Introduction to History of Canada
It is generally believed that the ancestors of the Indians and the Inuit (Eskimos) migrated to North America across a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska. The ancestors of the Indians arrived at least 12,000 years ago; those of the Inuit, about 5,000 to 8,000 years ago.
At the time of contact with Europeans in the 16th century, there were about 300,000 Indians and Inuit in what is now Canada. The highest concentrations of Indians were in the St. Lawrence Valley and southern Ontario. The tribes there were of the Iro-quoian language family, and included the Huron, Petun, and Neutral. They had complex, highly organized societies, and had extensive contact with other tribes through trade and kinship, as well as through warfare. Their economy was based on agriculture.
Other areas of Canada, such as the north woods and the plains, were thinly populated. The Indians there had less complex societies and were predominantly food-gatherers. Major tribes in the northeast were Algonquian-speaking and included the Micmac, Algonquin, Montagnais, Ojibway (or Chippewa), and Cree. These tribes lived mainly on plants but also hunted and fished. On the plains, food was obtained by hunting, primarily for buffalo. Tribes here included the Assiniboin (Siouan-speaking), the Plains Cree and Blackfeet (Algonquian), and the Gros Ventre and Sarcee (Athabaskan).
The Indians of the Pacific Coast, such as the Tsimshian, Haida, and Kwakiutl, had economies based on fishing and trade. They developed a complex culture, and were master woodworkers and skilled sailors. The Inuit in the Arctic lived in small, usually family-based, nomadic groups. They moved with the seasons in search of game, mainly caribou and sea mammals.
European Exploration
The first known European visitors to Canada were the Norsemen, or Vikings. They sailed southwestward out of Greenland and Iceland and landed in what is now Newfoundland, which they called Vinland. Archeological evidence indicates that settlement was made on the eastern coast as early as the 11th century near a site called L'Anse aux Meadows. The Norsemen did not remain long, and regular excursions by Europeans to the northern shores of Canada did not begin until the end of the 15th century.
The voyages of Christopher Columbus first brought widespread attention to what came to be called the New World, and in 1497 John Cabot, an Italian seaman in the employ of England, reached what was probably Newfoundland. He took possession of the region for England; this act formed the basis of the English claim to North America.
The first expedition to Canada by European explorers was led by a Frenchman, Jacques Cartier. In 1534 Cartier entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence and claimed the mainland for France. He led a second voyage the following year, sailing up the St. Lawrence River as far as the site of Montreal. He spent the winter of 1535–36 at Quebec (then an Indian village called Stadacona), but made no permanent settlement. A third voyage, in 1541, was made to prepare the way for a colonizing expedition by the Sieur de Roberval. In 1542 Roberval established a settlement on the St. Lawrence upriver from Stadacona, but the colony lasted only a few months. There were no other French ventures in Canada until the 1600's.
In 1576 Martin Frobisher, an English explorer searching for a northwest passage (a water route across the northern edge of North America) to the Far East, reached what is now Frobisher Bay on Baffin Island, north of Labrador. He made two additional voyages to the region, in 1577 and 1578.
Meanwhile, temporary bases used for fishing had been established near the Grand Banks off present-day Newfoundland by sailors from various countries. In 1583 Sir Humphrey Gilbert, an English explorer also seeking a northwest passage, occupied one of fishing settlements, now St. John's, Newfoundland. He took possession of the island for England, making it that country's first colonial possession in North America. The English made no effort to settle colonists there until early in the 17th century. These attempts at colonization were not successful. The region nonetheless provided England with significant profits from fishing.
The French Period
Beginning in the mid-16th century, another commercial activity started—the fur trade. In order to promote its fur-trading activities in the region it called Acadia (the Atlantic coast of Canada), France attempted to settle colonists near trading posts it had built there. In 1598 the Marquis de la Roche established a colony on Sable Island east of present-day Nova Scotia. It did not flourish and was abandoned, as was an inland settlement founded by Pierre de Cahauvin de Tonnetuit at Tadoussac, at the mouth of the Saguenay River in what is now Quebec. The harsh northern climate and lack of provisions were major factors in the failure of these early settlements.
In 1603 the Sieur de Monts was given a trading monopoly in Acadia with the obligation of settling colonists there. The following year, de Monts with the aid of Samuel de Champlain established a settlement on St. Croix Island (now Cochet Island, Maine). Because of severe weather the French relocated the settlement in 1605 to the mainland, at Port Royal (Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia). This colony also failed. In 1608 de Monts sent Champlain to found a settlement on the St. Lawrence River, at what is now Quebec City.
Quebec City became headquarters for the fur trade, which was to be the main economic activity of New France, as French possessions in Canada were then called. Champlain made explorations into the interior and formed an alliance with the Huron and Algonquin Indians. This association soon involved the French in a war against the Iroquois, and they incurred the lasting enmity of the tribes of this powerful confederation.
The French government encouraged settlement in New France, but initially few settlers came. In 1615 there were only about 50 French colonists in the St. Lawrence settlement. In order to bring Christianity to the Indians, Champlain invited Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries to New France. The French hoped to build a strong Catholic Indian state to block expansion by the English, who were colonizing to the south in what is now the United States. Missions among the Indians were established far into the interior, but few Indians were converted. For a time, the Jesuits exerted a strong influence over the civil affairs of New France. Particularly powerful was the first bishop of New France, François Xavier de Laval-Montmorency.
Meanwhile, in 1627, England and France had gone to war in Europe, and the English began to make incursions into New France. In 1627 Sir William Alexander, a Scottish colonizer who had been granted title to what is now Nova Scotia (New Scotland) by King James I of England, established a settlement there at the abandoned site of Port Royal. In 1629 an English adventurer, David Kirke, seized Quebec. The city was restored to the French, as was Port Royal, by the Treaty of St. Germaine-en-Laye in 1632.
In 1642 Ville-Marie (now called Montreal) was founded by Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, mainly for missionary activities. It flourished as a trade center, giving new life to the struggling colony of New France. By the 1660's, however, there were only some 2,500 settlers in New France, as compared to more than 40,000 English colonists to the south. From 1627 to 1663, the Company of New France, a fur-trading company, controlled all activity in New France. In 1663 Louis XIV, who was determined to build a self-sufficient empire in North America, made New France a royal colony under his direct control.
In 1672 Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac, was appointed governor. For nearly 20 years, 1672–82 and 1689–98, he ruled New France with a firm hand. He expanded the fur trade to Lake Superior and Hudson Bay, established a number of military posts, defended the colony against attacks by the Iroquois, and conducted a series of raids against English settlements. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the 18th century, the prospects for the survival of New France were not favorable.
English Victory
Difficulties with the English over control of land and the fur trade began in the early 1600's and continued for nearly a century and a half. The English made a major advance into Canada after the Hudson's Bay Company was formed in 1670 and began fur trading in the territory called Rupert's Land, which bordered on Hudson Bay. The Hudson's Bay Company soon dominated trade in this fur-rich region. Four wars between France and England in Europe—first for maritime supremacy and later for overseas possessions—extended to the colonies.
During King William's War (the North American phase of the European war called the War of the Grand Alliance), 1689–97, the main fighting between France and England took place in the English colonies, which were attacked by the French and their Indian allies. In Queen Anne's War (the War of the Spanish Succession), 1702–13, hostilities broke out between settlers in Acadia and Britain's New England colonies. During King George's War (the War of the Austrian Succession), 1744–48, French troops from Louisbourg and Quebec attacked Nova Scotia and Saratoga, New York. British forces then captured Louisbourg, but it was returned to France at the war's end.
The final struggle between the British and French for control of the North American continent was the French and Indian War, 1754–63. (The European phase was called the Seven Years' War and began in 1756.) The decisive victory in this conflict was the taking of Quebec, the administrative capital of New France. During the battle on the Plains of Abraham in 1759, British troops under General James Wolfe captured Quebec, defeating French forces under the Marquis de Montcalm. The fighting continued until Montreal surrendered in 1760. Under the Treaty of Paris of 1763, which completed the British conquest of New France, the French ceded to Great Britain all of their territory in Canada except a group of islands, including St. Pierre and Miquelon, off Newfoundland. In Canada at that time, there were about 60,000 French settlers and some 500 Britons, most of the latter being fur traders working for the Hudson's Bay Company.
The Royal Proclamation of 1763, issued by King George III, set the boundaries of Quebec (roughly the Valley of the St. Lawrence River from Nova Scotia on the east to Lake Nipissing on the west); made the Island of St. John (later renamed Prince Edward Island) and Cape Breton Island part of the colony of Nova Scotia; and reserved the territory in the center of what is now Canada for the Indians. The proclamation also established a government for Quebec. Major General James Murray was appointed its first British governor.
In 1774 the British parliament passed the Quebec Act, which gave French Canadians important privileges. In order to encourage their loyalty to Britain, they were allowed to keep their own language, religion, and laws. The act also established new boundaries for the province; it was to include all the territory north to the Hudson's Bay Company lands, as well as the Indian lands southwest to the junction of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The claiming of the Indian lands angered many colonists in the Thirteen Colonies (the colonies that were to become the United States) and was a cause of the American Revolution.
British settlers began coming to Canada in large numbers during the American Revolution. About 60,000 residents of the Thirteen Colonies who remained loyal to Britain moved to what are now New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the southern part of Ontario. These immigrants, known as United Empire Loyalists, and their descendants exercised a strong and lasting influence on Canada. They were the first large group of British settlers in the region and were mainly responsible for the creation of what was to become Ontario.
British Rule to 1867
Canada was governed from 1774 to 1791 under the terms of the Quebec Act. As the number of British settlers increased, however, it became clear to Britain that this act was no longer adequate. British institutions needed to be transplanted to British North America. This was accomplished by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The Constitutional Act divided the colony into the provinces of Upper Canada (now southern Ontario) and Lower Canada (now southern Quebec). It provided each province with an appointed lieutenant governor, appointed executive and legislative councils, and an elected legislative assembly.
Sir Alexander Mackenzie led a small expedition from Fort Chipewyan in 1789. The group discovered the Mackenzie River, the longest river in Canada, and followed it to the Arctic.Upper Canada, which was English-speaking, had a population of about 20,000; Lower Canada, mostly French-speaking, had approximately six times that number. Not a part of the colony of Canada, and developing separately, were British settlements along the Atlantic coast—Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland—and Rupert's Land, the territory to the west owned by the Hudson's Bay Company.
The total population of British North America—the collective name for all British possessions in what is now Canada—was approximately 250,000 in 1791. About 140,000 were of French origin and 110,000 of British origin. In addition, there were about 200,000 Indians.
For decades the survival of British North America was not certain. The wars of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars were threats to British rule, as they stirred the hopes of French Canadians for renewed ties to France and also posed the threat of French invasion or economic blockade.
Also a threat to the security of British North America were the designs of expansionists in the United States, who viewed their less-populated northern neighbor as a possible source of cheap land and large profits. At the outbreak of the War of 1812, between the United States and Britain, the United States had a population of about 6,000,000; British North America, about 500,000.
During the war, United States troops invaded both Upper and Lower Canada and several battles were fought. In 1812 American forces were repulsed by troops under the command of General Sir Isaac Brock at Queenston Heights. In 1813 the Americans attacked and burned York (now Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada. An inconclusive and bloody battle was fought at Lundy's Lane on the Niagara Peninsula in July, 1814. Although the war ended in December, 1814, fear of the United States continued for some time.
In 1818 the first United States—Canadian boundary agreement was made. It was agreed that the Great Lakes would be an unarmed zone and that the 49th parallel would be the Anglo-American boundary from the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains. The border question, however, was not finally settled until 1846, when the Oregon Treaty was signed. It extended the United States—Canadian border along the 49th parallel to Puget Sound.
In the decades immediately following the War of 1812, the British North American colonies grew rapidly. Population increased to more than 2 million in 1850, with the vast majority of the new settlers coming from the British Isles. Most went to Upper Canada. Others settled in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and some moved to the north-western territory owned by the Hudson's Bay Company, especially to the Red River Colony founded by Lord Selkirk.
Also during the first half of the 19th century, trade and industry expanded. Lumbering and farming became the mainstays of the economy. Fishing and shipbuilding also assumed importance. All fur-trade activities had moved westward to the territory where the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company were active. These two companies were fierce competitors for the fur trade until they merged in 1821.
Politically, there were increasing demands in Upper and Lower Canada for constitutional reform to change the structure of government. Many colonists wanted “responsible government”—that is, government whose authority came from the people and could be renewed or withdrawn in periodic elections. The structure established by the Constitutional Act had power being held by officials appointed by the British monarch, with the elected legislature subordinate to the appointees. In Lower Canada, the situation was aggravated by the fact that the appointed officials were British and the assembly was mainly French-speaking.
There were also reform movements in the Atlantic settlements during 1820–40, led by Joseph Howe in Nova Scotia and William Cooper in Prince Edward Island.
The struggle for responsible government in Upper and Lower Canada became so bitter that it resulted in open rebellion in 1837. Radicals, led by Louis Joseph Papineau in Lower Canada and William Lyon Mackenzie in Upper Canada, took up arms in ill-organized, bloody revolts against the government. The rebellions failed and the fighting came to an end in 1838. However, Britain took note of the critical state of affairs in Canada brought about by the first stirrings of Canadian democracy and the continuing problem of French nationalism. This led to the Earl of Durham being sent to investigate the causes of the unrest and to recommend a new form of government for Canada.
Durham arrived in Quebec in May, 1838, as governor general and high commissioner of British North America. As a result of a report he issued in 1839, Upper and Lower Canada were reunited by the Act of Union of 1840, which became effective February 10, 1841. This act was an important step toward a consolidated British North America. It created the Province of Canada, with the administrative districts of Canada West (for merly Upper Canada) and Canada East (Lower Canada). The province had an appointed governor general, an appointed legislative council, and an elected assembly with some control over local affairs. Reformers, however, felt the act did not go far enough toward responsible government.
The act also promoted the political and cultural dominance of the English-speaking population by attempting to hasten the assimilation of French Canadians. It forbade the use of the French language in government and ended certain French Canadian institutions relating to education and civil law.
In the 1850's and 1860's, much political and economic progress was made. Responsible government was achieved by the Province of Canada in 1848. It was also gained by the Maritime colonies—Nova Scotia in 1848, Prince Edward Island in 1851, New Brunswick in 1854, and Newfoundland in 1855. Local government and public schools were established. Laws that had granted special privileges to certain groups, such as the seigneurs (landed gentry) in Canada East, were abolished; and church and state were separated in Canada West. A change in British imperial policy allowed the Canadians to develop their own economic policy. As a result, an agreement on reciprocal free trade was reached with the United States in 1854. Also closer economic ties among Britain's North American possessions were forged by the construction of a series of railways in the 1850's, linking Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax.
There was no resolution, however, to the long-standing conflict between French and British settlers. No ministry was able to win a large majority in elections or stayed long in office, even though leaders of the dominant parties in both sections of the colony were included. The continued unrest in Canada caused concern in the British government. Then, in the early 1860's, the American Civil War generated fears that an armed United States might seek to expand northward into Canada. These conditions, coupled with the persistent efforts of Canadian statesmen such as Alexander Gait, George Brown, John A. Macdonald, and Georges Cartier, convinced Britain that a union of all its North American provinces was a necessity for their survival.
Confederation and Expansion
Confederation—the creation of a federal system—had been suggested early in the 19th century and had been urged by the Earl of Durham. It was not until 1864, however, that steps toward that end were actually taken. First, a coalition government in Canada, composed of both reformers and conservatives and headed by longtime foes Macdonald and Brown, was formed in June to work for a federal union. Then, in September, representatives of East and West Canada met with the leaders of the Maritime Provinces at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Finally, in Quebec in October, a conference of delegates from Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island adopted a set of resolutions outlining a plan uniting British North America. These resolutions were contained in the British North America Act, which was passed by the British parliament in 1867 and came into force on July 1 of that year.
The act created the Dominion of Canada, consisting of the four provinces of Ontario (formerly Canada West), Quebec (Canada East), New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. (Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island chose not to join at this time.) The capital of the new country was at Ottawa in Ontario. One of the first acts of the new government, headed by Conservative leader Sir John A. Macdonald, was to seek annexation of the lands still held by the Hudson's Bay Company, which consisted of Rupert's Land and, to the west, the Northwestern Territory. Under pressure from the British government, the company surrendered its territorial rights in 1869, but kept its trading posts and privileges and some land. The lands annexed by the government were joined and called the Northwest Territories.
Transfer of authority from the company to the dominion government brought on the Red River Rebellion, 1869–70, led by Louis Riel. Riel and other métis (people of French and Indian ancestry) believed that the change would mean the loss of their rights, which included use of the French language and denominational schools, and perhaps might even mean the loss of their lands. The end of the rebellion was followed immediately by the creation, in the Red River region, of Canada's fifth province, Manitoba, on July 15, 1870.
In 1871 British Columbia—a colony established in 1858 at the far western end of the continent—joined the confederation. Its condition for joining was that a transcontinental railway be built within a decade. In 1873 the North-West Mounted Police (later called the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) was established to maintain law and order in the northwest and to be a visible symbol of Canadian sovereignty in the region. Also that year, Prince Edward Island entered the union, following the federal government's offer to absorb debt incurred in constructing a trans-island railway and provide money to buy out the many absentee English landlords who owned most of the island.
Continuing fear that their land claims were threatened led the métis to rebel for a second time, in 1885, in what was called the Saskatchewan (or Northwest) Rebellion. The métis were again led by Riel and were allied with Cree Indians, who had been reduced to near starvation by the virtual disappearance of the buffalo. They clashed with government troops at Duck Lake, Fish Creek, and Cut Knife Hill before being defeated at Batoche. Riel was executed, but the métis did win some concessions. Most Indians were returned to the reserves that the federal government had created for them following land cessions in the 1870's.
The purchase of Rupert's Land led to the development of the west. Thousands of homesteaders from Europe, the United States, and eastern Canada settled the western prairies. By 1901 there were almost 500,000 people in the old Northwestern Territory. In 1905 two new provinces were created out of the region—Alberta and Saskatchewan. Thus a solid row of provinces reached from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. In 1912 a further change was made by the northward expansion of the provinces of Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec into land that had been part of the Northwest Territories.
Two new provinces. Alberta, left, and Saskatchewan, right, joined Canada during the administration of Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier. Both joined on Sept. 1, 1905To World War I
National development, national autonomy, and national unity were the goals of the dominion government from its inception. These goals, however, were not achieved without difficulty. Soon after confederation, a strong movement developed in Nova Scotia to have the British North America Act repealed. Many Nova Scotians believed their interests would be better served in a union of the Maritime Provinces or even by annexation to the United States. The repeal movement died out, however, after several years.
Among the early accomplishments of the dominion government were the establishment of a postal system in 1868; the passage of a national banking act in 1871; and the opening of the first railway system, the Intercolonial, in 1876.
The building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Canada's first transcontinental railroad, was the chief political issue for more than a decade. Prime Minister Macdonald's government fell as a result of the Pacific Scandal of 1873, when it was revealed that the Conservatives had taken large campaign contributions from financier Sir Hugh Allan and his business associates during the 1872 elections, and then rewarded them with the contract to build the railroad. The Liberals, led by Alexander Mackenzie, came to power proposing that the railroad be built by the government. They held office for five years, but were defeated in 1878 because Mackenzie's leadership was viewed as too cautious by many Canadians. The railroad was finally built by a group of private investors, with some financial aid from the dominion government, and was completed in 1885.
The Conservatives, still led by Macdonald, had returned to power in 1878 promising economic development. Their “National Policy,” as their platform was called, included protective tariffs, railway construction, and the settlement of the West. Until his death in 1891, Macdonald was the dominant figure in Canadian politics. His leadership did much to give firm foundation to the young dominion, despite a prolonged depression that hampered economic progress and discourged immigration, and the continuing conflict between French and British Canadians. After his death, dissension among the Conservatives cost them the confidence of the country, and the Liberals won the election of 1896.
The new prime minister, Wilfrid Laurier (who became Sir Wilfrid in 1897), was the first French Canadian to head the federal government. During the 15 years of his ministry, Canada experienced rapid economic development as well as a growth of national unity. Population increased from about five million in 1901 to seven million a decade later. There was significant development of mineral resources, hydroelectric power, lumbering, and manufacturing. The new national spirit of the era was exemplified by the laying of the Pacific cable from Canada to Australia; the removal of the last British garrisons and substitution of Canadian troops, making the dominion responsible for its own defense; and the negotiation of commercial treaties with France, Japan, and the United States.
Laurier lost the election of 1911. His defeat resulted from opposition in French Canada to his sending Canadian troops to South Africa to fight in the Boer War and from opposition in Ontario to his commercial treaties with other nations, which were felt to threaten the prosperity that had been bolstered by protective tariffs. The Conservative party under Robert Laird Borden took office in 1911, but continued virtually the same policies as Laurier.
World War I and After
As part of the British Empire, Canada was obliged to aid Great Britain in World War I. The majority of Canadians, except those in Quebec, supported sending troops to the battlefront. The first Canadians were in the lines in France by early 1915, and the Canadian Corps distinguished itself throughout the war. As the fighting wore on, voluntary enlistments were not sufficient to provide manpower, and Prime Minister Borden proposed conscription. The Conscription Act of 1917 met with hostility from many groups and seriously disrupted national unity. To promote unity, Borden in late 1917 formed a national bipartisan Union government, composed of Conservatives and pro-conscription Liberals.
The war ended the following year. Nearly 700,000 Canadians had served during the war; 61,000 had lost their lives. The war accelerated the industrial development of Canada, but its most important result was the international recognition given Canada for its participation in the conflict. Borden, who wanted Canada to play a role in the peace process, won separate representation for all self-governing British dominions at the peace conference in 1919. In the early 1920's, Canada began formulating foreign policy independently of Great Britain.
In the postwar period, there was considerable expansion of industry and agriculture. Canadian railways were extended in the west and, with the exception of the Canadian Pacific, were united and nationalized as the Canadian National Railways. Urban centers expanded, and immigration reached a peak during the economic boom of the 1920's.
For most of the years between the world wars and during World War II, the prime minister was William Lyon Mackenzie King, a Liberal. (King's maternal grandfather was William Lyon Mackenzie, who had led the 1837 rebellion in Upper Canada.) At the Imperial Conference of 1926, a meeting of leaders of the self-governing nations within the British Empire, King asked for clearer definitions of imperial relationships. This request led to the Balfour Report of 1926 and eventually to the Statute of Westminster of 1931, which proclaimed that Great Britain and the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Nations (the organization that superseded the British Empire) were equal in status.
Canada was severely affected by the worldwide depression of the 1930's. At the depth of the depression in 1933, about one-fifth of the workforce was unemployed. The Prairie Provinces were particularly hard hit, both by a severe drought and by the collapse of the wheat trade. Growing discontent gave rise to new political groups such as the Co-operative Common wealth Federation and the Social Credit movement. Although the depression had not ended, an economic upswing had begun when World War II broke out.
World War II
Canada's foreign policy had changed somewhat during the interwar period. Closer political and economic ties with the United States had resulted in a more North American than European orientation. Isolationism was a growing trend. The outbreak of World War II in 1939, however, embroiled Canada again in European affairs. In addition to supplying war materials, the Canadians soon began to send troops to the battle zones. The Royal Canadian Air Force took part in the Battle of Britain, 1940–41. During the battle's most crucial phase, when it appeared that the Germans might be able to invade England, plans were made to transfer the seat of the Commonwealth to Canada.
Canada, which had declared war on Germany in 1939, followed with declarations of war against Italy in 1940, and against Hungary, Finland, Romania, and Japan in late 1941. In 1942 the manpower demands of the war led the government to send conscripted troops overseas, despite protests by Quebec. Canadian units took part in the invasions of Sicily and the Italian mainland in 1943, the assault on Normandy in 1944, and the conquest of Germany in 1945. By the war's end, Canada had mobilized an armed force of more than one million out of a population of about 11,500,000 (1941 census).
Quebec Conference of August, 1943 , laid plans for the invasion of France during World War II. Seated (left to right) are Prime Minister Mackenzie King of Canada, President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain. Top-ranking British and United States staff officers stand behind them.Postwar Period
World War II had caused a great expansion and diversification of Canadian industry, and also had brought the United States and Canada closer economically. After the war, Louis St. Laurent, who succeeded Mackenzie King as prime minister in 1948, pursued new economic ties with the United States, placing less emphasis on Canada's relationship with Britain.
In the postwar period, new petroleum fields and deposits of metallic ores were opened to development. Utilization of the vast waterpower resources of the west provided for further industrial expansion. The westward movement of the population—which had begun with the opening of the railways—continued to be important. Population growth was spurred by the immigration of nearly three million people, mainly from Britain and other European nations, in the two decades following World War II. During this period, major transportation projects were completed. The St. Lawrence Seaway, a joint venture of Canada and the United States, was opened to ocean shipping in 1959. In 1962 the first paved transcontinental highway—the Trans-Canada Highway—was completed.
Also in the postwar years, there was a growing sense of nationhood. To emphasize its national independence, Canada passed a citizenship act in 1946, creating a Canadian citizenship separate from that of British subject. In 1949 it dropped the word dominion from its name. In the same year, the Canadian parliament was given power by Britain to amend most of the fundamental laws that served as Canada's constitution, and Newfoundland became the 10th province. In 1952 Vincent Massey became the first Canadian to hold the post of governor general.
Newfoundland became the 10th province of Canada in 1949.Canada's role in world affairs steadily increased in the postwar period. In 1945 Canada participated in the United Nations World Security Conference. In 1947 it was elected to a seat on the UN Security Council for two years. Lester B. Pearson, Canada's secretary of state for external affairs and later its prime minister, served as president of the UN General Assembly in 1952. Canadian influence in the United Nations was especially strong during the Suez Canal and Israel-Egypt crises of 1956–57.
Canada was one of the original members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. During the Korean War, 1950–53, it contributed sea, air, and land forces to the United Nations Command. The North American Air Defense Command was formed in 1957 to coordinate United States and Canadian forces.
Late 20th Century
Quebec's long-standing dissatisfaction with its relationship to the federal government, plus its deep-rooted isolationism, led to the rise of an organized French-Canadian nationalist movement in the 1960's. Some French Canadians argued that Quebec was so dominated culturally and economically by English-speaking Canada that it could achieve equality only by becoming independent. The Parti Québécois, formed in 1968 by the union of two earlier separatist parties and headed by René Lévesque, led the move for separation from Canada.
The federal government attempted by various means to address the grievances of French-speaking citizens. In 1965 it adopted a new, non-British flag. (The previous flag had been based on the Union Jack.) Also, Montreal was designated the site of Expo 67, an international exposition held in 1967 to celebrate Canada's 100th year of confederation. In 1969 French was made an official language of Canada. Separatists, however, continued to demand that Quebec become independent.
The defeat of separatist candidates in the 1970 provincial elections led to the “October Crisis.” Extremists who called themselves the Front de liberation du Québec kidnapped a British diplomat and murdered a Quebec cabinet minister. The federal government, under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, a French Canadian, responded to these events by imposing the War Measures Act. It gave broad powers to the police and military to arrest and detain suspected terrorists, and led to a defusing of the crisis.
During the 1960's and 1970's, there was an increasing desire in Canada to be independent of foreign influence, especially that of the United States. During two successive Liberal governments, headed by Lester B. Pearson (1963–68) and Trudeau (1968–79), measures that placed restrictions on foreign ownership of Canadian industry, resources, and media were adopted. Canada also pursued an independent foreign policy.
By the 1970's, Canada had become one of the world's major manufacturing and trading nations, exporting about one-fourth of what it produced. It expanded economic ties with the European Community (now known as the European Union), the nations of the Far East, and Latin America.
In the 1970's, Inuits and Indians joined forces to press for federal recognition of aboriginal land claims and to seek compensation for those lands that had been unjustly appropriated. Indian groups also sought greater influence in the administration of Indian affairs and in the development of natural resources on Indian lands, and organized to preserve Indian culture.
The Progressive Conservative party won the 1979 elections, and its leader, Joe Clark, became prime minister. The Liberals, however, were returned to power in 1980. The National Energy Program, designed to decrease foreign ownership of Canada's oil industry and promote energy self-sufficiency, was introduced that year. Also in 1980, Quebec voters in a referendum rejected the idea of separation from Canada.
The Constitution Act, 1982, passed by the Canadian parliament and approved by the British parliament, gave Canada full sovereignty, removing the last vestige of British control. Quebec's provincial government, however, objected to the Constitution Act because it did not recognize Quebec as a “distinct society,” and did not sign it.
In June, 1984, Trudeau retired. The Liberal party, under his successor, John Turner, was defeated in parliamentary elections in September by the Progressive Conservatives, led by Brian Mulroney. Mulroney promised a new direction for Canada, stressing economic development and cooperation with the United States.
Although Mulroney desired cooperation, several issues strained Canadian-American relations. Canadians felt that the environment had been damaged by industrial pollution from the United States, especially acid rain. Canada protested the passage of United States naval vessels through what Canada claimed as its territorial waters in the Arctic. There also were disputes over fishing rights in Atlantic and Pacific waters.
Despite these problems, there was cooperation in many areas. In 1985 Canada and the United States signed an agreement to study the causes of acid rain, and in 1986 the United States agreed to begin reducing industrial emissions. In 1987 an agreement was signed to eliminate tariffs between the two countries, and Canada agreed to reduce restrictions on foreign investment.
Also in 1987, in an attempt to resolve the continuing dispute over the relationship between Quebec and the federal government, Quebec's government agreed, in what was called the Meech Lake Accord, to sign the Constitution Act, 1982, if a consensus could be reached acknowledging Quebec as a “distinct society” within Canada. There was opposition in some provinces, and the accord failed to be ratified by the deadline of June 23, 1990.
Meanwhile, the Progressive Conservatives won the general elections held in 1988, and Mulroney remained prime minister.
In 1992, after more than a year of negotiations, Canada signed the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and the United States. It was intended to eliminate tariffs and trade and investment restrictions between the nations. Also that year, Mulroney and the 10 provincial premiers negotiated a new constitutional reform agreement, the so-called Charlottetown Accord, to clarify Quebec's role within the confederation. When placed before the voters in a nonbinding referendum in October, 1992, however, it was defeated. Quebec's status remained unsettled as the nation prepared for the parliamentary elections of 1993.
Meanwhile, the economy had entered a deep recession in the early 1990's, and Mulroney and his party had become extremely unpopular. Hoping to improve his party's chances in elections scheduled for late 1993, Mulroney resigned in June, allowing his party to choose a new leader. Defense minister Kim Campbell was selected, and became the first woman prime minister.
The change in leadership failed to prevent the overwhelming defeat of the Progressive Conservatives in the elections of October, 1993. The Liberal party, headed by Jean Chrétien, gained a parliamentary majority and formed a new government. The Reform party, a right-of-center party, and the Bloc Québécois, a separatist party, also gained a significant number of parliamentary seats.
In 1995, Quebec voters narrowly rejected an independence referendum. The ruling Liberal Party won the general elections held in 1997. In 1999, Nunavut—a territory comprised of lands formerly part of the Northwest Territories—came into being. Jean Chrétien withdrew from office in late 2003 and Paul Martin succeeded him. In general elections held in 2004 the Liberal party remained in government but lost its parliamentary majority. In November, 2005, a commission of inquiry confirmed that the Liberals had misused public funds for their own benefit. Later that month, the opposition parties in the House passed a vote of no confidence in the government. The prime minister was forced to dissolve Parliament and to call for a new election which was held in January, 2006. The Conservatives won the most seats in Parliament but did not win a majority. Stephen Harper was sworn in as prime minister of a minority government in February.