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World War One Conscription Crisis
By 1917, during World War I a compulsory military service was proposed called conscription. The Quebecois felt they were valuable farmers and didn’t feel affiliated with the francophones, so they were angry about this conscription. On the other hand, the English believed the Quebecois didn't do their part, so they had to help. The troops were organized and ready to go but never actually sent off. -
Creation of the Union Nationale Party
This political party was created by Maurice Duplessis who was a strong roman catholic and political conservative. -
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The Duplessis Era/The Great Darkness 1936-1939 & 1944-1959
The Duplessis era/the great darkness was known as a time for bad working conditions, due to Maurice Duplessis discouraging unions and used strong measures to prevent them. With Duplessis in power as the Union Nationale premier of Quebec, his rule was thought of in a dark and negative way. -
World War Two Conscription Crisis
In 1939, Prime Minister Mackenzie King promised no conscription to its citizen. In its place, he implemented the National Resource Mobilization Act, which required all men to help out with the war effort. The Canadians supported conscription when more men were needed overseas, but the French Canadians did not. He maintained ties between the French and English prevented further severed ties from WW1 by making helping out in the war effort mandatory but not necessarily serving overseas. -
Front de liberation du Quebec LQ Party
The group was founded in the 1960s and based primarily in Montreal. They spoke out for the need for Quebec's separation from Canada and often used violence to achieve goals-they had Marxist objectives. -
Separatism Movement
“Separatism refers to the advocacy of separation or secession by a group or people from a larger political unit to which it belongs.” The 1960s separatist movement was when a political party rose that wanted Quebec to have sovereignty and be separate from the rest of Canada. -
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Quiet Revolution Begins 1960/ 1966 Maitre Chez Nous (Jean Lesage, Liberal Party Campaign slogan)
The premier of Quebec at this time was Jean Lesage of the liberal party. Although he was seeking independence for Quebec, he did want more control over future depending decisions. He ruled with the Mantra that you are the “Mater of your own house” (translated). He wanted equality and ties between English and French Canadians, he felt strongly about the value of Quebec's population and their control of businesses in Quebec. -
Canadas New Flag
The government had wanted to change Canada’s flag from Britains union flag. Minister Mackenzie King appointed a committee to investigate new designs but no progress was made. The royal proclamation was signed by Her Majesty on the 28 of January 1965 and the national flag was officially unfurled 15 February 1965. -
Canada's Immigration Policy Becomes "Colour Blind"
Ellen Fairclough, minister of citizenship and immigration in the early 1960s, made improvements on dismantling Canadas “White Canada”. In 1967, the Point System was considered the Canadian government first real attempt to eliminate discrimination from the immigration process. This changed the criteria required for immigrants to move into Canada and made approvals more objective. -
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Trudeau Becomes Prime Minister
Trudeau becomes Prime Minister in the years 1968–1979 and 1980–1984. He ran by Joining the Liberal Party of Canada. -
Official Languages Act Passed
Prime Minister Trudeau signed the Official Language Act which gives all of Canada the legal right to associate and deal with the federal government in either English or French. Along with French Immersion programs being implemented in schools, all products sold in stores across Canada had to be labeled in both English and French. -
The War Measures Act
The Canadian government implemented the war measures act which allowed the government to go against the charter and take always peoples rights. This resulted in Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau being able to make searches and arrests during the FLQ crisis. The Canadian government did this in fear they would be overthrown by them. -
LQ Crisis aka October Crisis
The FLQ- or the Front Liberation du Quebec was a separatist group founded in the 1960s with the goal to separate Quebec from the rest of Canada. They terrorized people to implement fear and put forward their views by bombing mailboxes, robbing banks, kidnapping, and eventually murdering a person of political importance. The October 5th crisis is where they kidnapped their first victim, British Trade Commissioner James Cross and put forward demands in order for him to be released. -
Policy Of Multiculturalism
Prime minister Trudeau introduced his policy of Multiculturalism in Canada which officially recognized Canada as Bilingual and Bicultural for the Anglophones and the Francophones. -
Bi & Bi Commission Investigation by Lester B.Pearson
Bi & Bi Commission (Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism). It was originally investigated by Lester.B Pearson. In 1971, Prime Minister Trudeau introduced his multicultural policy that officially recognized Canada as Bicultural and Bilingual. This provided equality between the Anglophones and Francophones and in the end produced Canada’s French Immersion programs. Its main focus was to recognize Canada’s two dominant groups. -
Bill 22 introduced by Robert Bourassa
The Liberal Premier of Quebec Robert Bourassa, introduced Bill 22 which made French the official language of Quebec. This resulted in French being more strengthened in the workplace. With the Bill they also required that children had to pass an English proficiency test before being allowed to register at English schools in Quebec. This Bill brought comfort to the fear that the French language would be lost due to a decrease in French birth rates and an increase in English immigrants. -
Immigration Policy Moves to ‘Sponsorship Program’
The Immigration act included the promotion of Canada's demographic, economic, social, and cultural goals, as well as the priorities of family reunion, diversity, and non-discrimination. The Act also enabled cooperation among levels of government and the voluntary sector in helping newcomers adapt to Canadian society. The sponsorship program allowed private groups to sponsor refugee families or individuals and to help them settle in as permanent residents of Canada. -
Parti Quebecois Wins Provincial Election In Quebec
The Parti Quebecois, led by Rene Levesque, defeated the Liberals in the federal election. This party was also determined to separate Quebec from the rest of Canada but wanted to do so in a nonviolent way -
Bill 101 introduced by Parti Quebecois, Rene Levesque
Rene Levesque Proposed Bill 101, or the Charter of French Language Bill, to replace Bill 22. This Bill required that French is the language used by courts, government, and businesses in Quebec, and also the commercial signs were only to be displayed in French. This bill also further restricted access to English schools and overall created a lot of backlash which in turn resulted in English businesses leaving Quebec for other parts of Canada. -
Bill 101 passed
The Bill which implemented French more strictly in Quebec than Bill 22 was passed. -
Referendum on Sovereignty Association
In 1980 Quebec held its first referendum on Sovereignty vs. association with the rest of Canada. This meant all citizens could vote on a direct political issue- this being the separatist movement. In the end, 60% voted against so Quebec remained part of Canada but promises were made to create Quebec a new constitutional arrangement. -
Partition of the Constitution
Prime Minister Trudeau wanted control of Canada's constitution so he proposed the Constitutional act of 1982 which would repatriate Canada’s constitutional bringing it home from its previous colonial leader, Great Britain. -
Constitution Act
The Constitution Act had the purpose of repatriating the Canadian constitution from Britain, back to Canada. As a result from this Canada would truly obtain sovereignty both in action and symbolically. -
Brian Mulroney Becomes Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney was the leader of the progressive conservative party and was elected the Prime minister of Canada in 1984 and ran till 1993. -
Reform Party Created
The Reform party grew out of the coalition of Western Canadian interest groups discontented with the status quo in federal politics. The coalition began as an attempt to voice western concerns in Ottawa. The Reform Association of Canada voted to create a broadly based party to voice western economic and constitutional concerns. -
Bloc Quebecois are Formed
The separatist party, the Bloc Quebecois, came into power in 1993 after being created in 1987. It was led by Jacques Parizeau who became the Premier of Quebec. -
Meech Lake Accord 1987
Prime Minister Mulroney attended a meeting at Meech lake to create an agreement between the federal and provincial governments to amend the Constitution by strengthening provincial powers and declaring Québec as a distinct society. This occurred after the Quebec government rejected it in 1981. -
Department of Multiculturalism formed
On 21 July 1988, the Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney passed the Canadian Multiculturalism Act, which formalized the government's commitment to "promote the full and equitable participation of individuals and communities of all origins in the continuing evolution and shaping of all aspects of Canadian society" by establishing legislation to protect ethnic, racial, linguistic and religious diversity within Canadian society -
1990 Meech Lake Accord
In early June of 1990, all premiers finally agreed to ratify the Accord, subjects to guarantees of further constitutional discussions following the Accord, on such issues as an elected Senate, the amending formula itself, and equality and aboriginal issues. -
Charlottetown Accord
The Charlottetown Accord of 1992 was a failed, joint attempt by the government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all 10 provincial premiers to amend the Canadian Constitution, specifically to obtain Quebec's consent to the Constitution Act of 1982. The Accord would have also decentralized many federal powers to the provinces, and it was ultimately rejected by Canadian voters in a referendum. -
Parti Quebecois Return to Power
In 1994 the Parti Quebecois defeated the Liberals in the Quebec provincial election, and Jacques Parizeau became the Premier of Quebec -
2nd Referendum on Sovereignty-Association
Jacques Parizeau held a referendum in 1995 to question Quebec's sovereignty, this time to question whether or not Quebec should actually separate from Canada. After the referendum, Jacques Parizeau resigned and Lucien Bouchard took his place. -
Clarity Bill and the Supreme Court decision
The government passed the clarity act in 1999 which stated that in any future referenda, Quebec must ask a clear question and must win a clear majority.
