Canadian Confederation

Canadian Confederation, or the Confederation of Canada, was the process that ultimately brought together a union among the provinces, colonies and territories of British North America to form a Dominion of the British Empire, which today is a federal nation state simply known as Canada.

Colonial organization

Before 1867, British North America was a collection of six separate colonies: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, the Province of Canada (now Quebec and Ontario), Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, and British Columbia. Only the first three listed here joined Confederation at first, but all did eventually, the last being Newfoundland in 1949. (The remainder of modern-day Canada was made up of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory, which were owned by the Hudson's Bay Company and ceded to Canada in 1870, and the Arctic Islands, which were under direct British control and became part of Canada in 1880.)

British North America Act, 1867

Confederation was accomplished when Queen Victoria gave royal assent to the British North America Act on March 29, 1867. That act, which united the Province of Canada with the colonies of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, came into effect on July 1 that year. The act dissolved the Act of Union (1840) which had previously established the union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada. Separate provinces were re-established under their current names of Ontario and Quebec. July 1 is now celebrated as Canada Day.

While the BNA Act gave Canada more independence than it had before, it was far from full independence from the United Kingdom. Foreign policy remained in British hands, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council remained Canada's highest court of appeal, and the constitution could only be amended in Britain. Gradually, Canada gained more independence, and in 1931, obtained quasi total independence from the British Empire with the Statute of Westminster. Because the provinces of Canada were unable to agree on a constitutional amendment formula for the BNA, the document remained in London. In 1982, the BNA was patriated when Queen Elizabeth II gave her royal assent to the Canada Act 1982. In Canada, the Canadian constitution is named the Constitution Act, 1982. It includes the BNA, which was renamed the Constitution Act, 1867.

Constitution Acts of Canada

The Fathers of Confederation elected to name the new country the Dominion of Canada, after rejecting kingdom and confederation, among other options. One could have created the Dominion of Borealia (from the Latin for north), analogous to the naming of Australia (from the Latin for south).

In light of the evolution of Canada, the term confederation is today perceived as mostly a ruse by Prime Minister of United Canada John A. Macdonald and others to encourage French Canada and the maritime colonies to come to the talks. The political leaders of the maritime colonies worried about being dominated by the population centres of Central Canada and like French Canada did not want a strong central government. Macdonald had no intention, however, of actually making Canada a confederation and was willing to have many of the colonies remain outside a political union rather than weaken his proposed central government. Canada thus became a federation, but certainly not a confederation, such as Switzerland or the first American confederal republic.

In Quebec, the idea that the new confederal Canada was a pact between two founding peoples dominated the political discourse for almost a century (1867 to 1960s).

Confederation as a political term of art

The term Confederation is now often used to describe Canada in an abstract way--"The Fathers of Confederation" itself is one such usage. Provinces and territories that became part of Canada after 1867 are also said to have joined Confederation (but not the Confederation). However, the term usually refers more concretely to the political process that united the colonies in the 1860s; it is also used to divide Canadian history into pre-Confederation and post-Confederation (post-Confederation being a living term that includes the present day).

Meeting at Quebec City

Fathers of Confederation

Confederation was first agreed upon at the Charlottetown Conference in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 1864, although Prince Edward Island did not actually join Confederation until 1873. The specifics were then mostly determined at the Quebec Conference in Quebec City later in 1864, and at a final London Conference in 1866. The following lists the participants in the conferences and their attendance at each stage. They are known as the Fathers of Confederation.

There were 36 original Fathers of Confederation. Harry Bernard, who was the Recording Secretary at the Charlottetown conference, is considered by some to be a father of Confederation. The later "Fathers," who brought the other provinces into Confederation after 1867 (such as Joey Smallwood), are not usually referred to as "Fathers of Confederation". Instead, they are sometimes referred to as "Founders".

Table of participation

Participant	Province	Charlottetown	Quebec	London
Sir Adams George Archibald	Nova Scotia	yes	yes	yes
George Brown	Ontario	yes	yes	no
Sir Alexander Campbell	Ontario	yes	yes	no
Sir Frederick Bowker T. Carter	Newfoundland	no	yes	no
Sir George-Étienne Cartier	Quebec	yes	yes	yes
Edward Barron Chandler	New Brunswick	yes	yes	no
Jean-Charles Chapais	Nova Scotia	no	yes	no
James Cockburn	Ontario	no	yes	no
George Coles	Prince Edward Island	yes	yes	no
Robert B. Dickey	Nova Scotia	yes	yes	no
Charles Fisher	New Brunswick	no	yes	yes
Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt	Quebec	yes	yes	yes
John Hamilton Gray	Prince Edward Island	yes	yes	no
John Hamilton Gray	New Brunswick	yes	yes	no
Thomas Heath Haviland	Prince Edward Island	no	yes	no
William Alexander Henry	Nova Scotia	yes	yes	yes
Sir William Pearce Howland	Ontario	no	no	yes
John Mercer Johnson	New Brunswick	yes	yes	no
Sir Hector-Louis Langevin	Quebec	yes	yes	yes
Andrew Archibald Macdonald	Prince Edward Island	yes	yes	no
Sir John A. MacDonald	Ontario	yes	yes	yes
Jonathan McCully	Nova Scotia	yes	yes	yes
William McDougall	Ontario	yes	yes	yes
Thomas D'Arcy McGee	Quebec	yes	yes	no
Peter Mitchell	New Brunswick	no	yes	yes
Sir Oliver Mowat	Ontario	no	yes	no
Edward Palmer	Prince Edward Island	yes	yes	no
William Henry Pope	Prince Edward Island	yes	yes	no
John William Ritchie	Quebec	no	no	yes
Sir Ambrose Shea	Newfoundland	no	yes	no
William H. Steeves	New Brunswick	yes	yes	no
Sir Étienne-Paschal Taché	Quebec	no	yes	no
Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley	New Brunswick	yes	yes	yes
Sir Charles Tupper	Nova Scotia	yes	yes	yes
Edward Whelan	Prince Edward Island	no	yes	no
Robert Duncan Wilmot	New Brunswick	no	no	yes

Process of members joining the Canadian Confederation

Here is a list of the order in which the provinces and territories entered Canada. (Territories are italicized.)

Order	Date	Name
1	1867	Ontario
		Quebec
		New Brunswick
		Nova Scotia
5	1870	Northwest Territories
5	1870	Manitoba *
7	1871	British Columbia
8	1873	Prince Edward Island
9	1898	Yukon *
10	1905	Alberta *
10	1905	Saskatchewan *
12	1949	Newfoundland and Labrador
13	1999	Nunavut *

Note - * - Manitoba, the Yukon, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Nunavut were created out of the Northwest Territories, the remaining provinces joined Canada as separate and previously independent colonies.

See also: History of Canada

External links