-
WW1 Conscription Crisis
The Conscription Crisis of 1917 was a military and political crisis that was triggered by the conflict about whether or not men should be conscripted to fight in the war. It also highlighted many issues regarding relations between French Canadians and English Canadians and motivated many revolutionary acts. -
Creation of the Union Nationale Party
The Union Nationale was a conservative and nationalist provincial political party in Quebec that vied for Québécois autonomism. Formed during the Great Depression and holding power in Quebec from 1936 to 1939, and from 1944 to 1960 and from 1966 to 1970. The party was founded by Maurice Duplessis -
The Duplesiss Era / The great darkness
Following the Great Depression, Canada was moving towards centralisation. Quebec, however, didn’t support this shifting as they were a conservative province. To ensure that Quebec remained conservative, Maurice Duplessis was elected as their new leader. Duplessis was in power from 1936 to 1939, and then from 1944 till his death in 1959. -
Brian Mulroney Becomes Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney was the 18th prime minister of Canada. His term in office marked several economic reformations to the country, signaling a divergence from protectionist policies to more open free market economic models and policies. Mulroney, with the U.S., formed the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and the Goods and Services Tax. The Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement was later replaced by NAFTA, which is a trilateral free trade agreement between Canada, United States, and Mexico. -
WW2 Conscription Crisis
The Conscription Crisis of 1944 was a political and military crisis after conscription of all able bodied men was introduced to Canada during World War II. It was similar to the Conscription Crisis of 1917. -
Quiet Revolution Begins
The Quiet Revolution was the period where Quebec went through Political and Social changes as it turned into a welfare state. A primary change was the result of effort by the provincial government to establish control over healthcare and education and made investments in the public schooling system and provincial infrastructure. -
Front de Liberation du Quebec LQ party is formed
Front de Liberation du Quebec was a separatist Marxist-Leninist paramilitary group in Quebec that was formed in 1960. They masterminded the militant part of the Quebec sovereignty movement where they performed a number of attacks between 1963 and 1970. -
1960’s Separatist Movement
Movement that was built off of the belief that that the economic difficulties of Quebec were the result of English-Canadian domination of the confederation and could only be ended by changing or cutting ties with the other provinces and the central government. -
Bi & Bi commision
The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism changed the federal and provincial language policy. The commission was a response to growing unrest among French-Canadians who vied for protection of their language and culture. Lester B Pearson recommended that English and French become official languages of Canada. -
Canada’s New Flag
In 1958, a poll was taken of the attitudes of adult Canadians toward the flag. Of those who took the questionnaire, over 80% desired a national flag entirely different from that of any other nation. This prompted Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson in 1965 to propose plans for a new flag in the House of Commons. -
Canada’s Immigration Policy becomes “Colour Blind”
The Canadian points system, which set the criteria for both skilled and unskilled labour entry into the country including the “third world” giving opportunities from non-European countries more equitable access for the first time. Canada also stopped rejecting immigrants purely off ethnic background. -
Trudeau Becomes Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau served as the 15th Prime Minister of Canada for 1968 - 1978. He is the third longest tenured prime minister. -
Official Language Act Passed
Trudeau's first major legislative act was to implement the Official Language Act by recommendation of Pearson's Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. The act made French and English the official languages of the federal government. -
The War Measures Act
The War Measures Act of 1970 suspended certain civil liberties and personal freedoms during a state of emergency. This included giving the government the power of arrest and detention without trial. -
FLQ Crisis
Front de libération du Québec kidnapped British Trade Consul James Cross at his residence on the 5th of October. Five days later the Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte was also kidnapped. Trudeau responded by putting into action the War Measures Act which gave the government overwhelming powers of arrest and detention without trial. Although this response is still controversial it was met with only minor objections from the public. -
Policy of Multiculturalism
On 8 October 1971,Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announced multiculturalism as a official government policy. Multiculturalism was intended to preserve cultural freedom of all individuals and provide recognition of cultural contributions of diverse ethnic groups to Canadian society. -
Bill 22 introduced by Robert Bourassa
Bill 22 was introduced by Quebecs Liberal government headed by Robert Bourassa and made French the language of civic administration and services, and of the workplace. -
Parti Quebecois wins provincial elections on Quebec
The 1976 general election in Quebec is arguably one of the most famous elections in the history of the province. After defeating the scandal laden Quebec Liberal Party, the Parti Quebecois promised proper governance. However, the victory upsetted the rest of Canada as the party held strong separatist beliefs. The party also angered the english majority by putting into place several policies such as making French the sole official language in the province. -
Bill 101 introduced by Parti Quebecois, Rene Levesque.
In the early 70s, French was spoken by 85% of all Quebecois. However, the english speaking merchant minority controlled the government. Bill 101 was then implemented to make French the main language in the province, requiring all signs to have French, children would have to attend french speaking schools, and helping higher level management to speak french. -
Bill 101 passed
The previously mentioned Bill 101 was passed in 1977 -
Referendum on Sovereignty Association
As part of their policies during their campaign, the Parti Quebecois promised a referendum for which, if passed, would allow Quebec to separate from Canada. The result of the referendum was 60% no and 40% voted yes. -
Patriation of the Constitution
In 1982, the BNA act was “patriated” from the British Court to the Canadian Federal Government. This meant a breakaway from British colonialism in the country and during the process, many laws were amended and the inclusion of a Charter of Rights was a major source for controversy. When a final version of the completed act was drafted, Levesque, premiere of Quebec was not informed. This proved to further fuel Quebec separatist movements. -
Constitution Act
In 1982, Canada started the constitution act, which would allow the Canadian government to amend their own constitution without approval from the British parliament as well as the addition of the Charter of Rights and Freedom. -
Reform Party Created
The reform party was a right-wing populist party that gained momentum in Western Canada.The party believed in strong conservative policies and opposed (mainly by western Canada) Brian Mulroney’s policies. -
Department of Multiculturalism formed
The multiculturalism act was implemented to protect Canadian heritage and racial discrimination as well as encourage multicultural activities.
