Canada History

1. When was Canada discovered?
2. How did Canada and the USA become and remain two separate countries?
3. How did Canada become an independent country? Does the phrase "the Dominion of Canada" indicate colonial status?
4. So is "The Dominion of Canada" still the official name of the country?
5. Why is Canada bilingual?
6. How is Canada bilingual?
7. How did Ottawa become the capital of Canada?
8. What national flags has Canada used?

1. When was Canada discovered?

   It depends on what you count as discovering Canada.

   First, thousands of years before European contact and settlement, Canada was thinly settled by various Indian tribes and Inuit (Eskimo) bands.

   Viking wrecks have been found on the Canadian east coast, and Basques were fishing in "Canadian" waters well before the English or French started to explore Canada.

   In 1497, John Cabot (born in Italy as Giovanni Caboto, but working for the English) reached some part of what is now Canada -- it isn't clear whether it was the island of Newfoundland, or the Labrador coast, or Cape Breton Island.

   Starting in 1534, Jacques Cartier of France discovered and explored what is now Quebec and the other eastern provinces. He was the first to use the word "Canada", in 1535, in reference to a district along the St. Lawrence. (He apparently misunderstood the Iroquoian word kanata, which actually means "village", as referring to the district. Until the English created "Upper Canada", now Ontario, the name Canada referred exclusively to the French colony, which originated with Cartier.

   Due to their different cultural backgrounds, and perhaps because Newfoundland was not part of Canada until 1949, French speakers will usually recognize Cartier as the discoverer, while some English speakers will prefer Cabot.

2. How did Canada and the USA become and remain two separate countries?

   During the American Revolution of 1775-83, nearly 40,000 loyalists fled to Canada from the rebellious colonies.

   The War of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States began with a close vote in US Congress. During the War of 1812, Canada became a battleground; Toronto was captured and pillaged by the Americans in 1813. Many Americans hoped to expand the territory of the United States at the expense of Canada, or even to entice Canada into a continental American union, but Canadians, whether English- or French-speaking, showed no enthusiasm for joining the United States. A small British garrison, with the support of irregular forces of Indian tribes, kept the Americans at bay. The Convention of 1818 established the border between western Canada and the United States at latitude 49 degrees north, as far west as the Rocky Mountains, and provided for joint US-British control of Oregon (i.e., the entire Columbia River basin).

3. How did Canada become an independent country? Does the phrase "the Dominion of Canada" indicate colonial status?

   Independence actually happened in several stages, and the nomenclature is somewhat confusing because the words "province", "dominion", and "Canada" have each been used differently at different times.

   The four most important formal steps -- each of which was preceded by some years of political activity -- were:

   July 1, 1867: the British North America Act creates the Canadian federal government, and proclaims "one Dominion under the name of Canada". "Dominion" here means a part of the British Empire which is self-governing as regards internal matters. This event, illogically referred to as "Confederation", is the one celebrated today as having been the birth of Canada.

   December 11, 1931: the Statute of Westminster in effect redefines "dominion". Canada acquires full self-government, with the right to declare war, control its own international trade, and so on. Because the provinces cannot agree on an amending procedure, control of the Canadian constitution remains in Britain.

   January 1, 1947: the Canadian Citizenship Act causes Canadian citizens to be distinguished from other British subjects for the first time. (At the same time, the UK is distinguishing its own citizens from other British subjects. However, all British subjects resident in Canada retain the right to vote in Canada for a further 20+ years.)

   April 17, 1982: The Constitution Act "patriates" the Canadian constitution from Britain; henceforth it can be amended without British involvement.

   Canada still retains a formal dependency to Britain in that the British monarch is recognized as Canada's also. The monarch still notionally chooses representatives who, notionally, must approve each federal and provincial law and nominate each Prime Minister or Premier. However, in practice these representatives (the Governor General and Lieutenants- Governor) are nominated by appropriate Canadian legislature, and take a role that is purely formal, except in some cases when an election results in a minority government and the GG or LG acts as a sort of referee between the possible PMs or Premiers.

4. So is "The Dominion of Canada" still the official name of the country?

   It never was. Section 3 of the British North America Act read, in part:

   "... the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick shall form and be One Dominion under the Name of Canada; and on and after that Day those Three Provinces shall form and be One Dominion under that Name accordingly."

   This clause has never been repealed, though the BNA act is now called the Constitution Act, 1867. Thus Canada still is a dominion, or Dominion, and it is correct to refer to the Dominion of Canada. However, note that it says "...under the Name of Canada...." So the official name of the country is "Canada." "Dominion" is a descriptive term which can be applied to this country, but not part of its official name.

   It was however customary for many years to use "Dominion" as if it was part of the official name, so that many Canadians grew up thinking of it as that.

5. Why is Canada bilingual?

   The first permanent European settlement in Canada was the French trading station at Quebec, founded by Samuel de Champlain in 1608. In 1663, New France was organized as a French Crown Colony, and royal governors replaced private commercial interests in governing Quebec.

   When New France was ceded to the British in 1763 as part of the Treaty of Paris that ended the Seven Years' War, the French-speaking residents of the St. Lawrence valley were granted the option of remaining under English sovereignty or migrating to France. While the bureaucracy left, the peasant farmers, "les habitants" remained. The British granted its new French-speaking citizenry autonomy with respect to religion (Roman Catholic), the judiciary (eventually the Code Civile), and language. The separation of the thirteen southern colonies from Britain in 1783 caused significant Loyalist migration to the remaining British North American colonies, notably to the Maritime region and to Western Quebec. The English immigration to Western Quebec, which then included the southern parts of today's Quebec and Ontario, prompted the division into Lower Canada (Quebec) and Upper Canada (Ontario) in 1791.

   In 1840 the two Canadas were reunified as the Province of Canada. The United Parliament was supposed to be unilingual English, but custom soon made it bilingual. The different judicial systems in Upper and Lower Canada were governed by two justice ministers. Deadlock in the United Parliament, fear of political and economic domination by the antebellum US, and some British impetus got the five eastern British colonies in North America (Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland) together to discuss the prospect of federation. With respect to French-language rights at the governmental level, the traditions of the United Parliament of the Province of Canada were naturally extended to the Federal Parliament of (the Dominion) of Canada.

   The British North America Act of July 1, 1867, the British Act of Parliament that created the country, mandated official bilingualism in the Federal and Quebec legislatures and courts.

   The Province of Canada formed a federation along with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and the name Canada was applied to the new federation. The currently existing Canada is a direct descendant of the federation of 1867, not of the union of 1840.

6. How is Canada bilingual?

   Canadians have the right to receive services from their federal government in the official language of their choice. This does not mean you can walk into a post office in every town across the country and be guaranteed service in both English and French. Each province can decide for itself what services it will provide in the minority language. New Brunswick has a broad constitutional guarantee of equality of English and French. In Quebec, there is a constitutional guarantee that both French and English may be used in the legislature and the courts. Otherwise, provision of services in the minority language is up to the individual government.

   The Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the April 17, 1982, constitutional amendments guarantees minority-language (English in Quebec, French elsewhere) education rights "where numbers warrant"; however, not all of this section is currently in effect. (See the question "Is it true that immigrants to Quebec must send their children to French-language schools?" under Education)

7. How did Ottawa become the capital of Canada?

   Ottawa served briefly as the capital of the Province of Canada. Upper and Lower Canada had their capitals at Toronto and Quebec, respectively. When they were united into a single colony, the capital was first located in Kingston, but soon afterward moved to Montreal. Montreal was centrally located, the largest city in the colony, and the major transport hub. However, there was a riot in the late 1840's in which the Parliament Buildings were burned down, so Montreal lost its status as capital, and sessions of the legislature alternated between Quebec and Toronto. There was much debate on where the permanent capital should be, with Quebec, Montreal, Kingston, and Toronto all in the running. Quebec almost won out, but the Canadian politicians were ultimately unable to agree on a capital, and they decided to leave the choice up to Queen Victoria, who picked Ottawa. This was in the late 1850's. There were objections from partisans of other cities, but the decision was eventually accepted. The move of the capital to Ottawa was not immediate, since it was a backwoods lumber town without adequate facilities to house the government.

   Construction of government buildings in Ottawa was underway when the plan for a larger federation of British North American colonies was hatched. This involved splitting the existing province of Canada into Quebec and Ontario, and they went back to their old capitals of Quebec and Toronto, while Ottawa became the federal capital.

8. What national flags has Canada used?

   At the time of Confederation in 1867, Canada remained a dependency of the United Kingdom, and its flag was therefore the Union Jack. There was, however, a desire for a flag to symbolize the new Dominion, and the flag which came to be used for this purpose was the Canadian Red Ensign. The Red Ensign is the flag flown by British merchant ships, and consists of a red field with a Union Jack in the canton (i.e. the upper left quadrant). The Canadian version of this flag was the same basic design, to which was added the Canadian coat of arms. At this time, Canada did not have a distinctive coat of arms; it used a combination (a quartering, in heraldic jargon) of the arms of the four original provinces.

   The government of Sir John A. Macdonald had the Canadian Red Ensign flown over the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. It also requested permission from the British Admiralty, in 1874, for this flag to be flown by Canadian merchant vessels. This request was at first refused, and it was only on February 2, 1892, that permission was granted for use of the Canadian Red Ensign at sea. The flag had no official status on land, though it was widely used.

   At the end of the 19th century, there was a growth in imperialist sentiment in Canada, occasioned, at least in part, by Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee in 1897 and by the Boer War. The Canadian Red Ensign was replaced by the Union Jack over the Parliament Buildings. I am not sure exactly when this change occurred, but Henri Bourassa asked a question in the House of Commons on this subject in 1904, to which the Minister of Public Works replied, "...the flag hitherto flown on the parliament building has been what is known as the Canadian Merchant Marine flag. It is not the national flag in any other sense. The national flag, as we understand it for this purpose, is the Union Jack."

   On November 21, 1921, Canada acquired a new coat of arms. The shield was divided into three sections, the uppermost containing the royal arms of England and Scotland, the middle part the arms of Ireland and France, and the lower section three green maple leaves on a single stem, on a white background, representing Canada. The colour of the leaves was changed to red in 1957.

   This new coat of arms was used on the Canadian Red Ensign. In 1924, use of the Red Ensign was authorized on government buildings outside of Canada (e.g. High Commissions and Embassies), as well as on merchant ships. In 1925, the government of Mackenzie King appointed a committee to study a design for a national flag, but in the face of opposition, the committee was dissolved without ever issuing a report.

   During the election of 1945, Mackenzie King said he would recommend the adoption of a national flag. On September 5, 1945, an Order in Council authorized the use of the Canadian Red Ensign on government buildings inside as well as outside Canada, and this flag again replaced the Union Jack over the Parliament Buildings. This was just to be a temporary solution, while a joint committee of the Senate and House of Commons looked for a permanent design. The committee looked at 2,695 designs, and finally decided on the Red Ensign, but with a gold maple leaf outlined in white replacing the coat of arms. There was opposition to this proposal both from those who felt the new flag was too British (containing as it did the Union Jack), and those who felt it was not British enough, and who preferred the old Red Ensign or the Union Jack. Hence the new design was never voted on by Parliament, and the old Red Ensign continued in use, but without a clear status as Canada's national flag.

   During the election campaign of 1963, Liberal leader Lester Pearson promised that a national flag would be adopted within two years of his election. Pearson's main advisor on this matter was John Matheson, a Liberal Member of Parliament, student of heraldry, and a disabled war veteran. Matheson felt that the lower portion of the coat of arms representing Canada should be used as the flag, i.e. three red maple leaves on a single stem, on a white background. Pearson wanted the flag to have the same colours as the Union Jack, namely red, white, and blue, so narrow vertical blue bars were added at the right and left edges of the flag. This was the tentative design for the new flag.

   This proposal attracted a great deal of opposition, most notably from John Diefenbaker and his Conservative Party, and from the Royal Canadian Legion, a veterans' organization. Both of these groups favoured the retention of the Canadian Red Ensign. A House of Commons committee was created to study the flag issue. It was made up of seven Liberals, five Conservatives, one New Democrat, one Social Creditor, and one Creditiste. The Liberals supported the "Pearson Pennant" and the Conservatives the Red Ensign.

   During the hearings of the committee, questions were raised about the symbolism of the three maple leaves. Did they represent British, French, and "other" ethnic groups? Was it a veiled allusion to the Holy Trinity, and thus an affront to non-Christians? The answer was in the eye of the beholder, but a feeling arose among some committee members that a single maple leaf, symbolic of national unity, might be preferable to a three-leaf design. Heraldic purists also objected to the inclusion of the blue bars, when red and white were Canada's national colours.

   A design was proposed by George F.G. Stanley, Dean of Arts at Royal Military College, based on the RMC flag. This consisted of three vertical stripes, red, white, and red, of equal width, with the RMC crest in the centre. Stanley proposed this as the national flag, with a single red maple leaf replacing the college crest. This design attracted support as an alternative to the Pearson design. It was eventually modified slightly by making the central white stripe twice as wide as the red stripes. This gives better balance between the two colours, allows for a larger maple leaf, and makes the design look less like the Peruvian flag. The leaf was also modified from a realistic maple leaf to a stylized eleven-pointed leaf.

   On October 22, 1964, the committee voted on the various designs. The Conservatives supported the Red Ensign, but it was eliminated from contention, and the two finalists were the Matheson/Pearson design and that of Stanley. Expecting the Liberals to stick with the Pearson proposal, the Tories decided to vote for the Stanley design, but the Liberals surprised them by switching to the red and white flag, which was adopted unanimously. The Conservatives then demanded a vote on whether the committee should recommend the new design, and voted against it.

   A long and stormy debate in the House of Commons ensued. After 33 days of debate and 252 speeches, the government invoked closure, and the House voted in favour of the new flag by 163 to 78. The vote came on December 15, 1964. The new flag became the official flag of Canada on February 15, 1965.

   There was still much opposition to the new flag and support for the Red Ensign. Ontario and Manitoba both almost immediately adopted the Red Ensign as their provincial flags (with the provincial coat of arms replacing the Canadian one). Three decades later, when the flag is almost universally accepted as a symbol of Canada, it is hard to realize how much passion its adoption stirred.

   The official description of the flag in the Royal Proclamation: "a red flag of the proportions two by length and one by width, containing in its centre a white square the width of the flag, bearing a single red maple leaf, or, in heraldic terms, described as gules on a Canadian pale argent a maple leaf of the first."

   Reference: Stanley, George F.G., "The Story of Canada's Flag, A Historical Sketch," Ryerson Press, Toronto, 1965.