The Path to Canadian Confederation -- (R.MacKay)
In order to properly understand events in Canada during the Twentieth Century, it is important that we understand some of the events that preceded it.
From 1663, New France was a colony of France. The colony of about 3,000 french-speaking residents at that time had grown to more than 70,000 by 1755. From 1745 British troops had begun to take over parts of New France, starting in Nova Scotia. In 1755 the British expelled french speaking Acadians from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, because they would not swear allegiance to the English King. Fort Louisbourg fell to the British in 1758. After the defeat of General Montcalm by General Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham at Quebec City in 1759 and the surrender of Montreal in 1760, New France was no more.
Attempts to make the colonists of New France English failed, and the inhabitants kept their French language and Roman Catholic Religion in the new colony of Quebec.
English, Scottish and Irish settlers began to colonize the Maritimes and the St. Lawrence River. Movement to these areas increased after the thirteen American colonies (now part of the United States) revolted against English taxation (the last straw, so to speak, was a tax on tea) in 1775. What we call “The American Revolution” and they call “The American War of Independence” was fought over the next few years. American soldiers attacked Quebec City and Montreal in 1775 but were repelled by British troops.
When the revolution was over, those Americans who were loyal to and had supported the Crown were bullied and harassed. Many fled from their homes and were displaced. Some of these United Empire Loyalists traveled up the St. Lawrence River to settle along the north shore of the river and the north shore of Lake Ontario and the Bay of Quinte.
For many years the colonies managed well, with some problems. These included
the War of 1812-14, in which Americans attempted to take over the western
peninsula of what is now Ontario (in the Niagara Region). There was some political
unrest in each of “Ontario” and “Quebec” during separate
rebellions against the establishment in 1837, but the colonial governments were
able to maintain control. Some Americans made an attempt to invade from the
south at Prescott, to liberate the Canadians from the English, but these
invaders were soon defeated by British regulars in the Battle of the Windmill.
Meanwhile separate British colonies were established in British Columbia and
Vancouver Island. Explorers and fur-traders pressed westward from the east,
both north and south of the current Canada/US border. The trade in timber from
eastern Canada’s pine lands, which had started about 1800, continued to
grow. Huge pine were squared and shipped to Britain for conversion to
manufactured products. Gradually as the big pine were used up, after about
1850, there was an increased focus on producing lumber for use in the expanding
United States.
At this time Britain was finding it very expensive to maintain its far flung
Empire (“the Empire on which the sun never sets”). At that time
Empire’s were not very popular, and Britain was moving toward the idea of
a Commonwealth of countries, under British influence but not control. American
expansion westward had ended and now they were looking toward the all but empty
prairies between Ontario and the west coast. Americans disputed the boundaries
between Maine and Canada in the 1830s and then disputed the boundaries on the
west coast in the 1840s. (It was during the Oregon Crisis that the defenses of
Kingston were beefed up by the construction of the round Martello Towers, which
were deemed to be the best design to defend against cannon shot.) The crisis
was ended with the Oregon Treaty of 1846.
In 1858, Ottawa was chosen as the capital of the united province of Canada (roughly current Ontario and Quebec). Kingston, another candidate had been considered to be too close to the United States. As there had been in 1826, when construction on the Rideau Canal from Kingston to Bytown (Ottawa) had begun, there were still concerns about attack from the south. The canal was operational in 1832. Between 1832 and 1837 the current Fort Henry was constructed to defend the entrance to the Rideau Canal.
Concerns about American invasion were heightened during the American Civil War of 1861 to 1865. Britain provided ships to the Confederate states in the south and there was fear of retaliation by the Union states in the north. To compensate for demands for war damages from the Americans, Britain seemed willing to concede land in territorial disputes.
In 1866, at the end of the Civil War, Irish Americans, the Fenians, launched raids into Canada as a reported first step toward declaring war on England. An invasion was thought to be imminent. It was thought that the American government could have done more to prevent these raids.
In addition, at that time the Union Army, victors of the Civil War, was very powerful, and “unemployed”. There was a concern that these soldiers might be used against British North America. For these and economic reasons, including a huge debt incurred by Canada West in the construction of canals and roads, it became considered that a confederation of the British colonies in Canada would be a sound idea.
Queen’s University professor of history (the late) Arthur Lower said there were three main reasons for considering confederation. (Lower, 1964, p 314)
First there was a sense of British North American unity (remember there were loyyalists throughout the colonies). If there is one thing that has defined Canadians over the years it is the desire not to be part of the United States.
Second were the forces of “continentalism”. Although the political forces in North America line up east-west the geographical features of the continent are oriented north-south. For example the Rocky Mountains are oriented north-south, and so are the prairies, and so are the Appalachian Mountains in the east, and so are the coastlines. As railways were built in both British North America and the United States there were logical reasons to build railways in a north-south direction. This would wear down the chances of the Canadians maintaining political independence from the United States, which Canadians very much wanted. A Canadian railway would be needed and this could not be accomplished by one colony alone.
Third was the outright fear of the United States. The American attitude toward Canada was not at all friendly and there was concern for more military action. When the United States bought the Alaska territory from the Russians this was considered another expression of American “manifest destiny” to control all of North America. Lower also suggests there was a degree of envy at the benefits of the Americans federation of states.
In addition, and end to a free trade agreement with the United States was approaching and there would be greater financial opportunities if the separate provinces joined together politically.
Confederation, like any political idea, did not occur overnight. It was first proposed in 1858 and the road to a final agreement was not easy. According to Lower, “Only with the political deadlock of 1864 did the larger plan [to unite all provinces] triumph. From that time on until 1867 was its period of gestation, during which on several occasions it seemed about to miscarry.”(Lower, 1964, p 319)
The British North America Act of March 29, 1867 provided for the confederation of the colonies of Canada (to be divided into Ontario and Quebec), New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, and for their being linked by an inter-colonial railway. Railways were very important to Canada because the climate prevented most mobility by waterways during the winter months. Individual overland travel could occur on snow and ice roads, but not the massive transport required to keep parts of the country connected. Railwayscould run at all times of year.
The Dominion of Canada came into existence on July 1, 1867, and the railway was formally opened on July 1, 1876. Meanwhile, on July 15, 1870, after lengthy negotiations with the Hudson’s Bay Company and the British government, the Hudson’s Bay and Rupert’s Land were transferred to Canada. Part became the Province of Manitoba (although like Ontario and Quebec, much smaller than today) and the rest was placed under territorial government.
A year later, on July 20, 1871, British Columbia entered Confederation on terms that included, among other things, the building of a transcontinental railway line ( a very difficult undertaking). The Canadian Pacific Railway, built to meet this condition, was completed over an all-Canadian route on November 7, 1885. Prince Edward Island joined Canada on July 1, 1873, on being promised the maintenance of continuous communications with the mainland, and the taking over and completion of the railway on the island. Other provinces and territories were established as part of Confederation in the Twentieth Century.
The peaceful formation of Canada by consensus is somewhat of a political miracle. “Making one political body out of two is among the most difficult of human tasks....It took centuries to unite England and Scotland, more centuries to form Italy or Germany..... Very few achievements of state-building have been peacefully accomplished (Lower, 1964, p. 313) As a rule, large political structures have been built by conquest in war, by marriage between the royalty of different countries, or by bribery” (Lower, 1964, p. 313).
So, Canada holds a distinction, in being one of a few countries where provinces and people with different backgrounds and interests and languages formed a confederation under a federal system without having to resort to fighting. That doesn’t mean that in the next 125 years or so there weren’t differences between them, for that continues to this day. It did mean, however, that Canadians were beginning to move away from being an offshoot of Britain; a process that continued until the Constitution was signed in 1984.
References:
Lower, A.R.M., 1964, Colony to Nation: A history of Canada, Longmans
Canada Limited,