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World War One Conscription Crisis
The federal government decided in 1917 to conscript young men for overseas military service. Voluntary recruitment was failing to maintain troop numbers, and Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden believed in the military value, and potential post-war influence, of a strong Canadian contribution to the war. The French were against serving in this war, as they thought they didn't have a connection to the war. -
Creation of the Union Nationale Party
The Union Nationale was a Québec political party founded in 1935 and dissolved in 1989. The party won six provincial elections between 1936 and 1966. Maurice Duplessis was its charismatic leader until his death in 1959. The party of a generation, the Union Nationale defended provincial autonomy, conservatism, economic liberalism and rural life. -
The Duplessis Era/The Great Darkness
Quebec during the first half of the 1900s was extremely conservative. The Roman Catholic Church held a huge amount of power. After the Great Depression, Canada was shifting its gear to centralisation. However, Quebec, being the conservative province it was, didn’t support this shifting. To ensure that Quebec remains conservative, it elected a new leader: Maurice Duplessis. This man was in power from 1936 to 1939, and then into power in 1944 till death (1959). -
World War Two Conscription Crisis
The Conscription Crisis of 1944 was a political and military crisis following the introduction of forced military service in Canada during World War II. It was similar to the Conscription Crisis of 1917, but was not as politically damaging. -
1960s Seperatist Movement
The Quebec sovereignty movement is a political movement as well as an ideology of values, concepts, and ideas that advocates independence for the Canadian province of Quebec. Several diverse political groups coalesced in the late 1960s in the formation of the Parti Québécois, a provincial political party. Since 1968 the party has appealed for constitutional negotiations on the matter of provincial sovereignty, in addition to holding two provincial referendums on the matter. -
Quiet Revolution
The Quiet Revolution was a period of intense socio-political and socio-cultural change in the Canadian province of Quebec, characterized by the effective secularization of government, the creation of a welfare state (état-providence), and realignment of politics into federalist and sovereignist factions and the eventual election of a pro-sovereignty provincial government in the 1976 election. The Quiet Revolution typically refers to the efforts made by the Liberal governments in the 60s. -
Front de Liberation du Quebec is Formed
The FLQ is best known for the 1970 October Crisis. The Crisis was the first occasion in the history of Canada that its citizens were deprived of their rights and freedoms during peacetime. The Front de libération du Québec was a separatist and Marxist-Leninist paramilitary group in Quebec Founded in the early 1960s, it was a militant part of the Quebec sovereignty movement. It conducted a number of attacks between 1963 and 1970, which totaled over 160 violent incidents and killed eight people. -
Bi and Bi Commission Investigation
Created to investigate bilingualism and biculturalism who realised that the French people's alienation from the rest of Canada was problematic. Recommended bilingualism to unify the country. -
Canada's New 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. When Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson proposed his plans for a new flag in the House of Commons. The debate over the proposed new Canadian flag was ended by closure on December 15, 1964. It resulted in the adoption of the "Maple Leaf flag" as the Canadian national flag. The flag was inaugurated on February 15, 1965. -
1967 Canadian Immigration Policy
In 1967, a points system was introduced to rank potential immigrants for eligibility. Race, colour, or nationality were not factors in the new system; rather, work skills, education levels, language ability (in speaking French or English), and family connections became the main considerations in deciding who could immigrate. -
Pierre Trudeau Becomes Prime Minister
Pierre Elliott Trudeau, PC, CC, prime minister of Canada 1968–79 and 1980–84, politician, writer, constitutional lawyer (born 18 October 1919 in Montréal, QC; died 28 September 2000 in Montréal). -
Official Languages Act Passed
The Official Languages Act is the federal statute that made English and French the official languages of Canada. It requires all federal institutions to provide services in English or French on request. The Act was passed on the recommendation of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (established by Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau) and came into force on 7 September 1969. It created the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, which oversees its implementation. -
October Crisis
The October Crisis began 5 October 1970 with the kidnapping of James Cross, the British trade commissioner in Montréal, by members of the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ). It rapidly devolved into the most serious terrorist act carried out on Canadian soil after another official, Minister of Immigration and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte, was kidnapped and killed. -
War Measure Act of 1970
The only use of the War Measures Act in a domestic crisis occurred in October and November 1970, when a state of "apprehended insurrection" was declared to exist in Quebec. Emergency regulations were proclaimed in response to two kidnappings by the terrorist group, Front de Liberation du Quebec. The FLQ kidnapped British trade commissioner James Cross and kidnapped and murdered Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte. As authorities grappled with the crisis. -
Policy of Multiculturalism
The federal government, under Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, declared in 1971 that Canada would adopt a multicultural policy. Canada would recognize and respect its society included diversity in languages, customs, religions, and so on. In 1982 multiculturalism was recognized by section 27 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Canadian Multiculturalism Act was then enacted by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. -
1974 Bill 22
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 Program"
In 1979, Canada embarked on a unique program allowing private groups (most often churches and ethnic community organizations) to sponsor refugee individuals or families, bring them to Canada as permanent residents, and assist them in settling here. -
1976 Parti Quebecois Wins Provincial Election
The Quebec general election of 1976 was held on November 15, 1976 to elect members to National Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. It was one of the most significant elections in Quebec history, rivalled only by the 1960 general election, and caused major repercussions in the rest of Canada. The Parti Québécois, led by René Lévesque, defeated the incumbent Quebec Liberal Party, led by Premier Robert Bourassa. -
19767 Bill 101 Introduced by Parti Quebecois
Bill 101, Charte de la langue française (1977), made French the official language of government and of the courts in the province of Québec, as well as making it the normal and habitual language of the workplace, of instruction, of communications, of commerce and of business. -
1980 Referendum of Sovereignty Association
The Québec referendum of 1980, on the Parti Québécois government’s plans for sovereignty-association, was held in fulfilment of a promise that the party had made to do so, during the 1976 election campaign that brought it to power. In this referendum, the government asked the people of Québec to give it a mandate to “negotiate a new constitutional agreement with the rest of Canada, based on the equality of nations.” When the votes were counted, nearly 60% of Quebecers had voted against this plan -
1982 Partition 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 — a connection from the colonial past — to Canada's federal and provincial legislatures. -
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
As prime minister and leader of the Progressive Conservative party, Brian Mulroney brought in the landmark Free Trade Agreement with the United States, and oversaw passage of the unpopular Goods and Services Tax. Mulroney’s tenure was also marked by his efforts to persuade Québec government to sign the Constitution; despite extensive consultation and negotiation, both the Meech Lake Accord and Charlottetown Accord were unsuccessful. In foreign affairs, he took a strong stance against apartheid. -
Bloc Quebecois Formed 1987
Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada. t currently runs candidates in 75 Quebec ridings. Founded as a parliamentary movement composed of Québec MPs who left the Conservative and Liberal parties after the failure of the Meech Lake Accord, the party promotes Quebec's interests and Quebec sovereignty in the House of Commons. -
Meech Lake Accord 1987
The Meech Lake Accord was a series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all 10 Canadian provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the government of Quebec to symbolically endorse the 1982 constitutional amendments by providing for some decentralization of the Canadian federation. -
1987 Reform Party Created
The Reform Party was a right-wing, populist, western political protest movement that grew to become the official opposition in Parliament in 1997. Reform played a role in the creation of the Canadian Alliance, as well as the demise of the federal Progressive Conservative Party — and the eventual merger of those two groups into today's Conservative Party. -
1988 Department of Multiculturalism Formed
The Canadian Multiculturalism Act of 1988 provided a legislative framework for the official policy of multiculturalism adopted by the government in 1971. The act sought to protect the cultural heritage of Canadians, reduce discrimination and encourage the implementation of multicultural programs and activities within institutions and organizations -
Meech Lake Accord 1990
On June 23, 1990, the deadline for signing the Accord, Elijah Harper, a Native Member of Parliament, refused to give his approval. The Federal Government then offered to push back the deadline, but this would force Quebec to ratify the document once more. This situation irritated Clyde Wells, the Premier of Newfoundland, and he refused to have his parliament vote on the Accord. This signified the death of the Meech Lake Accord. -
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 Returns to Power
This election was very significant for Quebec history, because it set the stage for the 1995 Quebec referendum on independence for Quebec from Canada. In this referendum, the PQ's proposals for sovereignty were very narrowly defeated. -
1995 Referendum
Held on 30 October 1995, the referendum on Québec sovereignty was settled by a narrow victory for the “No” camp — as had been the case in the 1980 referendum. 50.58% voted no, while 49.42% voted yes. -
1998 Clarity Bill and Supreme Court Decision
Bill C-20, the bill known as the 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.
