Gough Barry M. Historical Dictionary of Canada
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370 • SEPARATISM
SEPARATISM. In various forms and expressions, this Québec-based
pragmatic ideology proposes a separate status—and even indepen-
dence or sovereignty—for the Province of Québec. Of indeterminate
though ancient roots, it may be said to express itself in Louis Pap-
ineau and Jean-Olivier Chénier’s Rebellions of 1837, in the Front
de Libération du Québec violence of the October Crisis in 1970,
in the election of the Parti Québecois in 1976 and the unsuccessful
referendum of 1980, and in the return to power of the Parti Québe-
cois in 1994. At times vibrant, at other times muted, separatism has
attracted many Québecois of all classes. To date, however, federal
forces and internal Québec influences and constituencies have made
independence but a dream for its adherents. In 2000, the federal
government effected the Clarity Act; its purpose was to set forth the
rules of the game of secession in regard to any province intending to
leave confederation.
SEVEN YEARS WAR. The Seven Years War (1756–63) was waged
between Great Britain and its colonies on the one side, and France
and its colonies on the other. Spain joined on the side of France in
1761. It was fought around the globe. In North America, the war
began in 1754, as British colonists led by Maj. George Washington
tried to force the French out of the Ohio Valley. The French sent
reinforcements to Louisbourg to strengthen its position in the St.
Lawrence Valley and tallied numerous victories in North America.
In 1757, however, more than 20,000 British regulars arrived. This
essentially turned the tide. In 1758, native allies of the French signed
a peace pact with the British, leaving the French to battle alone. In
1759, Britain recorded a number of victories; the most noted was on
the Plains of Abraham at Québec City. With the fall of Louisbourg,
Québec, and Montréal, the French had all but lost in North Amer-
ica. The war was ended by the Treaty of Paris, which confirmed
Britain’s conquest of virtually all of New France, strengthening or
affirming British control of Prince Edward Island, Acadia, Nova
Scotia, and Newfoundland. See also CARLETON, GUY; MONT-
CALM, LOUIS-JOSEPH DE; WOLFE, JAMES.
SHAWNADITHIT (1800–1829). Shawnadithit was the last of the
Beothuk nation. She was captured and worked as an unpaid slave
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SIMCOE, JOHN GRAVES • 371
for a British settler, who called her Nancy April. In 1828, concern
about loss of the Beothuk nation led to finding Shawnadithit. She
was brought to St. John’s, Newfoundland, and there taught William
Cormack about the Beothuk culture and language. William Carson
described her as “tall and majestic, mild and tractable, but character-
istically proud and cautious.” She died of tuberculosis in 1829. But
her teachings to Cormack, including her many drawings, preserved a
record of the once vibrant Beothuk peoples.
SIFTON, CLIFFORD (1861–1929). Defender of the Manitoba
Schools Act, Sir Clifford Sifton later became minister of the interior
under Wilfrid Laurier and promoted emigration from Central and
Eastern Europe, bringing Ukrainians and Doukhobors to Canada.
He resigned in 1905 when separate schools were restored in the
Northwest Territories and again when his defection helped the
Conservatives to victory in 1911.
SIMCOE, ELIZABETH. See SIMCOE, JOHN GRAVES.
SIMCOE, JOHN GRAVES (1752–1806). As first lieutenant governor
of Upper Canada (1792–96), it fell to Major Simcoe to implement
the structure set out in the Constitution Act of 1791. He substantially
influenced the political, social, and economic development of what
is now the Province of Ontario. He set in place the main roads, later
highways; established the surveying and land management; oversaw
settlement regimes; alienated Indian title for the short-lived naval base
at Penetanguishene; and promoted the militia and military settlement.
Simcoe was born in Cotterstock, England, on 25 February 1752.
His father was a Royal Navy captain who died en route to Québec
with Gen. James Wolfe in May 1759. Simcoe was educated at Exeter
Free Grammar School, Eton, and Oxford. He began a lifelong mili-
tary career in 1770 when he secured a commission as an ensign in the
35th Regiment of Foot. In 1775, Simcoe was sent with his regiment
to Boston, then under siege by George Washington’s Continental
Army. He was given command of the Queen’s Rangers in 1777. Used
primarily for reconnaissance, his Loyalist force was one of the most
successful British regiments during the war. Simcoe was captured in
an ambush in 1779 and spent three months as a prisoner.
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372 • SIMCOE, JOHN GRAVES
In 1781, Simcoe returned to England on convalescent leave. The
following year, he married Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim, a wealthy
heiress. They purchased an estate at Wolford, and Simcoe spent the
next few years enlarging and improving it, but always maintained a
keen interest in events in North America.
Appointed lieutenant governor of Upper Canada in 1791, he ar-
rived in the new province in June 1792, accompanied by his wife and
their two youngest children. Although there had been considerable
Loyalist settlement in Upper Canada, particularly in the east, most
of the province was still a wilderness. Simcoe presided over the in-
troduction of British institutions of government. He devised military
strategy for defending Upper Canada against the United States and
built strategic roads to facilitate troop movements, promote settle-
ment, and encourage trade. In 1793, he introduced a bill to prevent
the introduction of further slaves into the jurisdiction.
Simcoe thought imperially; he was an empire builder. Roads to
him signified arteries of power, communications, and trade. He
backed the schemes of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, the fur trader
and explorer, for western trade expansion to the Pacific. Simcoe was
answerable to Lord Dorchester, the governor (in Québec), and to the
Colonial Office.
Health problems forced Simcoe to return to England in 1796.
The following year, he served as governor in war-torn St. Domingo
(Haiti). In 1798, Simcoe was appointed military commander for
Devon and parts of Somerset. An invasion by Napoleon’s armies
was anticipated, and he supervised defensive preparations. In 1801,
he was given responsibility for all South West England with the rank
of lieutenant general. In 1806, Simcoe was appointed commander
in Chief in India. He was asked to undertake a special mission in
Portugal en route to his new command, but he fell ill in Lisbon and
returned to England. He died on 26 October and was buried at Wol-
ford Chapel on 4 November.
Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim was a 19-year-old heiress when she
married. She chose to accompany her husband to Upper Canada in
1792 and endured the challenges of living in the new colony for four
years. She often helped Simcoe with mapmaking and drawings for
official documents. She also sketched, painted watercolors, and kept
diaries that are filled with colorful vignettes that have provided histo-
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SKELTON, OSCAR DOUGLAS • 373
rians with rare insights into this period in Canadian history. After her
husband’s death, she continued to live at Wolford. She managed her
estates and was active in the evangelical movement of the Church of
England. She died in 1850 at the age of 87.
Since 1982, Wolford Chapel has been owned by the Ontario
Heritage Foundation, a not-for-profit provincial crown agency.
The foundation acquires and holds title to the property and cultural
works in trust for the people of Ontario. Wolford Chapel is the only
foundation-owned property outside of Ontario. It is managed by a
group of dedicated local volunteers. Simcoe Day—the August week-
end Ontario holiday—is named in his honor.
SIMPSON, GEORGE (1787–1860). A Scottish-born fur-trading mag-
nate known as “the Little Emperor,” Sir George Simpson directed
the North American operations of the Hudson’s Bay Company
(HBC) for 40 years, and was particularly prominent in the years after
the merger of the North West Company and HBC in 1821. The
merger gave Simpson, as governor of Rupert’s Land, ample scope to
implement measures of consolidation and economy, including clos-
ing down unnecessary posts. He selected his preferred field officers
and factors, laid off traders, reduced liquor trade to the aboriginals,
and introduced “sustained-yield” practices in the hunting of beaver
and other fur-bearing mammals. He was the architect of a regener-
ated, post-1821 HBC. He kept a “character book,” coded so that only
he could know the acerbic, critical assessments he had given of his
principal officers and major traders. He was powerfully influential in
London financial circles. He wrote an important travel book contain-
ing insights into western and northern Canada, especially covering
his journey from Edmonton House to the Columbia River, and he
wrote of Alaska, California, Hawaii, and elsewhere. Simpson aban-
doned his Indian wife when he married an Englishwoman. He died
at Lacine, Québec, in 1860.
SIX NATIONS IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY. See IROQUOIS.
SKELTON, OSCAR DOUGLAS (1878–1941). A civil servant and
historian, Skelton was born in Orangeville, Ontario, and attended
Queen’s University, where he studied Latin and English, and the
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374 • SLAVERY
University of Chicago. After working for four years on the staff of
a Philadelphia literary magazine, he became a professor of political
and economic science at Queen’s in 1908.
Skelton’s first book was Socialism: A Critical Analysis (1911),
which caught Vladimir I. Lenin’s attention. Most of his work was
on Canadian history, including The Railway Builders (1916); The
Canadian Dominion (1919), an early history of Canada written spe-
cifically for Americans; Life and Times of A. T. Galt (1920); and his
classic Life and Letters of Sir Wilfrid Laurier (1921), a sympathetic
defense of its subject, and thus a contribution to the Liberal Party
perspective in Canadian historical traditions.
Skelton’s second career began almost immediately after the pub-
lication of his biography of Laurier. Skelton was long interested
in Canada’s role in the British Empire. He was unsympathetic to
England’s constant worries, and he was equally anxious to defend
Canada’s interests and promote its autonomy. In many ways, then,
Skelton became an architect of the British Commonwealth of
Nations. Indeed, he led, with his political master William Lyon
Mackenzie King, the quest for a separate Canadian external or
foreign policy. Skelton joined the Department of External Affairs
in 1923, accompanied the prime minister to London for the Imperial
Conferences, and promoted the idea of an independent responsibility
for Canada in external affairs, of which intra-imperial affairs were
the first requirement. In July 1924, he resigned from Queen’s and
became a permanent civil servant. In 1925, on Joseph Pope’s retire-
ment, Skelton became undersecretary of state for external affairs. He
brought in a group of able young persons: Hume Wrong, Norman
Robertson, and Lester Pearson.
SLAVERY. The first slave (and slavery) was introduced to New
France in 1628. Slavery was declared legal there in 1709. New
France was succeeded by the British colony of Québec in 1763
through the Treaty of Paris, and slavery was given new life under
British law. Both panis (Indians) and blacks were slaves in Canada.
Scholars estimate that in 1760, there were some 4,000 in slavery, a
small portion of that jurisdiction’s population. The early economy
of Canada required little plantation or mining labor, so slavery was
primarily domestic.
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SOCIAL CREDIT PARTY • 375
On 21 May 1793, however, Governor John Graves Simcoe of
Upper Canada had legislation passed to say that any slave who
reached the province would become free. The bill also was designed
to prevent the introduction of further slavery into the jurisdiction.
In consequence, slaves who had come with Loyalists were freed.
In 1807, the British Parliament abolished the trade in slaves and, in
1833, by the Abolition Act, abolished slavery throughout the British
Empire. Black Loyalists moved to Nova Scotia in 1775, although
many migrated to Sierra Leone.
In 1826, Upper Canada formally refused to return runaway slaves
to the United States. The underground railroad commenced. Josiah
Henson, a slave, escaped to Canada and, in 1849, wrote the story of
his life. From this book and conversations with him, Harriet Beecher
Stowe wrote her best-selling Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852).
In British Columbia, Governor James Douglas would not coun-
tenance slavery. Accordingly, black slaves found refuge in Victoria
and on the principal Gulf Island, Saltspring. However, native or
Indian slavery was more extensive and was a conspicuous feature of
Northwest Coast tribes until abolished by British diplomacy, coer-
cion, and gunboats in the 1860s.
Many ex-slaves and their descendants, who had become Jamaicans
or Bahamians, or other nationalities, moved to Canada. This process
began after the easing of Canadian immigration regulations in 1967.
SMALLWOOD, JOSEPH ROBERTS (1900–1991). A politician,
journalist, union organizer, farmer, and broadcaster, Smallwood
was the driving force that led Newfoundland into confederation
in 1949. After two referenda to decide Newfoundland’s course, he
was named its first premier in 1949. He held the position under the
Liberal Party until 1972, helping to integrate Newfoundland into
Canada. Smallwood became a popular figure in Newfoundland. Af-
ter his retirement from politics in 1977, he prepared a multivolume
Newfoundland encyclopedia.
SOCIAL CREDIT PARTY. Based on monetarist policy developed
by British engineer Maj. C. H. Douglas, who wrote a 1924 treatise
on the subject, the Social Credit Party had its roots and evolved in
Alberta. The leader was radio evangelist William (“Bible Bill”)
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376 • SOCIAL GOSPEL
Aberhart. He used his popular radio shows to underline the party’s
philosophical underpinnings. Backed by disaffected farmers suffer-
ing continuing effects of the Depression and vested Eastern interests,
Social Credit won 56 of 63 seats in the 1 September 1935 Alberta
election. Alberta’s subsequent monetarist legislation was contested
by the Government of Canada in an appeal to the Supreme Court and
was declared ultra vires (outside the law). Beginning with Aberhart’s
1935 triumph, however, Social Credit won nine straight elections and
governed the province until 1971.
Social Credit’s influence in British Columbia derived from Al-
berta’s experience. There, in 1952, W.A.C. Bennett forged a new
right of center coalition and called it Social Credit. Bennett was
premier through six elections for a total of 20 years, “fighting off
the socialist hordes,” as has been generally said. His son, William
Richards Bennett, in 1975 led the party back into power. William
Vander Zalm succeeded him as party leader and won his own elec-
tion in 1986, but he left office in 1991 amid scandal. The Socreds, as
they are called, were replaced as a center-right party by BC Liberals,
who won in 1991.
A Québec right-wing group known popularly as Créditistes (Ral-
liement des créditistes) existed for a time and, always a minority
party, had a cluster of seats in the House of Commons in Ottawa.
This entity, under leader Réal Caouette, was influential in bringing
down Joe Clark’s 1979 government when they refused to back his
budget. By the 1990s, Social Credit had disappeared as a force in
provincial and federal politics, remnants joining other right or right-
of-center parties or coalitions. Monetarist policies had been crushed
by judicial ruling, and small-town and agrarian sentiment backed by
religious and small business zeal found new leases on life in what
was to become the Conservative Party of Canada and its precur-
sor organizations, the Reform Party of Canada and the Canadian
Alliance.
SOCIAL GOSPEL. Certain late 19th- and early 20th-century Christian
social policies referred to as the Social Gospel were precursors of the
modern welfare state. Particularly prevalent among Congregational-
ists, Baptists, and Methodists, the Social Gospel promoted liquor
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SOUTH AFRICAN WAR • 377
control, prohibition, temperance, protection for the disadvantaged,
and equality before the law. The Social Gospel had profound effects
on creating in Canada egalitarianism and social improvement, includ-
ing universal rights to education, to health care, and to pensions
and unemployment insurance. Leaders included Salem Bland, Emily
Ferguson Murphy, and J. S. Woodsworth. The Social Gospel is
not to be confused with socialism, which is similar in many respects
but is heavily union based. The Social Gospel was based primarily in
church and volunteer organizations.
SOUTH AFRICAN WAR (BOER WAR). Also called the Boer War,
or the Anglo-Boer War, the South African War was fought from 11
October 1899 to 31 May 1902 for the defense of British imperial
interests in southern Africa. The war was waged between the Boer
republics in South Africa (Orange Free State and Transvaal) and the
British and British imperial troops.
Canada was divided in terms of support for the British; imperial-
ists pushed to participate, but many French Canadians were opposed.
Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier authorized a force of 1,000 to be
formed on a voluntary basis. Units were raised from 12 military
districts in Canada. Companies numbered 125 soldiers each and
drew from both the permanent force and militia. The first ship to
carry Canadian troops was the Sardinia, a converted cattle transport,
which left Québec City 31 October 1899. The first contingent was
eventually augmented by some 6,000 other volunteers. The Canadi-
ans’ first action was 31 December 1899, when one company of the
Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR) took part in action with British and
Australian troops at Sunnyside Kopje.
The first significant battle the Canadians were in was Paardeburg,
18 to 27 February 1990. The weather took a heavy toll on the Cana-
dians as they endured heat, sand, and especially disease. As the Boers
continued to lose, they shifted to guerrilla tactics. The RCR sustained
heavy casualties in ambushes, and the Boer tactics caused the war to
drag on. By the end of the war, Canada had sent 8,372 troops to the
field; 244 were either killed in action or succumbed to disease, 252
were wounded, and four were awarded the Victoria Cross. See also
CANADIAN ARMY.
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378 • SPACE
SPACE. Canada’s involvement in space technology began with the
Alouette program in 1958 and resulted in Canada becoming the third
country in the world, after the Soviet Union and the United States, to
put an artificial satellite into orbit. This involvement continues with
Canadian development of communications and surveillance satellite
technology, as well as participation in the National Aeronautical and
Space Administration (NASA) programs and the International Space
Station. Canada’s history in space is related to its partnership in the
North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).
Alouette and the Ionosphere: The best-known early Canadian
space program was the development of the Alouette and ISIS satel-
lites in 1958–1962. The program, undertaken at the invitation of
NASA, was designed to study the ionosphere from above. At that
time, long-distance radio communication was only possible by
bouncing signals off the ionosphere, and the hope was that research
might enable scientists to make communications more reliable. The
two Alouettes operated for 10 years before being shut down, while
the two ISIS satellites remained operational until 1990. All four re-
main in orbit. The satellites were designed by the Defense Research
Telecommunications Establishment in Ottawa, with RCA Victor of
Montréal as the prime contractor and deHavilland and SPAR Aero-
space as subcontractors, and all four were launched by NASA from
Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Telecommunications: Given Canada’s geographical size, the use
of satellites to facilitate communications was a natural progres-
sion of the Canadian space program. The formation of a federal
Department of Communications in 1969, with a mandate to expand
communications capabilities, led to the incorporation of Telesat, a
public-private partnership in 1969–92, and since then a wholly pri-
vate operator of Canadian communications satellites. Telesat’s Anik
A was the world’s first domestic communications satellite, having
been launched in 1972 with the capability to transmit 12 color televi-
sion channels back to Earth. Between 1972 and 2007, 15 Anik-series
satellites were launched; four remain operational, providing televi-
sion, voice and video telecommunications, and broadband Internet
services throughout North and South America. The Anik series was
joined, beginning in 1999, by the Nimiq series of satellites, which are
used primarily by Bell ExpressVu.
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SPACE • 379
The Hermes Communications Technology Satellite was developed
as a joint venture between Canada’s Department of Communications,
NASA, and the European Space Agency. Launched in 1976, Hermes
proved the viability of beaming Ku-band television signals directly
to homes equipped with satellite dishes, and also of providing two-
way satellite communications with moving vehicles such as ships or
airplanes.
Black Brant: One of the most successful Canadian space programs,
Black Brant is likely the least well known. Beginning in the 1950s,
the Canadian Armament Research and Development Establishment
(CARDE) researched the nature of the upper atmosphere both for
long-range communications and ballistic missile defense purposes.
CARDE contracted Bristol Aerospace of Winnipeg to construct
rocket fuselages for this purpose, and this program developed into
the Black Brant sounding rocket. Over 800 have been produced and
launched. The Black Brant XII is a multistage rocket with the capa-
bility to carry large scientific payloads up to 1,500 kilometers from
the surface of the planet, and provide up to 12 minutes of micrograv-
ity time in which experiments can be conducted.
NORAD and Ballistic Missile Defense: Since its formation in
the late 1950s, it has been the responsibility of NORAD to defend
Canada and the United States against air attack. Until the early 21st
century it was understood that this included intercepting and defend-
ing against Soviet bombers or other unidentified aircraft entering
North American airspace, and also the provision of early warning
in the event of a ballistic missile attack. Defense against Intercon-
tinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) was constrained in 1972–2002
by the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty between the United States and
the Soviet Union, but after U.S. withdrawal from that treaty in 2002,
a viable anti-ICBM system was deployed under the auspices of the
U.S. Northern Command. Although Canada has officially declined to
participate in this program, the NORAD agreement was amended in
2004 to allow information gathered by NORAD units to be provided
to the missile defense organization. Moreover, the U.S. Air Force of-
ficer who commands NORAD is also the commander of USNORTH-
COM. Thus, Canada is involved with missile defense whether the
Canadian government has agreed to it or not, and this is widely seen
as the price that must be paid to guarantee the survival of NORAD.
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