the destruction of Huronia in 1655.

            Religious life and especially church administration are finally consolidated in 1674,
when, after a decade of negotiations between France and the Vatican, a diocese is finally
established with an episcopal see in Quebec. François de Laval (1623-1708) became the first bishop,
and de Saint-Vallier was his equally important successor.

            The parish gradually became the natural centre of all rural life and the local parish
priests the natural local authorities, often more important than the civil service. Church
festivals determine the rhythm of rural life.

            Despite the support of the King and the financial backing of the high church hierarchy,
recruitment of priests is inadequate, half the parishes often remain without priests, if only
because parishioners do not pay, or are too lazy to pay, tithes and parish priests have nothing to
live on. This is true even in the numerous „seigneuries“ that the Church receives by fief, either
directly to the diocesan administration or as land to religious orders (Ursulines, Sulpicians,
Jesuits, Franciscans). 80% of priests are concentrated in urban parishes, while 70% of the
population lives in the countryside. The system of parishes was completed throughout the territory
only in the first third of the 19th century. They become the mainstay of the Church’s influence not
French-Canadian society until the mid-20th century.


The Society of Nouvelle-France

            A significant part of the population lives in cities, a full 1/3, more than the
European average at the time. Around 1750, Quebec has 6,000 inhabitants, Montreal 4,000, other
cities (Trois-Rivières, Fort Frontenac - future Kingston, Louisbourg) even less. Quebec has some
stone buildings (cathedral, monasteries, hospital, administrative buildings, etc.), it also already
has fortifications.

            The main social activities are concentrated in the towns: colonial administration
officials live there, there are military garrisons, fur trade centres, colonial nobility live in
the towns. Even the Marquis de Moncalm, who had no attachment to colonial life, remarked that it
was possible to live in Quebec ‘à la mode de Paris’. Urban life, then, seems to represent something
superior to the general level of the rest of the population, and is protected (even financially) by
a distant royal court.

            The fact that there is little economic activity in the cities would attest to this. The
only exceptions are the fur trade and commerce in general, and only rarely craft production,
especially shipyards (200 ships between 1720-1740), ironworks (Forges Saint-Maurice near
Trois-Rivières).

            The main commercial activities are administered, managed and financed from France.
Merchants in Nouvelle-France serve primarily as intermediaries for European trade: everything sold
in Nouvelle-France is of European origin, not local, and everything bought (furs) is shipped to
Europe. The consequence: low capital accumulation in the colony, a hindrance of the development of
local production, an obstacle to the development of the local market and local trade, and, as a
result, a barrier to the emergence of a market for agricultural surpluses and the transformation of
subsistence agriculture into market agriculture.

            Even so, a large class of merchants would emerge in the towns, and these would become
the nucleus of Canada’s economic development in the subsequent English period. Nevertheless, this
bourgeoisie is at a considerable disadvantage in accessing various positions in the colonial
administration or the army. Here the main say still belongs to the nobility, either French or
colonial. Therefore, a large part of the bourgeoisie tries to break through to the nobility: by
marriage, by promotion to the nobility. The artisan class is not very strong. In addition to this,
there are still a small number of poor in the towns, servants (half of them either orphans or
children of the poor) and slaves - blacks and Indians as well. Sometimes they are even given a
function like that of the slave Mathieu Léveille, who was brought to Quebec to become an
executioner.

            Rural areas with 65%-70% of the population are devoted to agriculture. With a few
exceptions around the cities, it is subsistence agriculture, based on the work of the whole family.
Farmers sell little, but also buy little, capitalization is low, and it is not yet possible to get
significantly richer by farming or trading agricultural products. In spite of this, life for
peasants in Nouvelle-France is less difficult than in Europe. Hard work in difficult conditions,
having to rely only on oneself and one’s family, creates both a sense of autonomy and independence
and family cohesion. According to the judgment of an officer in 1752 »


les Canadiens de l’état commun sont indociles, entêtés et ne font rien qu’à leur fantaisie /

Canadians are commonly indomitable, stubborn and do nothing but as they please


and intendant Hocquart notes at the same time that

les Canadiens n’ont pas l’air grossier et rustique de nos paysans de France et qu’ils ont une trop
bonne opinion d’eux-mêmes, ce qui les empêche de réussir comme ils pourraient le faire/

Canadians don't have the coarse, rustic air of our French peasants, and they think too highly of
themselves, which prevents them from succeeding as they might


            The economic importance of the family is confirmed by the statistics: in the 18th
century, 40% of new land purchases, and therefore 40% of new agricultural settlements, were made by
entire families over 10 years of marriage. The purchase of new land was usually covered by a
mortgage on the old original family farm, which was then farmed by the eldest, already married son,
and from there, from the already established farm, supported the creation of a new family farm.
Agriculture in the province of Quebec has retained this family character to this day.

            An important part of the colonial style was life in the outposts, military outposts
along the Great Lakes, the upper Mississippi, and the Ohio, where soldiers, civil administrators,
merchants, as well as Natives and an increasing number of mestizos lived.


Art

            Culture generally came from France, with not only books but often everyday objects
imported. Therefore, local art is only slowly being created, and the main credit for this goes to
the church and church institutions (education, commissions to craftsmen and artists).

            The provincial art of Nouvelle-France is emerging. Let us mention the carvers Jacques
Leblond de Latour and François-Noël Levasseur, the painter Claude François, known as ‘Frère Luc’,
and the goldsmith François Ranvoyzé. They are all representatives of the Baroque.

            The typical Canadian colonial style in furniture and home furnishings is derived from
the bourgeois baroque.

            Nouvelle-France also hosted theatrical performances, the first of which was in 1606
thanks to Marc Lescarbot (1570-1642), who staged his allegorical play Le Théâtre de Neptune in
Port-Royal.


A comparison of the French and English colonial systems in America

            After 1750, nearly 1 million colonists lived in New England, compared to less than
70,000 in Nouvelle-France. This difference is due not only to different natural conditions,
decidedly more favorable in the more southerly English regions. The mode of colonization and the
manner in which the colonial territory was administered were also factors.

            English mercantilism and liberalism seem to have been far more effective. Economically,
it led to a far more organic and multifaceted effects. It allowed profit to remain at the point of
production, where capital accumulated, to which craft production and trade, then the agricultural
market, connected. Although such a territory does not bring as much profit to the mother country,
it is capable of financial autonomy and independent development.

            This is linked to the political situation: the liberal English administration created
representative bodies in the colonies - local parliaments, which at first had only a controlling
function, especially as regards finances, and could complain to the King’s representative, the
governor and his appointed government. The influence of these locally elected assemblies gradually
grew so that an advisory council to the governor, a kind of local government, was chosen from their
representatives.

            The French colonies, on the other hand, were administered and governed explicitly from
the European center, and the same was true in the economic sphere. The advantage of such a system
was clearly that a strong European centre could provide significant protection (military) and was
also a shield for the economic situation. It also made it possible to manage and plan the
development of colonization. In effect, however, it rather hindered and undermined the development
of the colony. There was never enough enough profit left in Nouvelle-France to develop a
self-sufficient and rich economic life. In times of crisis, such as wars, the colonial territory
quickly became a financial burden to the metropolis. This was the case in Nouvelle-France. Whereas
New England was able to amply supply the British army almost entirely from its own resources in
food, armaments and men.


The Franco-Iroquois Wars

            The coexistence of the French had not been without problems since the time of
Champlain, and the raids of the Confederacy of Five Nations did not cease altogether even after the
King sent a regular army („régiment Carignan-Salière“) to Nouvelle-France in 1665. On the contrary,
they took every opportunity to take advantage of the rising tensions between France and England,
which supplied them with arms. This is particularly the case after 1689, when William III and Louis
XIV declare war on each other. 1689 Lachine is raided and completely plundered, 1691 100 colonists
are killed in Verchères. France is forced to increase its military presence to 1,400 men, and the
French, especially the militia of volunteers („Compagnies franches de la Marine“), learn to wage
war in the manner of the Natives (ambushes, small-scale warfare in the midst of vast forests). They
eventually achieve a certain mastery of this, and a treaty of neutrality is concluded with the
Confederacy in 1701. This treaty would never be broken.


The Franco-British wars

            Until the second half of the 17th century, England and France were more like allies in
American affairs, having the same opponent: The Dutch (Nieuw Amsterdam, later New York). The only
exception is the situation in 1628 (the conquest of Quebec by the Kerk brothers). It is only when
the English take over the Dutch East India Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company is founded that the
situation changes.

            1689 War is declared and the French in Nouvelle-France face not only the Iroquois but
the English as well. 1690 The English fleet again attempts to conquer Quebec (Sir William Phipps).
The French, however, have the situation under control: 1686 Pierre de Troyes, with soldiers and
volunteers from Montreal (Lemoyne d’Iberville), occupies all the trading posts of the Hudson’s Bay
Company, and Governor Frontenac (1689) makes a raid into New York State. 1697 peace is made (and
shortly afterwards - 1701 - a treaty with the Iroquois).

            1702 The War of the Spanish Succession (Guerre de succession d’Espagne) breaks out and
England joins the anti-French coalition. In America, the forces are equalized, 1706-1709 the French
operate in Newfoundland (Terre-Neuve), but the English seize Acadia in 1710. However, the decision
is made in Europe, where France is forced to conclude the not very favourable Peace of Utrecht
(1713). Under it, she cedes the conquered territories at Newfoundland and James’s Cove and must
renounce Acadia. In return, it receives the right to continue to use the Newfoundland coast freely
for fishing and to establish the military fortress of Louisbourg at the mouth of the St Lawrence
(Cap Breton - Île Royale).

            The Peace of Utrecht is significant for Nouvelle-France because it ushered in a period
of undisturbed peace from 1713 to 1744 and a period of great development associated with the name
of Governor Vaudreuil (1703-1725).


The fate of Acadia

            The center of Acadia is Annapolis (Port-Royal). The 2 000 inhabitants of this territory
became, in 1700, subjects of the King of England. He is represented by a general governor. The
English administration is quite tolerant, the colonists are not forced to follow the Anglican
Church, the Catholic priests of the Quebec diocese remain in their parishes, and the colonists are
exempted from the tax they would otherwise have paid to the owners of the estate (seigneurie). In
addition, the New England market is opened up to them. There is rapid development. Around 1750, the
area had 10,000 inhabitants, almost exclusively French. The English demand only neutrality. The
inhabitants of Acadia call the English „ces amis ennemis“ (“those enemy fiends”). Acadia becomes
part of the colony of Nova Scotia.

            The situation begins to change after 1744, when new conflicts arise between the French
and the English (but not in Acadia). On the eve of the Seven Years War (1756-1763), the Governor of
Nova Scotia, Colonel Charles Lawrence, demands an oath of allegiance from the Acadians to the King
of England. They refuse and Lawrence orders their deportation. This is „le grand dérangement“.
Village by village, 7,000 inhabitants are boarded and forcibly relocated along the New England
coast, some taken to Louisiana, some repatriated to France. Many (700 in 1758) perish in sea
storms, many from famine. About 2,000 manage to escape into the woods. Nevertheless, after the
conflicts, many attempt to return to their former settlements, but the fertile land has since been
occupied by English colonists. The deportation of the Acadians is the first tragic event of the
French-English conflict in America.


            In 1754, conflicts occurred mainly in the Ohio Basin (Fort Duquesne, now Pittsburg),
where the French controlled a whole system of fortified points and prevented English colonists from
further westward penetration. The English government therefore moves two regiments of the regular
army the following year, and the French do the same, sending troops to Nouvelle-France to reinforce
the naval forces for the first time since Louis XIV. The military operations and the battle south
of Lake Champlain have no victors.

            1756 The Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) begins in Europe. It is the result of the
„reversal of alliances“ („renversement des alliances“) negotiated by the Cardinal de Bernis and
confirmed by the duc de Choiseul. France is mainly involved in Europe, while in England, after a
long dispute, it is not King George II’s concept that is being promoted, but that of his minister
William Pitt, who wants England to concentrate on expanding its colonial territories. Therefore,
out of an army of 140,000, a full 20,000 are destinated for operations in North America. In New
England, this army has reliable operational support (weapons, transport, horses) and a strong
economic base. Therefore the whole operation is not such a burden on England. In addition, England
also has a clear superiority at sea and can often block the flow of troops and food from the
metropolis to Nouvelle-France.

            In a way, France is reaping the consequences of its centralized colonial policy, which
did not allow Nouvelle-France to develop significantly. The latter is exhausted rather quickly by
war and blockade, the winter of 1757-1758 is harsh, and there is hunger in Quebec and Montreal.
Nouvelle-France had to be supplied with food from France. While the French in Europe feel that “la
guerre enrichit le Canada” (“the war enriches Canada”), only the merchants who broker the supplies,
including the intendant of Nouvelle-France, François Bigot, are getting richer (Bigot was then
accused of causing France’s defeat; in fact, Bigot was no more corrupt than was usual in those
times).

            The defence of Nouvelle-France is led by the governor-general Pierre Rigaud de
Vaudreuil (1755-1760), a descendant of the famous governor of the early part of the century. He is
in tune with the Canadian milieu, and in the war he favours tactics in which the local militia
(„Compagnies franches de la Marine“) have proved themselves, and these tactics celebrate a certain
success in 1756 and 1757. With army reinforcements, however, the commander-in-chief, the Marquis de
Montcalm, comes to Nouvelle-France and promotes the European tactics of regular armies. This
strategy turned out fatal, especially as the French had only 3,550 regular army soldiers, 2,500
naval forces and 15,000 members of the volunteer militia. While the militia celebrates success, the
regular army loses position after position: Louisbourg (1758), Fort Duquesne (1758).

            1759 General James Wolfe commits to an operation against fortified Quebec. On the night
of September 12-13, 1760, he manages to cross the St. Lawrence River in a deft maneuver to
penetrate the Plains of Abraham above the Quebec walls. This forces Montcalm to fight in the open
field (otherwise Quebec would be completely surrounded). Both generals fall in battle, but the
French side is defeated.

            However, the French do not yet clear the entire territory and continue fighting until
the end 1760.  They even lay siege to Quebec, where this time the English are enclosed. The fate of
Nouvelle-France, however, is not decided until the Treaty of Paris in February 1763. The reaction
of French public opinion even before the treaty is signed is interesting: most, including the
elites, consider the loss of a „frozen piece of land“ (Voltaire, Candide) as a matter not worthy of
much concern.


6. The beginnings of British rule (1760-1791)

            By the Treaty of Paris of February 10, 1763, France loses Acadia, Cape Breton,
Nouvelle-France and evacuates the Mississippi basin except New Orleans. In return, the islands of
Guadeloupe and Martinique were returned to France and the right to fish in the waters of
Newfoundland was retained.

            In a short period of time, Nouvelle-France is deprived of much of its political,
economic and cultural elite, who usually opt for repatriation to France. Only the Catholic Church
(about 150 priests), a few members of the Canadian nobility (about 150 families), merchants, and
all the „habitants“, mostly rural people, remain.

            As far as the situation in America is concerned, the British government faces two
problems:

            1. whether and how to make economic use of the American colonies to remedy its own
economic situation, greatly burdened by the Seven Years’ War. The main question is whether and how
to tax trade with the colonies. 1765 The English Parliament passes the Stamp Duty Act, and at the
same time an Act under which troops in the colonies were to be maintained by local taxation. 1767
The passage of the Townshend Acts imposes a port duty on the importation of tea, sugar, dyes and
other goods into American ports.

            Because of great colonist opposition, these laws are gradually repealed. However, the
English government seeks to strengthen its influence in the colonies at the expense of
self-government: from 1772, governors are paid from the Royal treasury, not from taxes in the
colonies, to ensure their independence from the local situation. Finance is then raised by the
government by granting - for a fee - commercial monopolies (tea) to the East India Company. When
the port of Boston fails to respect this arrangement, it is closed and the colony of Massachusetts
is deprived of self-government.

            1774 The Continental Congress is held in Philadelphia, attended by representatives of
the 13 colonies as well as representatives of the new English colonists in Canada. The resolution
passed calls for a review of tax policy and provides for a boycott as a form of resistance to
British orders. A Continental Association was established to coordinate the actions and committees
of safety were to control the implementation of the resolution. Conflict breaks out, settlers arm
themselves: 1775 American Revolution bursts out; organizationally, the II. The Continental Congress
in Philadelphia creates a standing army and puts George Washington in charge. Independence is
declared on July 4, 1776 and the fighting ends with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on
September 3, 1783.

            2. How to incorporate the French, Catholic population in Canada into the British
Empire, both administratively and legally, as well as civilly. At the same time, in the first
phase, the turbulences in neighbouring New England forced a most cautious approach, especially
when, in 1778, France became an ally of the American settlers (along with Spain) thanks to the
influence and influence of Benjamin Franklin in Paris. In the second phase, especially after 1783,
the influx of pro-British colonists from the United States (‘loyalists’) radically changed the
composition of the population and thus the whole situation.



1760-1764 Canada under military administration („Gouvernement militaire“)

            The commander-in-chief of the British troops, General Amherst, appoints military
governors to the various cities, among whom James Murray (Quebec) and Thomas Cage (Montreal) must
be mentioned.

            Amherst’s policy is cautious. and responsive. All the military governors and their
secretaries speak French, they are tolerant in ecclesiastical matters, and preserve the privileges
of the Catholic clergy, whose head, in the absence of a bishop, is the vicar-general, Jean-Olivier
Briand. French legislation is maintained, even in the military tribunals, which are responsible for
criminal cases. In civil cases, militia commanders (French) and parish priests act as conciliators
instead of „seigneurs“.

            The governors take care of the recovery of the economy, preserve the iron production of
Saint-Maurice, and protect the French merchants from the monopoly of the fur trade by the newly
arrived English and New England colonists. Moreover, they highly value the economic abilities of
the French population, knowing that the British colonists they invite are not motivated to settle
down in the inhospitable Canada.

            The situation gradually changes with the arrival of a small but influential class of
British and American merchants, accustomed to British legal customs, British constitutionalism and
the position of the Anglican state church. Their demands were backed up by the Royal Proclamation
of 7 October 1763, which announced Canada’s early transition to civil government and the
introduction of the British system of administration (‘common law’).


1764-1774 Canada under English civil administration

            In August 1764, James Murray is appointed Governor of Canada (excluding Nova Scotia)
and is ordered to implement the British administration system. However, from Westminster and from
London, the situation appeared much simpler than the immediate experience of Canadian conditions
suggested. Hence, too, Murray was inclined to compromise, and to modify the effect of the various
articles of the royal proclamation in favour of the French population:

            1. He sets up a Council („Conseil“ - cabinet), but in such a way that its members are
overwhelmingly supportive of francophone Canadians. But it refuses to call elections and to
establish an Assembly („Assemblée“) while, under existing laws (citizenship, electoral census), a
handful of newly arrived British traders would have a majority.

            2. He establishes the British judicial system: for criminal and certain civil cases,
the „Court of King’s Bench“ („Cour du Banc du Roi“) and for civil cases, the „Courts of Justice“
(„Cour des Plaids communs“), but by his own authority enforce that, in spite of custom and existing
law, French-Canadians should be admitted to trial as jurors in the former case and as advocates in
the latter. He introduced British procedural customs, such as habeas corpus, but retained some
elements of French legislation, such as the Court of Appeal.

            3. In the religious sphere, the Anglican Church becomes the Church of the State
(„Église établie“), but by skilful diplomatic negotiation Murray succeeds in occupying the See of
Quebec (Jean-Olivier Briand, Bishop 1764-1784, Louis Mariauchau d’Esgly, Coadjutor 1772, Bishop
1784, the first Canadian to occupy the Episcopal See).


            Murray’s policy met with strong opposition from the newly established British incomers.
Murray eventually resigns and leaves. However, even his successor, Colonel Guy Carleton, though
much more sympathetic to the British mercantile element, did not fundamentally change the political
trend. Insofar as he proposes changes to the judicial system, they are based on the adoption of the
principles of French law, supplemented by the procedural institution of habeas corpus and the
institution of the jury. Carleton also intervened several times in favor of „habitants“ in cases
where they had been judicially or administratively prejudiced. He improved the efficiency of the
colonial administration by a more careful selection of officials.

            The discontent of the British merchant class was growing, especially when elsewhere in
America they were enjoying all the benefits of the British liberal colonial system: this is the
case in the 13 colonies (future USA), but also since 1758 in Nova Scotia, where the Governor and
his Council are controlled by an elected Assembly. In this situation, the British Canadians refuse
to pay taxes and place the colonial government in considerable difficulty. At this time, there is
also a general increase in tensions between the American colonies and England, and the British
government has an interest in keeping the situation calm


Quebec Act - Acte de Québec - 1774-1791

            This constitutional settlement was promulgated by Guy Carleton with the approval of the
British government. It was primarily aimed at regulating internal affairs in Canada, but had other
aspects, driven primarily by developments in New England (see territorial aspect).

            1. Adjustment of the territory of Quebec: the administrative territory was extended to
the Ohio and Mississippi basins to prevent the spread of ‘squatters’, i.e. arbitrary land grabs,
beyond the Alleghanies. This was an obvious reaction to developments in New England and an attempt
to keep as much of America under control, directly, without the supervision of any elected body.

            2 The executive power is in the hands of a governor appointed by the King. The Governor
is assisted by a Council („Conseil“), whose 17 to 22 members are appointed by the Crown. At the
same time, the decree excluding Catholics from public offices (Council, civil service) is repealed.
This means that French-Canadians are appointed to both the civil service and the Council: of the 22
members of the Council, 7 are Catholics and 17 are favourably disposed towards the
French-Canadians, with only one member representing the British merchant class.

            As this Council was not representative of an elected body, it had no powers in the
financial sphere (taxation) and could not take substantial decisions in the religious sphere, nor
in legislation concerning more serious crimes, without the King’s permission.

            3. In the religious sphere, the Catholics are being equalized. The Catholic Church is
granted the right to collect tithes. This guarantees it financial resources. However, the Church of
England („Église établie“) is the State Church and a land reserve of 1/7 of the uncolonized
territories is created for the income of the Church of England.

            4. A dual source of law is established in the judiciary domain. For criminal law the
British model applies, in civil law the French one. However, it is also decreed that a gradual
introduction of the British legal system would take place.

            This situation outrages the influential British business class, whose representatives
also attend the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia at that time. The rebellious American
colonists also include Canada in their plans to secede from England. In this, paradoxically, they
also have the support of a large number of Canadian „habitants“ who resent the reintroduction of
both the tithe and French civil jurisprudence, which returns powers to the local nobles
„seigneurs“.

            The reliable allies of the British are mainly the Catholic Church and the former French
colonial elites. The position of the English Canadians is not radical either, since commercial and
other interests (furs), after all, connect them more with Europe and England than with the New
England cause.

            Hence the military campaign of the Americans into Canada had no lasting success. When
they fail to take Quebec City, they are driven out of Montreal and in 1776 leave Canada for good.
The American presence also radically changes the attitude of the „habitants“ who were initially
sympathetic to some of the democratic principles of the Americans. Direct contact convinced the
inhabitants that traditions, beliefs and ways of life were so different that a prolonged
coexistence with the Americans would be unthinkable. The French-Canadians became indifferent to the
conflict on the American continent. Guy Carleton puts it this way: “There is nothing to fear from
them in times of prosperity, and nothing to expect from them in times of distress.”

            The results of the American Revolution, however, would have a profound effect on
Canadian history, for the American Revolution was in fact a civil war, and it had its winners as
well as its losers, who in most cases had their property confiscated. Most of the refugees, called
„United Empire Loyalists,“ sought to establish themselves in the northern territories: 30,000
colonists arrived in Nova Scotia after 1783, 20,000 in Quebec territory.

            In the British territory of Nova Scotia, the settlement of new settlers was relatively
successful, and the main problem seemed to be the limited fertility of the territory. At the
request of settlers in the New Brunswick area, who felt that the administrative center Halifax was
too remote, the territory of Nova Scotia was properly divided into Nova Scotia (Nouvelle-Écosse)
and New Brunswick (Nouveau-Brunswick).

            In the St. Lawrence River Valley, however, the English colonists encountered the
petulance of the French settlers, who banded together to prevent the newcomers from buying or
otherwise acquiring land. Therefore, the main area of the new „townships“ became the previously
uncolonized areas across the Ottawa River, especially around Niagara and York, the future Toronto.

            This radical change in population proportions had two consequences. The first was the
coalescence of French-speaking Canadians around the principles enunciated in the Quebec Act (Acte
de Québec), which guaranteed them certain rights even while maintaining English rule.

            The second consequence was the intensification of pressure from the English-speaking
population, which was accustomed to the British administrative and judicial system and which
demanded the introduction of the customary freedoms and the election of an Assembly - the House of
Commons. It seemed absurd to the British to submit to French laws, especially on the sensitive
question of agrarian laws. Nor could the Governor or his Council ignore, as they had in the past,
the voices of the Anglophone population, which was growing in numbers.



7. The Constitution of 1791 and developments up to 1837-1840

            Reform measures had to be taken, and Sir Guy Carleton, newly given the title of Lord
Dorcherster, promulgated the „Constitutional Act“ („Acte Constitutionnel“) in 1791. The Act granted
constitutional liberties by creating an elected assembly. It separated also the French-Canadians
from the Anglo-Canadians by the territorial division into Upper and Lower Canada (Haut-Canada,
Bas-Canada).

            The new arrangement wanted to prevent the conflicting situation of the 13 American
colonies, whose secession is judged by the British to had been caused by a too hasty development of
democratic tendencies. In Canada, they want to counteract possible problems by constitutional
measures, i.e. the establishment of an unelected upper chamber appointed by the King and the
governor, the Legislative Council („Conseil législatif“), and by more social measures aimed at
creating a local landed commercial aristocracy as a source of loyal administrative cadres for the
colonial administration.

            Canada is thus divided into Upper and Lower Canada. Quebec (Lord Dorchester, i.e. Guy
Carleton) is the seat of the „gouverneur général“ (the „governor-general“), while Quebec also
remains the seat of the „lieutenant-gouverneur“ (initially „major général“ A. Clarke), while the
lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada (the „lieutenant-colonel“ J.G. Simcoe) is based first in
Newark, then York, now Toronto.

            An Assembly („Assemblée“) is elected in each part, of 16 members in Upper Canada and 50
in Lower Canada, for terms of 4 years. Any British subject (male only) over 21 years of age whose
annual income exceeded 40 shillings in the country or £5 in the city could vote. Women voters,
Natives and Jews were also eligible to vote. Laws voted in these Assemblies had to be approved by
Legislative Councils („Conseil législatif“), whose members, it was said, were appointed by the King
or Governor. In each part, the Lieutenant-Governor then appointed his own Executive Council
(„Conseil exécutif“), his own government, usually in accordance with the opinion of the Assembly.
The status of the state Anglican Church, or of the Catholic Church, was not otherwise substantially
changed.

            The Constitution Act becomes the basis for the organization of Canada for the next 50
years. Yet the other Canadian provinces - Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland - are not
affected.


Characteristics and objectives of the new government

            1. respect for democratic principles, while maintaining a strong executive that, if it
wished, did not have to take the opinion of the elected Assembly into account. The executive, i.e.
the chief governor and the deputy governors, are appointed by the King and determine for themselves
who will be members of the upper house of parliament, the Legislative Council. The Executive power
can thus control the legislature to a large extent. The Executive also has extensive powers of its
own, particularly in the appointment of individual officers and administrators.

            2. The undisguised aim of the English government is to create a layer of wealthy
business and official „gentry“ (oligarchy) in Canada which would become a permanent mainstay of the
Conservative regime: in Upper Canada this layer was called the „Family Compact“ and in Lower Canada
the „Administration Party“ - the „Parti bureaucrate“. This oligarchy gradually becomes a target for
criticism and a source of political and social tension between the government and the radically
minded middle and lower classes. Developments after 1840 would be geared towards further
democratisation.

            3. The consistent separation of the French-speaking population (220,000) from the
Anglophone one, numerically weaker (80,000), is a safeguard for the Anglophone Canadians.  If the
territorial unity had been maintained and the proportional representation in Assembly applied, it
would have led to the domination of Francophone Canadians.

            At the same time - and until 1867 - New Brunswick and Nova Scotia formed separate
Maritime Provinces („Provinces Maritimes“).

            Irish immigrants would play an important role in further demographic developments from
1820 and then 1840 and until the end of the century. As Catholics, they were acceptable to Catholic
French-Canadians, but they also reinforced the Anglophone element. The gradually constituted
demographic balance between the French-Canadians and the Anglo-Canadians (until 1840) outweighed to
the advantage of the Anglophone element. It is no coincidence that further constitutional and
administrative reforms took place after 1840.

            The establishment of 1791 calmed the situation for a time, and satisfied both the
English party in Upper Canada and the French party in Lower Canada. Gradually, however, as this
self-contained stratum, linked by family ties, business interests and administrative functions,
which completely dominated all the key positions, was formed, the rift between the elected
Assemblies, where the main voice belongs to the radicals or French-Canadian „nationalists“ - the
„Patriotes“ - and the oligarchy (Family Compact, Administration Party - Parti bureucrate) began to
grow.

            In the English part of Canada, the Upper Canada, there was a strong influence of the
undoubtedly more democratic regime of the United States, where many of the newcomers came from. New
immigrants from the British Isles, mostly poor and therefore disenfranchized in Britain, were also
more radical in their thinking. Their numbers grew as the population of Upper Canada grew: from
80,000 in 1815 to 210,000 in 1830 and to 350,000 around 1840. The „Reform Party“ was led from 1820
by prominent politicians such as William Lyon Mackenzie, a Scotsman by birth and a Republican by
conviction, and the moderates William and Robert Baldwin. The conservative „Family Compact“,
strengthened after 1815 by the arrival of, among others, retired officers from the Napoleonic Wars,
heroes since Waterloo, was led by the Anglican Bishop John Strachan. The University of Toronto,
founded by him and under his religious influence, became a kind of school for the administrative
cadres of the colony.

            Journalist Mackenzie (journals Colonial Advocate, The Constitution) ruthlessly
criticizes the oligarchic Tory government, and in December 1837 - following the example of the
armed uprising in Lower Canada - the situation escalates into a storm as the population marches on
Kingston. The rebellion is quickly put down, and Mackenzie flees to the United States. The British
government, however, sees analogies in the events to the American Revolution and realizes the need
for reform.

            In French-speaking Lower Canada, the situation escalates in a similar way, complicated
by the national aspect. As long as the Vice-Governor leaned on the French nobility and the Church
in the „Conseil législatif“ and „Conseil exécutif“, there was harmony. After 1800, however, by a
system of new nominations, the French-Canadian aristocrats in the Councils were gradually replaced
by the British aristocracy. Liberal French-Canadians move into opposition, whether in the
newspaper, Le Canadien, or in the Assembly, where Louis-Joseph Papineau played a prominent role as
its speaker since 1815.

            At the political level, there is thus an alliance between the English Liberals and the
liberal French-Canadians. Both sides agree on the demand for representative government and the need
to hold the government directly responsible to an elected assembly. When, in 1834, Papineau
formulates and puts to a vote in the Assembly a list of 82 demands on the British government, even
moderate Anglo-Canadians support him. The intransigence of the British government on the one hand,
and Papineau’s radicalism and certain anti-clericalism on the other, escalated the situation and
both the Catholic Church and the moderate Anglo-Canadians turned away from him. After the riots of
1837 (the first, in the by-election of 1832, ended up as the „massacre de Montréal“), Papineau too
had to leave Canada and flee, like Mackenzie, to the United States and later to France.  The
rebellion reverberated as late as 1838, when a republic was briefly declared in Quebec territory.
12 Patriots were convicted and executed by hanging, 58 were deported to Australia, and others had
to seek refuge in the United States and Europe.

            After the events of 1837-1838, the English government suspended the existing
constitution and appointed Lord John George Lambton Durham „ Commissioner and Governor General of
British North America“. His tenure is brief - 28 May-1 November 1838 - but his Report on the
Affairs of British North America (1839), more than 200 pages long, has a profound effect on
subsequent developments. From there the road to the reforms of 1840 led.


            The development of relations between Great Britain and the United States is of great
importance for the development of the external relations of the British colonies in North America.
The latter did not give up the idea of forming one big Union including Canada. In 1803 Napoleon
sells Louisiana to the United States for 80 million francs, and when England is bound in Europe by
the continental blockade and war with Napoleon, they declare war on Great Britain (1812-14). It is
also one of the last of the „Fur Wars“. British allies in this conflict are the Natives, and it is
their last major war in the northeast of the continent (Tecumseh). The Americans also count on the
sympathy of the French-Canadians, but they remain entirely loyal. The Americans are defeated and
the peace of Ghent restores the status quo ante. In 1818, the 49th parallel is agreed as the future
border - up to the Rocky Mountains: ‘la route des fourrures reste sur le territoire canadien’.


Cultural life

            The economic rise of the colony, supported by the influx of new colonists, was
reflected in the development of the various arts. Along with British artists, especially painters
and engravers, came a pre-romantic and romantic sense of the beauty of the Canadian landscape, as
shown in the landscape paintings of George Heriot, James Pattison Cockburn and George Russell
Dartnell. Of the French-Canadians, Joseph Légaré stands out. Like Antoine Plamondon, was devoted
especially to religious iconography. Here, again, the classical aesthetic is more prominent. Among
the leading portraitists are William Berczy and Louis Dulongpré.

            The different aesthetic traditions influence the double-tracked nature of contemporary
architecture. French-Canadian builders still remain associated with French classicism, as evidenced
by the ecclesiastical buildings of Joseph Robillard, François Baillargé and his son Thomas, while
Anglo-Canadians prefer English Neoclassicism and Neo-Gothicism, represented by William Hall and
William Robb (Anglican Cathedral in Quebec) and James O’Donnell (St. Mary’s Catholic Cathedral in
Montreal). In civic architecture, English taste completely dominates, even in French-Canadian
builders such as Louis Charland and François-Xavier Daveluy.

            Music is associated with the creation of the first musical ensembles, such as Judge
Jonathan Sewell’s chamber orchestra and the orchestras founded by Frederick Glackemeyer,
Marie-Hippolyte-Antoine Dessan and the composer Charles Sauvageau. Among the original works, one
can pick out folk songs and contemporary songs intended for federal or electoral assemblies, later
collected by Frédéric-Ernest-Amédée Gagnon in his collection Chansons populaires du Canada (1865).

            Journalism (Le Canadien, La Minerve) is important for the development of literature in
this period, and fiction is born within this framework. It is not until the 1830s that the first
independent collection of poetry (Michel Bibaud, Épîtres, satires, chansons, épigrammes et autres
vers, 1830) and the first novels (Philippe-Ignace-François Aubert de Gaspé the Younger, L’Influence
d’un livre, 1837; François-Réal Angers, Les Révélations du crime ou Cambray et ses complices, 1837)
are published.



8. The United Canada Act and the progress towards the creation of the Confederation of Canada
(1840-1867)

            Lord Durham’s proposals were not only inspired by his democratic convictions and the
fact that he followed in political conception the liberal views of Jeremy Bentham (Emancipate your
colonies, 1789), which in effect led to the creation of the British Commonwealth.

            In Canada, by about 1830, the francophone and anglophone populations were already
equal. The influx of mainly Irish and Scottish settlers was also facilitated by the newly
developing trade in building timber, which completely replaced the fur trade in Canadian trade
after 1830. Ships exporting building timber to Europe brought new agricultural settlers on the
return journey - at cheap prices. Their numbers could be expected to continue to grow significantly
with the ongoing Industrial Revolution and the concentration of land property in Britain.

            The idea of assimilating the French-Canadians was therefore present in English
thinking, especially as their cultural and intellectual background was so weak that Durham could
consider them ‘people with no history, nor literature’. Nor was French, at least initially, the
national language in the new state.

            The Union Act (Acte d’Union) was voted by the British Parliament in July 1840. The two
provinces were united into one entity. The executive was headed by a governor appointed by the King
and an Executive Council („Conseil Exécutif“) chosen by him. Legislative power was divided between
an elected lower house, the Assembly („Assemblée“), and an appointed Legislative Council („Conseil
Législatif“), but nominations had to be based solely on the initiative of the Canadian governor,
the government and the Assembly. The Executive was also to become fully responsible to the
Assembly, and the powers of the Governor were to be gradually assumed by the Prime Minister, while
the Governor would remain only the representative of the British power and the King.

            In August 1840 Charles Poulett Thomson, Lord Sydenham, was appointed Governor. His task
was not an easy one:

            1. to prepare the transition to the new constitutional system, to create a suitable
political climate, including in terms of state-building and willing political parties to cooperate
with each other (including Anglo-Canadians and French Canadians).

            2. To create a unified legal and administrative environment in the hitherto disparate
parts (see „tenures seigneuriales“ and French laws in Lower Canada).

            3. To encourage the modernization of the country (secularization, liberalization,
laicization) through legislative work.


            For his work, Sydenham had support in the new policies of the British government,
especially in the „Colonial Secretary“, Lord John Russell. The newly elected parliament met in
Kingston in June 1841. Sydenham judiciously selected the members of his Executive Council from
among moderates of both the Reform and Conservative movements, forming the later responsible
state-building political class. He failed, however, to enlist the cooperation of Francophones. He
also continues to hold strong powers and comes into conflict with parliament over the
constitutional responsibilities of ministers.

            It was only Sir Charles Bagot, who succeeded Sydenham (1842-43), who won the
cooperation of the moderate francophone „Patriots“-liberals. Thus the reformers Robert Baldwin and
Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine collaborate in his Executive Council.

            However, the transition to a representative executive („gouvernement responsable“) is
the work of Governor Lord Elgin, Durham’s son-in-law (1847-54). Elgin is a statesman of great
stature who can respect his political opponents. He also proposes Papineau, returning from exile,
to the cabinet and only relents in the face of opposition from the leaders of the strongest
political party. Though a Tory himself, he respects the election results and entrusts the
government and a pair of pro-reform Whigs, Baldwin and Lafontaine, with the job. Although he chairs
the Executive Council, he delegates real power, with the support of the Minister of the Colonies,
Earl Grey, to the Prime Ministers from 1848 onwards: initially to the reformists Baldwin and
Lafontaine, and from 1851 and especially 1854 to the coalition of Conservatives and moderate
Liberals Mac Nab - Morin.

            Elgin is Canada’s last great governor, his successors will play only a representative
role, and the political leadership will alternate mainly between representatives of the two main
political parties of the Conservatives and Liberals: Allan Napier Mac Nab, John Macdonald,
Augustin-Norbert Morin, Étienne-Pascal Taché, George-Étienne Cartier. Alongside these strong
state-forming parties, extreme political currents are also emerging in Canada: in the Anglophone
part, the anticlerical and anti-French Canadian „Clear Grits“ („men of pure grain, of character“;
George Brown), in Francophone Lower Canada, the nationalist and pro-American republican „rouges“
(Papineau).

            The success of the whole reform is underpinned by the overall economic development and
increase in prosperity. The important legislative work of this whole period must be emphasized, in
which the foundations for the future national unity of Canada are laid.

            1. Creating a unified framework for land tenure. The abolition of both the „tenures
seigneuriales“ and the „land fund of the Church of England“ („réserves du clergé“). The transition
to the principle of freehold land acquisition creates the basis for the agricultural colonization
of the prairies.

            2. Equalization of the French language (1848), enactment of the principle of parity of
seats in the Assembly.

            3. Laws on local government and its financing.

            4. The creation of an education system independent of the churches, the emacipation of
the University of Toronto from the influence of the Church of England. Separation of Church and
State (1854). In Quebec, however, the Catholic Church retained control of all levels of schools.

            5. Economic laws: the introduction of a new currency - the Canadian dollar (1853), the
conclusion of a trade treaty with the United States, laws encouraging the construction of railways.
These expanded from 200 miles in 1853 to 1,800 miles in 1859.

            6. Transformation of the Legislative Council into an elected body (1856).


External relations

            Economic and political pressure from the United States and the strengthening of liberal
economic measures by the British government (Robert Peel) created a demand in Canada around 1850
for annexation to the United States. In this situation, however, even the reformists Balwin and
Lafontaine remained loyal to their political opponent Lord Elgin and suppressed the secessionist
movement. An agreement is reached: in the context of a trade reciprocity agreement with the US,
Canada leaves the currency area of the English pound and moves closer to the US by creating the
Canadian dollar.

            In 1846, a compromise is also reached on the border with the USA: the 49th degree
border (Treaty of 1818) is extended across the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, where the Vancouver
Peninsula is additionally ceded to Canada. This was changed by the fact that in 1867 Tsar Alexander
II sells the territory of Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million. The situation becomes
somewhat more complicated during the American Civil War (1861-64), when Canadians sympathize with
the South. Therefore, the U.S. government abrogates the trade treaty (1864), but with peace in the
U.S., this dispute vanished.



9. British North America Act 1867 (Acte de l’Amérique du Nord Britannique)

            Immigration and a sharp increase in population (from 2.4 million to 3.2 million between
1851 and 1861) leads to the predominance of the Anglophone element, which thus begins to be
disadvantaged by the current laws in Parliament (half of the seats go to French-Canadians). The
radicalism of George Brown’s Clear Grits party grows, rebelling against the domination of the
„clerical East“, i.e. the French-Canadians. In the 1857 election, Anglophone radicals win several
seats in Parliament.

            Furthermore, the constitutional model does not allow for the incorporation of the
Maritime Provinces, or any other provinces, into a single national entity. At the same time, the
annexation of the rich west, where new rail lines were already heading under the United States, had
to be occupied before they could be acquired for annexation to the US. This danger became more
acute after the establishment of a railroad connection between central Canada and the Mississippi
basin.

            There was also an economic moment: after the end of the Crimean War (1857), Europe
opened up trade with Russian grain and Canada entered a period of recession, reinforced by the
situation in the USA (war and reduced sales, termination of the reciprocal trade agreement). New
markets have to be found and the economic zone expanded.

In 1862, the Quebec Assembly considered the question of creating a federation covering the whole of
what is nowadays Canada, particularly in terms of a single railway network, trade and political
organisation.

            However, it was not until 1864 that the Conservatives (John A. Macdonald) and the
Liberals joined the Radicals (Brown) and the Liberals gained a majority. It was, of course, also
necessary to convince the Maritime Provinces, to create a sense of belonging, hitherto completely
lacking. Therefore, the Upper and Lower Canada representatives (McGee, Sandford Fleming) went to
Charlottetown. In September of the same year, a conference was held in Quebec under the presidency
of Sir Étienne Taché to discuss the establishment of the federation. The example of the recent
civil war in the US was positive: federal powers had to be strengthened on the model of the British
Empire government (federal tax collection vested in the federal government, the right of the
federal government to repeal provincial laws that would conflict with federal laws).

            The conclusions of the Quebec Conference were presented by Canadian representatives to
their British counterparts at a conference in London in December 1866. This is the constitutional
beginning of the Confederation of Canada (La Confédération Canadienne, Dominion of Canada).

            1. Territory: the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were
merged into one entity. However, the Constitution did not exclude the annexation of other
provinces. In 1869 the Canadian government bought from the Hudson’s Bay Company all the territories
in the west and north-west, which later became the provinces of Manitoba (1870), Alberta and
Saskatchewan (1905), British Columbia joined the confederation in 1871 and Prince Edward Island in
1873. In the former territories of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the government had to face an uprising
of francophone mestizos (Louis-David Riel), deprived of the benefits of their status. It also
proceeded to demarcate Indian reserves. The unity of Canada was completed by the construction of
the first transcontinental railway in 1884-1885.

            2. Arrangement. The state is headed by a governor, appointed by the British Crown for 5
years. The federal government („Conseil Privé“ - „Privy Council of Canada“), headed by the prime
minister, is responsible to a bicameral Parliament. It is made up of an elected Lower House
(„Chambre Basse“) and an Upper House („Chambre Haute“) - the Senate („Sénat“), where senators are
appointed for life by the British Crown on the advice of the Governor and the Government of Canada.
The provinces are headed by an appointed „lieutenant-gouverneur“. Each province has its own
government responsible to the provincial parliament. With the exception of Quebec, it is a
unicameral parliament. The Confederation has internal autonomy, meaning that foreign policy is
determined by the British Crown. The gradual fight for international independence would become the
hallmark of Canadian politics from the late 19th century onwards. In the internal structure, there
is legislative supremacy of the federal government and parliament. The federal government sets and
collects taxes. In a unified fiscal system, some taxes are federal, some provincial. The governor
also has a one-year veto over new provincial laws and measures that conflict with the interests of
Confederation. Other powers are divided between the federal government and the provincial
governments and parliaments.

            3. Status of the French-Canadians. The French language is on an equal footing with the
English language.

            The political system meets the traditional Anglo-Saxon establishment. Some aspects,
however, are identical with United States political practices: the non-proportional, fixed
representation of each province in the Senate, the nature of political parties (conventions, the
commercial nature of election campaigns, etc.).



10.. The colonization of the Midwest and the creation of the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan
and Alberta

            While the integration of francophone Quebec and the anglophone provinces (Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Ontario) took place in an environment fully controlled by
already established institutions and within a well-defined legislative framework, the situation was
different in the so-called North-West Territories (Territoires du Nord-Ouest), where three new
Canadian provinces - Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta - were only gradually created.

            These are the territories where two beaver fur trading companies had long operated -
the North-West Fur Company (Compagnie du Nord-Ouest), which had its control center in Montreal and
organized the westward penetration of the Great Lakes region, and the Hudson Bay Company (Compagnie
de la Baie d’Hudson), which had its bases on the shores of Hudson Bay and in the so-called „Ruppert
Territory“ („Territoire de Ruppert“), with its main foothold at the York Factory.

            The result of this long-term activity was the creation of a distinctive community where
business leaders, fur traders, fur trappers, buffalo hunters, Native tribes, farmers, herders,
Catholic and Protestant missionaries lived in a kind of symbiosis. This was a colonization of the
territory, but of a different kind than that which corresponded to the modern ideas of government
officials in the Canadian East.

            At the top of the social organization were the Anglophone merchants and the managers of
the various branches of the two trading companies (English and Scots). Lower down the hierarchy
were the francophone employees, who knew the area intimately and maintained good relations with the
Aboriginal chiefs. A significant number of these native Europeans mixed with the local Native
tribes. Mixed-race people and Natives either worked for the companies directly or supplied them
with buffalo meat and pemmican. Some of the mixed-race people and Europeans were farmers or
semi-agriculturalists and semi-hunters. Social and economic life centered around trading posts and
around Protestant and Catholic missions (e.g., Saint-Albert, etc.). This society had its
administration and its courts, but these were non-state administration and courts, as they belonged
to the aforementioned societies.

            This means that these territories lived for a long time in a different legal
environment than the provinces in the East. In particular, different rules applied to land tenure
and ownership. While in the East, tenure and ownership were recorded in land registers, here it was
a matter of custom, nowhere recorded, as it corresponded better to coexistence with Amerindian
tribes who did not know the concept of land ownership and could not even imagine such an absurd
fact (how can one divide land that belongs to everyone: after all, the air we breathe and the water
we drink are not divided). The way land was parceled out was also different: Francophone westerners
and mixed-race people kept the original French division into ‘lots de rivière’ (elongated strips
perpendicular to the course of the rivers), while the new Canadian law provided for a division
according to the Anglo-Saxon custom of the ‘township’ - a rectangular shape.

            The territory at the confluence of the Red River (Rivière Rouge) and the Assiniboine
River, i.e., the area of present-day Winnipeg, became the key area for control of the Canadian
Midwest. This region was also the site of the first major clash between the two trading companies,
the North-West Fur Company the Hudson’s Bay Company, after the latter sought to penetrate the
region with agricultural settlers called from Scotland. The founding of the Assiniboia colony under
Lord Selkirk, Alexander Macdonell and Duncan Cameron sparked a series of conflicts, especially
since 1814, when hardy Scottish Highlanders (Kildonan colonists) settled here. The armed struggle
between the two companies pitted the newly arrived Europeans on the side of the Hudson’s Bay
Company and the French-Canadians, mixed-bloods and Indians on the other. The North-West Company,
financially weaker and facing the gradual depletion of its fur resources, was eventually absorbed
by its rival in 1821. The Hudson’s Bay Company thus dominated the entire Midwest and West for the
next 50 years. The struggles of the 1810th-1820th period, however, hint at the difficulties and
social conflicts of the 1870s and 1880s, when the francophone population in particular, along with
mixed-race and Indian tribes, would again oppose Canadian rule.

            The administration of the entire territory between 1821 and 1869 is associated with the
patriarchal figure of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s administrator, Sir George Simson, who adopts and
exploits the customs of the North-West Company. Over time, however, the fur trade finally collapses
and with it the authority of the trading company crumbles. In 1849, Guillaume Sayer, a half-breed,
with the help of a noisy crowd that came to support him, wins a trade dispute that severely
undermines the company’s monopoly of trade. In 1858, the Hudson’s Bay Company had to accept the
creation of the independent colony of British Columbia. After the creation of the Canadian
Confederation in 1869, the Hudson’s Bay Company (W. Mactavish) renounced its charter of
incorporation (‘Territoire de Ruppert’) in exchange for financial compensation and certain
commercial advantages, and the whole territory came under Canadian administration.

            The population of what is now Manitoba was less than 12,000 at the time and the
Canadian government wanted to economically develop the area. Without consulting the local
population on the method of annexation, the administration of the territory and its economic
intentions, it immediately proceeded to parcel out the land in the Red River Valley to offer it to
new agricultural homesteaders. The original owners, who did not possess any written document, were
often illiterate and ignorant of the law, were outraged by confederate officials’ arrogance and
contempt. In addition, the new parcelling did not respect the old customs (‘lots de rivière’). The
conflict was compounded by the language barrier, since those affected are mostly French-Canadians
and Francophone mixed-race people, and are opposed by Anglophone officials.

            The Francophone population, the mixed-race population, and the local Anglophone
population rebelled against this situation. At the head of the resistance, with the tacit approval
of the Catholic Church, was Louis-David Riel, who took advantage of the legal interregnum following
the departure of the Hudson’s Bay Company administration, seized a key stronghold (Fort Garry)
militarily and created a ‘provisional government’ (‘gouvernement provisoire’). This forced the
Canadian government to negotiate. The result is the ‘Manitoba Act’ (Acte de Manitoba), by which the
territory enters the Canadian Confederation on July 15, 1870, not as an administered territory but
as a separate province headed by Governor G.A. Archibald. The province had its own parliament, was
represented in the federal parliament, the anglophone and francophone population had the right to
maintain its own schools, a portion of the territory was set aside from the new allotment for
future colonists, and the old system of land division was retained. The Manitoba case would then
serve as a precedent for the incorporation of other parts of the territory - Saskatchewan and
Alberta (1905).

            For Louis-David Riel, this is a sure victory. He did not, however, avoid certain
blunders (the unnecessary execution of political opponent Thomas Scott) that justified the federal
army’s new military intervention. Riel fled to the United States and in 1875 was sentenced to five
years’ exile.

            In 1873, the Canadian government established the elite Mounted Police (Police Montée,
North-West Mounted Police) to administer the new territories, combining military, police and
judicial powers. This contributed to the orderly colonization of the Canadian Midwest and West.

            When the area around the Red River was connected to the United States rail network in
1878 and shipping on the Red River itself began, colonization accelerated. German Mennonites,
Icelanders, Dutchmen arrived By 1880 Manitoba already counted a population of 80,000, and Winnipeg
was already a city of 8,000. In 1891 Manitoba reached 160,000 inhabitants. The native
French-Canadians and mixed-race people, unable to adjust to the new conditions, selled, often at
ridiculous prices („cheval attelé“) their land and moved further west to the foothills of the Rocky
Mountains.

            The colonization of the West was accelerated by the transcontinental railway. The
decision to build it was taken in 1871 at the request of British Columbia, which was entering the
Canadian Confederation with this very treaty condition. Construction was long hampered by lack of
capital. It was not until 1881 that the Minnesota capital company „Great Nothern Railroad“ founded
the „Canadian Pacific Railway Company“, headed by Sir William Van Horn, an American of Dutch
origin. The work is completed on November 7, 1885, and in the summer of 1886 the first
transcontinental convoy passes over the line. Regina, Medecine Hat, Calgary are built along the
line. These complement older settlements such as Prince-Albert, Saint-Albert and Edmonton. In 1896,
construction then began on a second parallel line of the railway, the Canadian Nothern.

            The acceleration of colonization and the new conditions in the west again created
tensions between the original inhabitants - Natives, Francophone settlers, „trappers“ and
mixed-race people. The situation in Manitoba in 1869 repeated in Saskatchewan and Alberta, where
petitions by aboriginal people demanding that traditional land tenure be respected were again met
with disinterest from the federal government and officials. The Natives, in turn, were concerned
about the government’s efforts to move them into designated areas - reserves - which in Canada were
intended to gradually convert the population from hunting to subsistence agriculture. In addition,
the Aboriginal population had been severely affected by the total eradication of the buffalo herds.
Therefore, in 1884, a new armed resistance of mixed-blood Indians and Indians took place, led by
Louis-David Riel alongside the Native chiefs (Big Bear, Poundmaker). This time, however, the
insurgents did not obtain the support of the Anglophones, nor of the Catholic Church, which already
predicted failure. The rebels were defeated, Riel was convicted and executed in Regina (1885). The
Native tribes werw forced to accept the reserve system and the mixed-race people werw gradually
transformed into a pauperized social scum.

            Colonization then accelerated from the 1890s onwards. This was due both to the fact
that the space in the United States had already been filled by colonisation and to the success of
Canadian propaganda extended across all of Europe. Masses of rural people from Central, Northern
and Eastern Europe (Hungarians, Ukrainians, Poles, Scandinavians) were moving to the Canadian
prairies. Around 1900, the population of the three new provinces increased to 2.5 million. Over
time, this region became the basis of Canada’s prosperity.

            Only in the area of cultural integration emerged significant problems. The new
population was highly diverse and under the Laurier government’s 1897 Education Act, which allowed
the establishment of monolingual schools and classes with 10 pupils of another language, a full
1/6th of the pupils in the new areas were scholarized in a language other than English. In this
situation, the Manitoba government enacted in 1916 compulsory scholarship in English. This became
another in a series of language disputes in modern Canadian history, for the problem of the
francophone population of Manitoba affected the francophone population of Quebec emotionally.


11. Canada after 1867

            The gradual and prudent path to independence and the care taken by successive governors
in the period 1840-1854 to create a certain political culture all eventually produced good results.
The main positive aspect was the creation of two major political parties that bridged differences
of language and denomination. The Quebec „Rouges“ and the Ontario „Grits“ merged with the Liberal
Party, and the Quebec „Bleus“ and the Anglophone Conservatives formed the Conservative Party. These
two parties dominated political life and took turns in government.

            The Conservatives were in power from 1867-1873 and 1878-1896. The Prime Minister, Sir
John Macdonald, is a skilful tactician, and can win the Quebec Clericals to his side. The
Conservatives focus on cooperation with the London metropolis and protect the emerging Canadian
industry against the United States with protective tariffs. They advocate building a trans-Canada
railway.

            The Liberals won the 1873 election on the strength of Alexander Mackenzie, but their
overly open policy towards the United States, their failure to protect the Canadian economy, and
their neglect of the railway caused their defeat in the 1878 election. They did not come to power
until 1896, when the era of Sir Wilfrid Laurier (1896-1911) began. The success of his policies lay
in the fact that he was able to inject elements of previous Conservative policies into his Liberal
strategy, abandoning Mackenzie’s commercial liberalism and supporting the building of the railway.
On the Liberal agenda, he advocates a strict separation of state and churches. Also important are
the education laws that allow for the establishment of minority schools in Manitoba in a
non-linguistic (anglophone) environment.

            Liberals and Conservatives alternate in power in the following period: Sir Robert
Borden (1917 - Grand Coalition), W.L. Mackenzie King (1921).

            In relation to Great Britain, a gradual emancipation takes place in this period. Under
Laurier’s government, British troops leave Canada and it sovereignly secures its own borders. In
1908, Laurier remembers that no treaty concluded by Great Britain binds Canada unless it joins the
treaty. Since 1910, Canada has also had the right to control the flow of immigration from the
British Isles. At the same time, Laurier creates the Department of External Affairs (Département
des Affaires Extérieures), but treaties negotiated by Canada must still always be negotiated in the
name of the King of England and signed by the British Foreign Secretary. This practice ends in 1923
with the Pacific Fisheries Treaty with the United States. Even before that, however, Canada is
invited to participate in the Crown’s diplomatic negotiations, sitting on the League of Nations. At
the 1926 Conference of the British Empire, the equality of the various members of the Empire is
proclaimed, and this is confirmed in 1931 by the Statute of Westminster (Statuts de Westminster).
Canada is fully independent, linked to Great Britain only by the person of the monarch. Equality is
confirmed by the fact that Canada sends its High Commissioner („haut-commissaire“) to London, and
this fact is reciprocal. When George VI visits Canada in 1938, he is greeted everywhere as „King of
Canada“. Since 1926, Canada has also been sending diplomatic representatives („ministres“) abroad:
the first of them to Washington. Foreign legations are then established in Ottawa. In 1944, these
diplomatic legations become embassies. This completes the long process of emancipation begun by
Lord Durham in 1840.

            The final step towards full independence concerned the Constitution. The Canadian
Constitution of 1867 was a law voted by the English Parliament, and any changes to the Constitution
were therefore not the responsibility of the Canadian Parliament but of the British Parliament.
Therefore, in the 1960s, the British government and Queen Elizabeth II offered to transfer
constitutional rights to Canada. However, this move met with resistance from Quebec, which felt
sufficiently protected by the existing constitution, guaranteed by Britain, and feared the
dominance of other anglophone provinces if constitutional powers were transferred to Canada.
Despite this resistance, the so-called „rapatriement de la Constitution“ eventually took place on
April 17, 1982, when Queen Elizabeth II brought the Constitution to Ottawa and there presented it
to Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.


Cultural life

            The confidence of a new state expanding across the continent and building its
institutions was reflected in the monumental architecture that became part of the urban landscape.
Neo-romantic, historicizing styles dominate, from the neo-Gothic preferred by Anglophone architects
(McGill University in Montreal) to the Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque suited to the
French-Canadians. The new parliament building in Quebec is the work of Eugène-Étienne Taché, as is
the concept of the Château Frontenac hotel, which was designed by Bruce Price. The Windsor Station
in Montreal, the work of Henry Hobson Richardson, is an example of the Anglo-Saxon Neo-Renaissance.
Victor Bourgeau designed Montreal’s Neo-Baroque Cathedral Notre-Dame du Monde. The 19th century put
a Victorian stamp on Montreal’s residential neighbourhoods and erected Neo-Renaissance church
spires in the Quebec countryside. With the turn of the century came Art Nouveau, represented by
Montreal’s Château Dufresne residence, designed by Guido Nincheri, but new skyscraper building
techniques influenced by the nearby Chicago School were also gaining ground.

            A number of Canadian painters were trained in Europe - in Paris, London and Rome. This
is also the case with Plamondon’s pupil Théophile Hamel and Napoléon Bourassa, representatives of
realism in landscape and portrait painting. In 1871, the abbé Joseph Chabert founded the École des
arts et manufactures, where Charles Huot, Henri Beau and others studied. Church commissions
influence the academicism of portraitist Eugène Hamel, while Ozias Leduc works his way towards
Symbolist Modernism. A distinctive avant-garde modernism characterizes the first true Canadian
school of painting, the Groupe of Seven (ca. 1910-1933, Tom Thomson, Lawren Stewart Harris,
Franklin Carmichael, Arthur Lismer, etc.), whose members infused the Nordic landscape of their
paintings with metaphysical symbolism, much as René Richard did in Quebec and Emily Carr did in
relation to Native culture. The painter Marc-Aurèle Fortin was an expressionist of the Quebec
countryside. In sculpture, the aforementioned Napoléon Bourassa and especially Louis-Philippe
Hébert stood out. Alfred Laliberté turned to 20th-century modernism. From the last quarter of the
19th century, artistic photography also made its mark - William Notman and Prudent Vallée.

            Important for the development of musical life is the emergence and stabilization of
musical bodies: choirs - such as the Quebec Musical Society of Saint-Cécile („Société musicale de
Sainte-Cécile“, 1869) - and orchestras, of which the Quebec Symphony Orchestra („Orchestre
symphonique de Québec“, 1871) and the Montreal Philharmonic Society („Société philharmonique de
Montréal“, 1880) stand out. Notable composers include Guillaume Couture and Ernest Gagnon, who
studied in Paris, and Calixa Lavallée, who divided his career between Montreal, Quebec, Boston and
New York, where his comic opera The Widow (1881) was performed. Lavallée is the author of the
Canadian national anthem (1880).

            Between 1840 and 1930, the foundations of a distinctive French-Canadian literature were
laid: the Quebec Patriotic School (1860s), the Montreal Literary School (1895-1935). The literary
development is discussed in detail in Petr Kyloušek, French-Canadian and Quebec Literature (Brno,
Host 2005).



12. Radicalization and Disintegration in the 20th Century

            Two destabilizing factors were at work in Canadian public life in the 20th century. The
first was the economic factor. It was particularly evident during the Great Depression after 1929,
which prompted the radicalization of the left-wing movement: in addition to the socialist National
Progressive Party that formed after 1918, a Labour Progressive Party with strong communist features
and a Cooperative Commonwealth Federation emerged. However, the left-wing programmes were gradually
absorbed by the liberal party: in particular, the issues of social and health insurance and the
creation of a state-owned productive sector were put on the agenda after the Second World War and
gradually implemented. This, and the fact that Canada benefited from the economic development of
the United States after World War II, largely weakened the radicalism of the left’s demands. The
left parties were only partially successful in gaining a foothold in Ontario and some other
anglophone provinces. The Catholic, traditionalist population of Quebec remained unaffected by
these tendencies. On the contrary, Christian trade unions took firm root here, where the Catholic
Church retained a strong influence.

            The pressure of leftist ideas eventually resulted in the emergence of a state welfare
system more akin to the European concept than to that of the United States.

            The second destabilizing factor was the question of the French-Canadian population, or
rather its loyalty to Canada and the British Crown. This has always manifested itself in the
context of military conflicts: the Boer War and the First and Second World Wars. Not, perhaps,
because the French-Canadians refused to participate in the fighting entirely, but because Quebec’s
leaders were opposed to compulsory conscription on principle. Thus, during the two World Wars,
nationalist tendencies intensified: Henri Bourassa in World War I and Montreal mayor Camilien Houde
in World War II contributed to the creation of the anti-British organizations Ligue pour la défense
du Canada and Bloc populaire.

            Neither the nationalist nor the radical left parties could significantly disrupt the
political stability of the country for long. At the federal level, the two major all-Canadian
parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives, alternated regularly.

- 1896-1911: Liberals - Wilfrid Laurier

- 1911-1921: Conservatives and National Unity (coalition): Robert Laird Borden, Athur Meighen

- 1921-1930: Liberals - Mackenzie King

- 1930-1935: Conservatives - Richard Bedford Bennett

- 1935-1948: Liberals - Mackenzie King

- 1945-1957: Liberals - Louis Saint-Laurent

- 1957-1963: Conservatives - John Diefenbaker

- 1963-1979: Liberals - Lester Pearson (until 1968) and Pierre Eliott Trudeau

- 1979-1980: Conservatives - Charles Joseph Clark

- 1980-1984: Liberals - Pierre Eliott Trudeau

- 1984-1993: Conservatives - Martin Brian Mulroney

- 1993-2003: Liberals - Jean Chrétien

- 2003: Liberals - Paul Martin


            The situation began to change after the death of Quebec’s long-time Prime Minister
Maurice Duplessis (1959). In 1960, the Liberal Quebec government of Jean Lesage (Parti Libéral
Québecois) launched the Quiet Revolution (Révolution tranquille). This was an ambitious programme
for building a modern state within the province of Quebec, combining the reorganisation of
education, the development of the economy, the secularisation of the state and of public and
cultural life, and the break with the Catholic Church. The project included an active provincial
government policy on economic management. This economic strategy was based on the state-owned
energy concern Hydro-Québec. It was the success of the economic sector that completed the national
self-confidence of the French-Canadians, who had hitherto lived in the shadow of their
English-speaking compatriots: social emancipation was thus gradually completed not only in the
linguistic and political spheres, but also in education and in the technical and business spheres.

            This emancipation, however, only increased the desire for complete emancipation, and
thus encouraged separatist tendencies. These also took on a radical leftist form, inspired by a
decolonizing, anti-imperialist ideology. The „Front de Libération de Québec“ was created (1963).
The assassinations and kidnappings of this Liberation Front would eventually force repression and
the declaration of martial law (autumn 1970). In 1968, René Lévesque founds the „Parti Québecois“.
1976, René Lévesque wins the provincial elections against the Liberal Robert Bourassa and launches
a policy leading to autonomy for Quebec. 1980 The first of the referendums on self-determination is
organized, but the separatists lose by 40% to 60%. In 1985, the Liberal Robert Bourassa regains
power and, as part of the new negotiations on the Canadian constitution („accords du Lac Meech“,
1990), he negotiates with Ottawa the special status of Quebec, a „nation distincte“. However, this
is opposed by English-speaking Manitoba and Newfoundland. Other frictions are played out around the
new Quebec Language and Education Acts (1977, Act 101), which went beyond the federal Language Act
(1969) and which Quebec guaranteed French the status of a majority, official language in the
province.

            The fundamental transformation of Canadian politics did not occur until the 1993
election. Until then, the Parti Québecois (or Bloc Québecois) had faced competition from two other
parties: the Liberals and the Conservatives. However, this election marks the collapse of the
Conservatives in Quebec and the swing of the Conservative (and traditionally nationalist)
electorate towards the Quebec Nationalists. The consequence is the strength of the „Parti
Québecois“ led by Lucien Bouchard and Jacques Parizeau. What this means for Canada, however, is
that the century-old balance of political competition between the two all-Canadian parties is
significantly upset: henceforth, the Liberals are the only all-Canadian party, while the
Conservatives become only a regional party. It is only recently that new parties, similar to each
other, called - „Democratic Alliance“, „Democratic Action“, have emerged at the provincial levels,
which could form a new all-Canadian political party. In Quebec, this party is called Action
démocratique du Québec (1994) and is led by Jean Allaire and Mario Dumont.

            In the fall of 1995, the Quebec government (Jacques Parizeau, then Lucien Bouchard)
called another referendum on Quebec sovereignty. The Parti Québécois wins by the narrowest of
margins - just 42,000 votes (50.6% to 49.4%). However, in the next election, the Parti Québécois
wins the provincial election again and governs until 2003 (Lucien Bouchard until 2001, then Bernard
Landry), when the Liberals (Jean Charrest) win the provincial election again.


13. Canadian bilingualism

            The Constitution - the British North America Act of 1867 - established the existence of
two language groups - Anglophone and Francophone - and provided for the equal use of both languages
at the federal level and in Quebec.

            The issue of language rights came back into focus with the onset of the „Quiet
Revolution“ after 1960, as it became clear that it was the position of French as the language of
negotiation at the various levels of social life that would become crucial to the country’s future.
In 1962, the Federal Prime Minister, Lester Pearson, proposed the creation of a Royal Commission of
Inquiry into the Question of Bilingualism and Biculturalism (‘Commission Royale d’Enquête sur le
Bilinguisme et le Biculturalisme’) to map the specific use of French in the various sectors of the
federal administration and at the various levels of economic management and public life. The
Commission’s recommendations became the basis for the 1969 Status of Languages Act (Déclaration du
statute des langues), which not only affirmed the equal status of the two languages, but also
established Canada’s institutional bilingualism (bilinguisme institutionnel). Although there is no
question of biculturalism, the new law is already a great advance in that, with regard to civil
rights and the „service to the public“ (commodité du public), it establishes supervision of the
application of the bilingual principle (the post of Commissioner for Official Languages, elected
for seven years, who issues an annual report) and also ensures that wherever one of the languages
is the mother tongue for 10% of the population, it is also the language of administration meetings.
This situation benefited French especially in provinces such as New Brunswick (230,000 francophone
population, 34%), Ontario (500,000), Manitoba, a total of about 1 million francophone population.
Ontario expanded the use of French in the courts and numerous municipalities have followed suit.
Anglophone Alberta allowed the introduction of French in schools.

            At the same time, it became clear that the rights of the francophone population were
not always respected. Manitoba, for example, violated the federal and its own constitution when it
adopted English as the only official language in 1890. In a long dispute, Manitoba eventually had
to bow to the 1979 verdict of the Supreme Court („Cour suprême“), which triggered a Manitoba
political crisis that lasted until 1984.

            The same Supreme Court verdict condemned the province of Quebec for language
discrimination because of the introduction of Law 101 of 1977. The first step towards this state of
affairs had already been taken by the Liberal government of Robert Bourassa in 1974 when it
declared French the official language of Quebec. After the 1976 elections and the electoral victory
of the nationalist Parti Québécois party led by René Lévesque, Law 101, the Charte de la langue
française (1977), was passed, the preamble of which states: „Langue distinctive d’un peuple
majoritairement francophone, la langue française permet au peuple québécois d’exprimer son
identité.“ It means that a minority language within Canada has been declared the majority language
of one of the provinces. This law had a practical impact in education, administration and the
economy.

            In education, it meant that only parents who were from Quebec and had been through
English schools themselves could send their children to English schools. This measure did not
particularly affect the English-speaking population of Quebec, but it did force all immigrant
children to be schooled in French. In hindsight, this step appears to be an undeniable success of
the francization of Quebec.

            In the administration and in the economy, Law 101 translated into a preference for
French as the basic language in public relations and in the internal intercourse of offices and
private enterprises. On the one hand, while many companies whose cadres could not or would not
handle this transition moved from Montreal to Toronto, a new francophone business class emerged to
replace them. In Canada, Quebec is now the most receptive province to pan-American economic
liberalization and integration.

            Following the 1979 Supreme Court verdict that upheld the protest of anglophone
Quebecers, Quebec modified, several times, the 1977 statutory provision. In practice, however, it
did not deviate from the trend set. It is undeniable that the active language policy of the Quebec
provincial governments has contributed to the overall post-Francization of the entire province.

            Quebec’s position, and its demand in the constitutional negotiations and the Lake Meech
accords that it be recognized as a „société distincte“, provoked reactions in some anglophone
provinces, notably Alberta and British Columbia. Here and elsewhere, they also undermined the
federal education policy of P.E. Trudeau and the Liberal Party, which promoted so-called immersion
classes (classes d’immersion). Under this concept, based on official bilingualism, French was to
become the only language of instruction in the first grades of elementary schools in
English-speaking areas - and vice versa. As late as 1987, this was still the case for some 250,000
pupils in the English-speaKing provinces.



14. Aspects of the Canadian present times

 Canadian education

            According to the 1867 Constitution, the organization of education belongs to the
provinces. The federal government establishes only military schools (50 in Canada and 9 in Europe)
and schools on Native reserves (123 in 1987).

            The length of schooling varies by province from 11 to 13 years, mostly according to the
6-3-3 model. Some provinces have only public schooling, while in others - such as Ontario - the
provincial government also funds non-public Catholic, i.e. francophone, schools. The administration
of primary and secondary schools is entrusted to local school commissions („commissions
scolaires“), which are elected by parents or appointed by the local government. In Quebec, until
recently, this was done on a denominational basis.

            In the past, the language issue has been reflected several times in the field of
education. In the aforementioned Manitoba, the 1890 and 1894 Acts led to the elimination of
francophone schools, and it was not until 1967 that Act No. 59 restored French as the language of
instruction. In Ontario, Act No. 17 of 1912 led to the francophone population having to maintain
most of its schools themselves. Here, too, the remedy dates back to the 1960s. After 1960, the
situation changed in favour of French, especially in the province of New Brunswick.

            In Canada, there are 90 universities and colleges of various types that issue diplomas.
7 of them are francophone, 5 in Quebec, 1 in Manitoba (Saint-Boniface) and 1 in New Brunswick
(Moncton). Some universities are bilingual, including one in Ottawa. The best-known
English-speaKing university in Quebec is Montreal’s McGill University.


Immigration

            Canada has always been and remains a land of immigrants, a dreamland for the poor from
Europe and now from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania. Immigration has also always been a
substantial part of population growth.

            Until 1867 the question of immigration was subordinated to the policy of Great Britain.
The first Canadian Immigration Act of 1869 did not yet impose any restrictive conditions. It was
not until its modification in 1872 that it excluded „criminal“ and „undesirable“ persons from
admission.

            In the 1880s, Canada embarked on an intensive immigration policy (Minister of the
Interior Clifford Sifton) to settle and economically exploit both the vast western prairies and
areas of mineral wealth. Although this policy was governed by essentially liberal laws, in practice
it favoured immigrants from the Commonwealth, Scandinavia, Germany, France, the USA (cheap
transport, bilateral treaties). There was a sense of threat in Canada itself, and a movement
emerged in both the Anglophone and Francophone parts to encourage internal migration to populate
the West. Pressures for restrictions appeared. Asian immigrants were discouraged by high entry
tariffs and, since 1923, quotas; black Americans were again rejected on the basis of health
regulations, etc. Active immigration policy ended with the Great Depression of 1929.

            During the Great Depression, the number of emigrants from Canada even exceeded the
number of arrivals. Nor was Canada in favour of refugees from Germany, Jews, etc.

            The situation changes after the Second World War. Canada became a signatory to the UN
Refugee Convention and has itself been taKing in 10% of the world’s quota of refugees every year
since then, including Hungarians after 1956 or Czechs and Slovaks after 1968. The restrictive 1923
law is repealed in 1947 and replaced in 1967 by new liberal legislation setting priorities
favouring family members and families, single persons by profession and refugees. In immigration
practice, however, the restrictions are manifest. They are determined by the economic development
and absorption capacity of the country. For example, in the late 1960s, the number of immigrants
was around 200,000 per year, while after the so-called oil shock in the mid-1970s this number
halved.

            More recently, the composition of the immigrant population has changed, with a
significant increase in the number of arrivals from Asia, Latin America and Africa. As a result,
contemporary Canada is a multicultural country (a term used in P.E. Trudeau’s official policy since
1971). Whereas in 1867 the population of Canada was 61% English, 31% French and 8% other, today the
ratio is 40:27:33.

            The national mosaic is completed by the „premier nations“ - Amerindian tribes and Inuit
who claim their rights under the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The armed withdrawal of the
Mohawks from the Oka reservation near Montreal in 1990 was a serious warning.


Press, radio, television, film

            In this area, Canada boasts not only a rich history but also such theorists on media
and information as Marshall MacLuhan (Guttenberg’s Galaxy, 1962; the idea of the world village,
globalization).

            The Canadian press grows not out of the French but the Anglo-Saxon tradition. The first
newspaper on American soil, The Boston Newsletter, is published in 1704, and in 1752 the son of
Bostonian Bartholomew Green creates The Halifax Gazette; from Philadelphia, USA, come to Quebec the
first publishers of a Quebec, bilingual newspaper, The Quebec Gazette/La Gazette de Québec (1764),
William Brown and Thomas Gilmore.

            Printing and the transmission of information were improved during the 19th century with
the introduction of new technologies: steam printing presses (1840), the telegraph (1844), the
transatlantic cable (1866), the typewriter (1868), the telephone (1876), and rotary printing
presses (1880). The second half of the 19th century and the first three decades of the 20th century
- until the Great Depression of 1929 - is a period of great development of the daily press. This is
related to Canada’s general economic, demographic, political and cultural boom. The number of daily
newspapers increased: from 23 in 1864 to 121 in 1900, not only in the eastern provinces but also in
the new centres in the west. Some of the still famous dailies, La Presse (Montreal), The Toronto
Star, are established; the first great press empires are created: the Southam, the Sifton family,
J.B. MacLean.

            The first blow to this development was dealt by the great depression of 1929 and, after
a new development in the 1950s, by a new wave of concentration of capital in the 1960s. Special
Senate committees were formed to study the problem (Senator Kenth Davey 1969-1970; Tom Kent 1980).
Some traditional newspapers disappeared: the Winnipeg Tribune after 90 years of existence, the
Ottawa Journal after 95 years. It was the Kent Commission that noted that publishing capital had
become heavily concentrated in 3 francophone and 3 anglophone entities, and that competition in the
media sector had also declined: 44% of all circulation is thus concentrated in three cities -
Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver - and despite the increased number of titles (114 in In only six
cities is information spread between at least two newspapers, each belonging to a competing group.
This concentration of information is all the more unpleasant because the uniformity and
concentration occurs at the very source of information - the news agencies.

            At present, the main titles in the francophone area are La Presse (Montreal), Soleil
(Quebec), Devoir (province-wide), and in the anglophone area it is the Globe and Mail and locally
the Sun and Star (Toronto).


            Radio waves had something to do with Marconi’s first attempts to transmit a signal from
Cornwall, England, to Newfoundland (1901). Radio spread rapidly in Canada: shortwave broadcasting
(1926) was soon supplemented by the VHF system (1946). The first Radiocommunication Act of 1913
entrusted the management of the area to the Department of the Navy and Fisheries. In 1928, Lord
John Aird’s Commission of Inquiry made recommendations which led to the exercise of federal control
over radio broadcasting, despite Quebec’s protests. A new 1936 law created a single national
network administered by the CRBC (Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission). However, the growing
number of private stations necessitated a legislative change - the creation of the CBC (Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation), or Radio-Canada - so that this state-owned corporation could compete
with private stations, most of them based in the US, with its network. This institution thus
provides a national-Canadian framework (Anglophone and Francophone) for radio broadcasting. The
number of listeners grew steadily during this period: in 1931, half of urban households have their
own receiver (500,000); in 1936, it is already 1 million receivers; by the early 1950s, 96% of
households have a receiver.

            This process happens even faster in the case of television: by 1953 only 10% of
households have their own TV set, by 1960 it is already 75%, by 1980 98%. The average Canadian
spends an average of 191 minutes a day in front of a screen.

            The Massey Commission (1949) placed television broadcasting under the jurisdiction of
the CBC (Radio-Canada), and it was only in 1958 that a new law allowed for the creation of a second
channel, which was exploited by private companies joined in a consortium. At the same time, the
Bureau des Gouverneurs de la Radiodiffusion was set up as a technical and ethical supervisory body,
which became the Conseil de la Radiodiffusion et des Télécommunications Canadiennes (CRTC) in 1968
and 1976 in the context of cable television. Since 1984, Canada has had full satellite coverage of
the television signal. Canadian radio and television broadcasting is diverse in programming,
language and culture, as part of a policy of multiculturalism.


Cultural institutions in the field of film

            Canada began a policy of emancipation from Hollywood in 1939 with the establishment of
the National Film Board (Office National du Film), which has been involved in television since
1952. In the 1960s, the office moved from Ottawa to Montreal, where, under the influence of the
‘Quiet Revolution’, a French-Canadian section was also created. In 1967, the government establishes
the agency for the promotion of the cinematographic industry (SDICC). In addition, the Institut
québécois du cinéma is created.

            This institutional provision created a space for independent Canadian production,
particularly in the field of animation - N. McLaren, P. Hébert and documentary film. The second
half of the 20th century was successful. The documentary tradition of the American Robert Flaherty
was continued in Canada by the John Grierson and followed by the contemporary Quebec documentary
filmmakers Jean-Pierre Masse and Jean-Claude Labrecque. In feature film, directors William
Kotcheff, David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan have made their mark. Among the French-Canadians,
Clément Perron, Claude Jutra (My Uncle Antoine, 1971; Kamuraska, 1973) and Denys Arcand (The
Decline of the American Empire, 1986; Jesus of Montreal, 1989; Invasion of the Barbarians, 2003)
stand out. The prestige of the film is underlined by the annual film festivals in Montreal and
Toronto.



15. Painting, sculpture, architecture in the second half of the 20th century

            The economic crisis has dampened some areas of art, especially architecture.
Avant-garde architectural movements, such as the Bauhaus, did not take hold in Canada until the
late 1950s. This meant that the new skyscrapers in the urban centres of Montreal and Toronto were
modern in their design principles, but eclectic historicism persisted in their external appearance.
An example is the late 1920s Neo-Renaissance 20-storey Royal Bank of Canada building in Montreal,
then the tallest building in the entire British Empire. Also Neo-Renaissance is the magnificent
concrete Oratory of St. Joseph in Montreal, the work of Benedictine Paul Bellot: begun in 1904 and
completed in 1967, the complex soars its dome to a height of 112 metres. Art Nouveau elements are
mixed with modern functionalism in the University of Montreal building complex: Ernest Cormier’s
1920s concept was not completed until after the Second World War.

            The development of musical life is helped by the quality of the student training. The
McGill University Conservatoire (1904) is joined by the Montreal (1943) and Quebec (1944)
Conservatoires, and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (Orchestre symphonique de Québec, 1903) and the
Toronto Symphony (, 1923) join the older professional ensembles. New opera houses are established
in Vancouver and Edmonton. Many musicians complete their training in Europe and bring modern trends
to Canada. Claude Champagne and John Jacob Weinzweig use their knowledge of French and Native
folklore. Barbara Petland, Violet Archer, Jean Papineau-Couture, and Clermont Pépin are closer to
the European avant-garde. After the Second World War, artists such as Istvan Anhalt and Udo
Kasemets established themselves in Canada.

            The leading art of the entire period is undoubtedly painting and related sculpture.
This position stems not only from the maturity and numerous contacts with the European and American
avant-garde, but in the case of French-Canadian poetry and drama, painting represents a major
aesthetic impulse. The leading figures in the Montreal milieu were two competitors, Alfred Pellan
and Paul-Émile Borduas. Alfred Pellan returned to Canada in 1940 after a fourteen-year stay in
Paris in the company of Picasso, Braque, Miró, Arp, Ernst, and Kandinsky. As a professor at
Montreal’s École des Beaux-Arts, he was able to concentrate not only his students but also other
artists around him, and the school was a suitable ground for lectures and exhibitions. The
manifesto for the joint exhibition (1948) was conceived by Jacques de Tonnancour with the title
Prisme d’yeux (1948). Among the many followers of this non-figurative movement were Louis
Archambault, Pierre Garneau, Jehanne Rhéaume, Goodridge Roberts, and Gordon Weber.

            The second group formed during the war years around Paul-Émile Borduas, who in the
1920s went through the school of Ozias Leduc and then worked for two years in France at the
Workshop of Sacred Art under Maurice Denis and Georges Desvallières. He was introduced to modern
art at the end of the 1930s - he was already working at the École du meuble in Montreal - by the
Anglo-Canadian modernist John Lyman, who introduced him to French surrealism. Borduas distinctively
transformed these impulses into ideas that sparked the Automatistes movement („automatistes“),
which brought together artists, playwrights and poets. For the 1948 exhibition, he wrote the
manifesto Global Refusal (Refus global), which also included texts - poems and plays - by other
authors (Gauvreau, Cormier, etc.). The manifesto was a radical statement of the avant-garde against
social backwardness, it became a symbol of the resistance of the artist - the creative individual -
to conservative conformism and an expression of the desire for change. Among the fifteen
signatories of the Global Refusal, we should mention the poet and playwright Claude Gauvreau and
the great creators of abstract automatism - Jean-Paul Riopelle, Marcelle Ferron, Jean-Paul
Mousseau.

            In opposition to the Automatists, in the 1950s, the plastic (plasticiens) groupings
around Rodolphe de Repentigny, Guido Molinari and Claude Toussignant took the lead. These
Montrealers’ efforts at construction and rigorous abstract geometry correspond to the tendencies of
the Toronto abstractionists known as the Painters Eleven, represented mainly by Harold Town and
John Hamilton Bush.

The wealth and economic development of the post-war decades began to be reflected in the appearance
of the cities in the 1960s and 1970s, when the downtowns of Montreal, Vancouver, and what is now
the dominant city in Canada, Toronto, were transformed. Prominent architects were able to realize
their modernist and postmodernist ideas in Canada: Moshe Safdie designed the experimental Habitat
housing complex in Montreal and the National Gallery in Ottawa; Raymond Moriyama designed the Eaton
Centre in Toronto; Arthur Erikson designed Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto and, with Geoffrey Massey,
Fraser University in Burnaby; Villjo Revell designed Toronto City Hall; Roger Taillibert designed
the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.

            The visual arts, on the other hand, continue to ride the wave of post-war outbursts -
the Automatists, the sculptures and the Painter’s Eleven, to which the influence of North American
„op-art“ and „hard edge“ is added during the 1960s. Some - Edmund Alleyn, Marcelle Maltais -
returned to figurative painting, while Serge Lemoyne and Jean Sauvageau organized painting
‘happenings’. In addition, there is a new development of graphic art, represented in Montreal by
Richard Lacroix, Pierre Ayot, Marc Dugas, Janine Leroux-Guillaume. In the 1960s, it is estimated
that 300 exhibitions were held in Montreal each year. Since the 1970s, Toronto, long dominated by
painter, sculptor, photographer, jazz musician and filmmaker Michael Snow, has increasingly
established itself in the visual arts. Toronto and Montreal are also home to the youngest
generation of artists, including Barry Allikas, Nicolas Baier, Ron Benner, Claude-Philippe Bénoît,
Michel Boulanger, Edward Burtynsky, Ton Dean, Joe Fafard, Jack Goldenstein, Marcel Lemyre, Guy
Pellerin, and Tim Zuck. Artists of Native American descent are also maKing a name for themselves,
bringing the cultural imagination of Native Americans into their art: Haida sculpture is
represented by William Ronald Reid, Isaac Chapman Skillai and Charles Edenshaw Da.axxilang, Odjibwe
art by Norval Morisseau and Carl Beam, and Inuit artists include Kenojuak Ashevak.

            Sixty orchestras, twenty of them professional, attest to the development of musical
life. The Montreal Symphony Orchestra was led in the 1960s and 1970s by conductors Zubin Mehta and
Charles Dutoit. In 1961, composer Pierre Mercure inaugurated in Montreal a regular festival, the
International Week of Contemporary Music, devoted to innovative musical movements - dodecaphonic,
electroacoustic and computer music. Composers of the younger generation include Gilles Tremblay,
Jacques Hétu, Claude Vivier, etc. In Quebec, the Société de la musique contemporaine (1966)
organizes similar events to promote modern music. Among Toronto musicians and performers, Glenn
Gould, John Vickers, and Maureen Forrester should be mentioned.