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World War 1 Conscription Crisis
Prime Minister Borden promised that conscription would not be mandatory, but after witnessing Battle of Vimy Ridge he introduced Military Service Act. It allowed exemptions for the disabled, the clergy, those with essential jobs, and religious people against the war. It turned out to be a controversial and emotional issue that decided the country. -
Creation of the Union National Party
In Quebec, Maurice Duplessis joined forces with disillusioned Liberals to form Union National Party a party that supported Quebec Nationalism. It was suppose to improve working conditions, social insurance programs, publicly owned power systems and farming systems. -
World War 2 Conscription Crisis
After realizing the Nazi threat Makezi King decided to introduce the National Resources Mobilization Act. It gave power to the government and allowed conscription, although only for home defence. King decided to hold a plebiscite which allow people to vote for or against conscription. In the end people voted for conscription which angered the French. -
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The Duplessis Era/ The Great Darkness
Under the leadership of Maurice Duplessis, the province of Quebec was strictly old-fashioned and out-dated. He believed that people should stay on the farms to help their families. If people chose to go to school, they would be turning their back on Catholicism. Furthermore, Duplessis kept the wages of industrial jobs low to deter people from leaving their farms. -
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Great Darkness
Known as the Great Darkness, this period during Maurice Duplessis’ rule prevented industrialization, technology, and education from emerging. The absence of development made Quebec inferior to other provinces due to Duplessis’ refusal to modernize. It wasn’t until 1959, when Duplessis died, that the Great Darkness came to an end and Quebec relinquished its ancient traditions. -
1960s Separatist Movement
Separatist movement grew in the 960s and 1970s. It is associated with various movements or parties in Québec since the 1960s, most notably the Parti Québécois and the Bloc Québécois. These parties have also used the terms "sovereignty," "sovereignty-association" and "independence" to describe their primary goal, although each of these concepts has a somewhat different meaning. -
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Quiet Revolution
A period of rapid change and reform that modernized Quebec society during the years 1960 to 1966 under the Liberal provincial government of Jean Lesage. -
Front de liberation du Quebec LQ
it is a revolutionary movement founded to work for an independent, socialist Quebec. -
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Bilingualism and Biculturalism
Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism brought about sweeping changes to federal and provincial language policy. The commission was a response to the growing unrest among French Canadians in Québec, who called for the protection of their language and culture, and opportunities to participate fully in political and economic decision making. It lead to the creation of the federal department of multiculturalism and the Official Languages Act. -
New Canadian Flag
The Great Canadian Flag Debate was a national debate that took place in 1963 and 1964 when a new design for the national flag of Canada was chosen. Although the flag debate had been going on for a long time prior, it officially began on June 15, 1964, when Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson proposed his plans for a new flag in the House of Commons. It resulted in the adoption of the "Maple Leaf flag" as the Canadian national flag. -
Color Blind
1967 Immigration to Canada becomes "colour blind." The points system is introduced, which assigns potential immigrants points in categories such as education, age, fluency in French or English, and job opportunities in Canada. 1976 Immigration regulations change to allow immigration of family members with relatives already in Canada. 1978 Refugees make up 25 percent of all immigrants to Canada until 1981. -
Official Language
The Official Languages Act is a Canadian law that came into force, which gives French and English equal status in the government of Canada. This makes them "official" languages, having preferred status in law over all other languages. Although the Official Languages Act is not the only piece of federal language law, it is the legislative keystone of Canada's official bilingualism. It was substantially amended in 1988. -
October Crisis
It was the kidnapping of James CROSS, the British trade commissioner in Montréal, by members of the Front de Libération du Québec. -
War Measures Act 1970
The War Measures Act was a federal statute adopted by Parliament in 1914, after the outbreak of the First World War. It gave broad powers to the Canadian government to maintain security and order during war or insurrection. It was used, controversially, during both world wars and also during the 1970 October Crisis in Quebec. It has since been replaced by the more limited Emergencies Act. -
Policy of Multiculturalism 1971
In 1971, Canada was the first country in the world to adopt multiculturalism as an official policy. By so doing, Canada affirmed the value and dignity of all Canadian citizens regardless of their racial or ethnic origins, their language, or their religious affiliation. The 1971 Multiculturalism Policy of Canada also confirmed the rights of Aboriginal peoples and the status of Canada’s two official languages. -
1974 Bill 22 introduced by Robert Bourassa
Bill 22, the Official Language Act, sponsored by the Québec Liberal government of Robert Bourassa and passed by the legislature July 1974. It made French the language of civic administration and services, and of the workplace. -
1976 Immigration Policy moves to "sponsorship programs"
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Parti Quebecois wins provincial election in Quebec
In a consultative referendum of PQ members, René Lévesque won support for the party to set the question of sovereignty-association aside temporarily, but lost the support of a group of dissidents who refused to accept this result. -
Bill 101 introduced by Parti Quebecois, Rene Levesque
Bill 101, or the Charter of the French Language as it’s also known, was introduced by the first-ever Parti Quebecois government, led by then-Premier René Lévesque. It is a 1977 law in the province of Quebec in Canada defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the official language of Quebec. -
Bill 101 passed
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Trudeau Becomes Prime Minister
Pierre Elliott Trudeau was a French Canadian who was a Federalist. His terms in office were marked by the establishment of diplomatic relations with China and improved relations with France, the defeat of the French separatist movement, constitutional independence from the British Parliament, and the formation of a new Canadian constitution with the principal additions of a bill of rights and an amending formula. -
Referendum on Sovereignty Association
A Québec referendum, called by the Parti Québécois government, was held on 20 May 1980 to ask the people of Québec for a mandate to negotiate, on an equal footing, a new agreement with the rest of Canada, thus honouring the promise it had made in 1976 to hold a referendum before taking steps toward a sovereign Québec.The federalist side, organized into one group as required by the law governing the referendum, was led by Claude Ryan. -
1982 Patriation of the Constitution
In 1982 Canada patriated its Constitution, transferring the country's highest law, the British North America Act, from the authority of the British Parliament. The Constitution was also updated with a new amending formula and a Charter of Rights changes that occurred after a fierce, 18-month political and legal struggle that dominated headlines and the agendas of every government in the country. -
1982 Constitution Act
The Constitution Act, 1982 enshrined the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the Constitution, and completed the unfinished business of Canadian independence, allowing Canadians to amend their own Constitution without requiring approval from Britain. -
Brian Mulroney becomes Prime Minister
When Mulroney won election as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party at its convention in June 1983, he had never run for or been elected to public office, but he offered the public a new face from French-speaking Quebec, where the Tories had traditionally been weak. He became prime minister in 1984 in a landslide victory of the Progressive Conservatives over the Liberals and was reelected in 1988. -
Meech Lake Accord 1987
In 1987 the Progressive Conservative government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney attempted to win Québec's consent to the revised Canadian Constitution, following the Québec government's rejection of it in 1981. -
1987 Reform Party Created
The party's platform included traditional prairie populist reform panaceas such as free trade and direct democracy. The Reform Party of Canada was a Western-based political party that grew out of a coalition of discontented Western interest groups. The coalition began in 1986 as an attempt to voice Western concerns at the national level. In May 1987, however, the Reform Association of Canada voted to support a broadly based party to voice Western economic and constitutional concerns. -
Bloc Quebecois Formed 1987
Bloc Québécois, regional political party in Canada, supporting the independence of predominantly French-speaking Quebec. The Bloc Québécois has informal ties with the Parti Québécois and represents the interests of French-speaking Quebecers at the federal level. -
1988 Department of Multiculturalism
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 1990, angry that the political consensus around the Accord had come apart, Lucien Bouchard, Mulroney's environment minister and Québec lieutenant, walked out on the Progressive Conservative government along with a handful of disenchanted backbencher Québec Members of Parliament — from the PC and Liberal parties. They formed the Bloc Québecois, a group dedicated to pursuing Québec's interests in the House of Commons. -
1992 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. -
1994 Parti Quebecois Returned to Power
Jacques Parizeau’s troops played a leading role in organizing the “No” camp for the October 1992 referendum on a proposed new constitutional agreement, the Charlottetown Accord, which a large majority of Quebecers rejected. In the Québec general election of September 1994, the Parti Québécois was returned to power with 44.7 per cent of the votes and 77 seats in the National Assembly — a strong majority -
30 Oct 1995 2nd Referendum on Sovereignty Association
The failure of the Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Accord left considerable uncertainty about the constitutional future of Canada. The Progressive Conservative Party, associated with former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and the failed accords, was virtually wiped out. the referendum on Québec sovereignty was settled by a narrow victory for the “No” camp as had been the case in the 1980 referendum. -
1998 Clarity Bill and the Supreme Court decision
Clarity Act gives effect to the requirement for clarity set out by the Supreme Court of Canada in the Québec Secession Reference. It is the interpretation of the Court that the federal government give "political actors" the responsibility of returning the right to determine, what, among other things, constitutes a question and a clear majority after a referendum that one province or territory initiates with a view to secession from Canada.
