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he death tolls in Europe were staggering. No matter how hard Canada tried, they couldn’t recruit enough volunteers. It became apparent that Quebec was providing fewer volunteers than Ontario, although their populations were similar in size. The government had to resort to other methods of recrution such as conscription.
(The compulsory enlistment of citizens into military service.) The government was hesitant to bring in conscription, because they knew it would damage French-English relations. (Which it did.) Many Francophones had refused to volunteer for the army. How would they react if they were forced to join? Robert Borden was PM of Canada when World War I broke out. He felt that Britain and its allies would need all the help Canada could give. He thought Canada should supply arms, ships, food, and above all, soldiers.
In 1917 he attended the Imperial War Cabinet, which convinced him even more that Britain needed help. Consequently, when he found that he couldn’t wait for enough men to volunteer, he passed the Military Service act (which made conscription legal) in 1917. In 1918, conscription began, but a large number of Canadians (mostly Francophones) refused to join the army. What wimps! Henri Bourassa was the founder of the Francophone daily paper, Le Devoir. He used the paper to express his ideas.
Bourassa felt that Canada should think of itself as an independant nation, not as a colony of Britain, and as far as he was concearned, World War I had nothing to do with Canada so we shouldn’t help Britain. He thought that Britain and France were imperealistic and that they were just fighting Germany to see who could build up the greatest empire. In 1960 the “impatient generation” (Basically, these people were proud of being Francophones and felt that Francophones were not being treated as well as they deserved to be by Anglophones. They wanted to change this by gaining political power.) gained political power and great changes occurred in Quebec. This period of Radical change has become known as the Quiet Revolution. These changes were introduced by the Liberal government of Jean Lesage, who became premier of Quebec in the 1960 election.
Here is a list of some of the concearns of Quebeckers in 1960: – Wages in Quebec were less than the national average. – The unemployment rate in Quebec was 9.1%. – Only 18% of Canada’s federal jobs were given to Francophones. – Majority of businesses in Quebec were owned by Anglophones. – Hospital and health care were not adequate.
– Education system was not geared towards an industrial society. Here are the Lesage Government’s solutions to Quebec’s concearns: – Get more hospitals and doctors in Quebec. – Increase old age pensions. – Have new laws which increase wages paid to workers.
– Provide more schools and education facilities. – Provide jobs by providing money to start businesses. – Develop Quebec’s vast natural resources. – Take over all the hydro-electric companies in Quebec. In 1962 Lesage campaigned under the slogan “maitres chez nous”.
This suggested that he wanted to change the relationship between Quebec and Ottawa. He felt that English Canada had too much control over the economy and the federal government. After the Conscription Crisis, English Canada thought that Quebec was reletively satisfied with their situation, ergo they were suprised when Lesage used that above mentioned slogan. The federal government and English Canada did not see why Quebec should be given special status over the other provinces. (i.e. Quebec wanted complete control over all of its taxes.) French Canada argued that they are one of Canada’s founding people, and they are Canada’s largest minority, (28%) and they have their own language and culture to preserve, therefore they should have special status to determine their unique way of life.
Thus, during the ’60s Canada was divided into two parts. On one side were French Canadians who demanded special status. On the other side were the rest of Canadians, who felt that Quebec should not be given special privileges. The Official Languages Act of 1969 had four main points: – English and French are the official languages of Canada. – Both languages must be recognized in parts of the country where there are large minorities of French or English speaking people. – Both languages must be recognized in certain sections of the federal civil service.
– Both languages must be offered as the language of instruction in all schools in Ottawa. When Trudeau made this act, it led to big changes such as all labels being bilingual, and all civil servants learning french. Bilingualism was a symbol that all Francophones were accepted in Canada. The government wanted to prove that the French didn’t have to seperate form Canada to protect their way of life. Trudeau was so sure that this act was the solution to all French-English relation problems that he made four more proposals, which were: – All of the provinces of Canada should provide French services for their French- speaking minorities.
– Provinces with large French-speaking minorities should recognize both French and English as an official language. – All provinces should provide both French and English schools. – Businesses in Quebec should use both French and English. Meanwhile, Anglophones were unhappy with being asked to give a greater share of power and influence to Francophones.
They were afraid that they would either learn French, or be excluded form many jobs and politics. Also, they didn’t like that fact that Trudea was spending so much of their tax money on bilingualism. In October 1970, members of the FLQ (Front de liberation du Quebec. This is a political terrorist group in Quebec which used violence to promote the separation of Quebec from the rest of Canada during the 1960s and early 1970s.) kidnapped James Cross, the Britsh Trade Commissioner, and Pierre Laporte, the Quebec Labour Minister. As a result of this, the War Measures Act was put into effect. (This is an act giving police and the armed forces sweeping powers of arrest, search and detention.
It was also used in World War I and II.) The FLQ killed Laporte and then released Cross. The kidnappers were allowed to fly to Cuba. Some people were arrested in connection with the Laporte case, and they are tried and sentanced. Meech lake is a lake in Quebec near Ottawa where the Mulroney cabinet goes for it’s out ot town meetings. The Meech Lake Accord is a deal between Ottawa and the Provinces for changing the Constitution, worked out at Meech Lake on April 30, 1987 and refined in an all- nighter June 2-3 1987, at the Langevin Block across the street from the Parliment buildings in downtown Ottawa. The objective of this accord is to get Quebec to sign the constitution of April 17, 1982.
All provinces must ratify the Meech Lake amendment or it dies because it tries to change parts of the 1982 Constitution that need agreement by Ottawa and all provinces. Mulrony’s government has set the deadline for all the provinces to sign the accord for June 23, 1990, although some people say there is no deadline. Here are some of the key points in the accord: – The “Quebec Clause” is the key clause in this accord. It means that no matter what happens, Quebec must always be recognized within Canada as a distinct society and the Quebec government must be allowed to preserve and promote the distinct society. – Other provinces are just given the job of preserving the fundamental characteristic of Canada, which is the fact of Francophones centered in Quebec and present in the rest of Canada, and Anglophones concentrated outside of Quebec but also present inside Quebec. – Changes to the Senate will need consent of all province.
– Supreme Court goes into constitution, provinces get right to propose people when new justices are being names, Quebec gets 3/9 judges. – Each province gets a guarantee on it’s share of immigrants The International Joint Commission handles conflicts in which an action by a country on one side of the border effects the country on the other side of the border. It was created in 1912 and has three American and Three Canadian members which are appointed by each country’s federal government. It makes dicisions by majority rules. It has one headquarter in Ottawa and one in Washington. There are three main functions of the commission: – To regulate.
– To investigate. – To survey and coordinate. With the creation of The Autopact in 1965, the makers of cars could freely move cars across the Canadian-US border without tariffs. The pact required that a certain proportion of the cars manufactured in North America be made in Canadian factories. Despite the tensions of the two countries being mad that the flow of trade sometimes went in the other countries favour, the Autopact allowed car makers to better plan production.
This was to the benefit of both Canada and US. In 1957 Canada and US made a formal agreement to join defence efforts against attack from the air. This is the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD). Billions of dollars from Canada and US have been spent on radar stations, fighter planes, and command centres. Also, Canadians and Americans train with each other.
The basic function of NORAD is to detect any attack on North America and respond to it quickly. The American bomber forces need to be kept from suprise attack, so the US wanted Canada’s help to provide the land for radar warning sights. There is a big debate as to whether or not Canada should remain in NORAD, some arguments for Canada remaining in NORAD are: – NORAD provides protection of Canada’s airspace. – North America would be a single target in any nuclear war. – NORAD protects the US deterrent force. Some arguments for Canada not remaining in NORAD are: – The US doesn’t need Canada to help with air defence.
– It is unlikely that the Soviet Union would Launch an all-out war on NA. – Costly CF-18 fighters are not needed to meet intruders into our airspace. Canada’s contribution to victory in World War I. The Canadian army entered combat in the spring of 1915.
Thousands of Canadians died, and Canada’s army soon gained a reputation for its bravery and good organization. (note – a lot of Canadians were forced to join the army with conscription) General Currie, Commander of the Canadian Corps, was rated among the best generals on the Allied side. Some Canadian victories were the battle of Ypres, and Hill 70. Canadians also fought in Britsh Empire forces. Billy Bishop, a Canadian in the flying corps, was an outstanding pilot.
Canada’s contribution to victory in World War II. In World War II, Canada only sent a few soldiers to the war (there was NO conscription, as PM Mackenzie King didn’t want the country divided again like in world war I. Most Canadian help took the form of food and manufactured goods such asvehicles and weapons. After the defeat of France in 1940, Canada made a full-scale war effort. In 1941, Canada declared war on Super Mario 3 Japan.
By 1942, Canada, with its many volunteers, was ready to make a major contribution to the fighting. By 1944, King was forced to send 13 000 soldiers oversees because the war was going pretty badly. b) The United Nations is the international organization (formed in 1945) of nations dedicated to world peace and security. Canada was one of the fifty original members. Canada has been one of the United Nations Security Council non-permanent members in 1948-49, 1958-59, 1966-68, and 1977-78.
