Gough Barry M. Historical Dictionary of Canada

Подождите немного. Документ загружается.

l • CHRONOLOGY

2006 Toronto Seventeen arrested on suspicion of planning terrorist

attacks. 23 January: In federal election, Paul Martin’s minority Liberal

government defeated, ending years of Liberal government. Stephen

Harper, Conservative Party of Canada, forms minority government,

becomes Canada’s 22nd prime minister. February: Canada’s combat

infantry force begins operations in Kandahar, Afghanistan, against Tali-

ban in effort to secure that province. Parliament extends Afghan mis-

sion to February 2009. 13 September: Lone gunman kills one student

and injures 19 at Dawson College before being shot dead by Montréal

police.

2007 13 March: Canada 2006 census data released, giving population

as 31,612,897. 9 April: Queen rededicates Vimy Memorial.

2008 Global recession reaches Canada. 4 March: Progressive Con-

servatives win eleventh straight election victory in Alberta. 11 June:

Prime Minister Harper apologizes to aboriginal people for past wrongs.

14 October: In federal election, Conservatives improve standing in

House of Commons though short of overall majority. December:

Liberal-led three-party coalition seeking to defeat government in House

of Commons is blocked when governor general grants prorogation

of Parliament at prime minister’s request. Michael Ignatieff becomes

leader of Liberal Party.

2009 Government of Canada announces spending package of $40 bil-

lion for economic recovery, designed to counter job losses. Many Cana-

dians’ retirement savings hurt hard in recession. Interest rates low, and

unemployment higher than normal and of long duration. Stock markets

recover by year end. 30 December: Prime Minister Harper announces

prorogation of Parliament until 3 March, resulting in widespread pro-

tests against suspension of parliament’s activities.

2010 13 January: Canada deploys Disaster Assistance Response

Team, Canadian Forces, to Haiti devastated by earthquake. 12–28

February: Vancouver hosts 21st Winter Olympics. 25–27 June: G8

and G20 summits in Huntsville and Toronto; demonstrations and riots.

10_506_Gough.indb l10_506_Gough.indb l 9/28/10 5:36 AM9/28/10 5:36 AM

Introduction

Once on the margins of European empires, notably those of France,

England, and Spain, then a focus of international rivalries and wars

during the 18th

century, Canada is now a nation that is front and center

in world affairs. Geographical position between Europe and Asia would

be enough to make Canada a party to all that goes on around it. But the

forces of history have shaped its destiny in particular ways, forced it to

a sudden maturity, and proclaimed it an actor (and sometimes reluctant

leader) among the modern nations of the world. Canada’s emergence

as a modern industrial nation, and as a key player in the resource, com-

modities, and financial institutions that make up today’s world, shows

many aspects of what ex-colonial powers have gone through—except

that compromise and reform rather than revolution and revolt have been

the cardinal historical features.

With a diverse people spread over vast areas, Canada today is a

country struggling to maintain its national identity because of the

looming shadow of the world’s preeminent power, the United States.

At the same time, ethnic divisions continue to beset the country, oblig-

ing politicians to be brokers and seekers of compromise to maintain

fragile unions and harmonious relationships. Of unique status, perhaps

in the western and certainly North American world, is the duality of

the founding European peoples of Canada, the French and the English,

now often redefined, colloquially, as the Québécois and “the Rest of

Canada.” Some Québécois are Canadians; others are separatists. If that

were not enough, indigenous or aboriginal peoples often referred to as

First Nations claim, and struggle to maintain, legitimate authority and

constitutional recognition. And this is not all. Above all are economic

globalization and the continued progression of a multicultural society.

This, it may be realized, has been and continues to be an arduous des-

tiny. It may be also classified as an incomplete odyssey. Some would

proclaim Canada a work in progress. But it is not that, surely.

10_506_Gough.indb 110_506_Gough.indb 1 9/28/10 5:36 AM9/28/10 5:36 AM

2 • INTRODUCTION

Canada’s historical experience is also unique in the effect of climate

and geography on regional national growth and problems. The com-

plexities of the changing relationship between French and English Ca-

nadians is well known even to outsiders, though the French fact is often

ignored by onlookers and even despised by them. This is a great pity,

for Canada’s diverse founding peoples and systems of government, ad-

ministration, and commerce are at once her strength and her resilience,

if not a bulwark against Americanization. The hard realities and sus-

tained myths about Canada’s relationship with the United States since

the days of the American Revolution have only been reinforced with the

passage of time, notably the aftermath of 11 September 2001. Even so,

the growth of a Canadian political and cultural entity has never wavered

for the majority of Canadians of whatever background, past or present.

Canadians know that the Americans and the British have no monopoly

on patriotism, and Canadians for all their modesty and forbearance are

in fact proud of their country and fiercely independent. In a way, they

have had good masters, or examples, to follow.

Odd as it may seem, Canada is ex-empire, and this in two fundamen-

tal senses: first, it was formerly part of the French Empire and then of

the British Empire, and second, it benefited from the disarray of the

first British Empire when the United States became an independent

power—the Loyalist tradition finding strong root in British American

and Canadian soil. Yet, surely, there’s an oddity here. For the British

Empire, or the second British Empire as it is sometimes called, had

Canada (or British North America until 1867) as its keystone. Canada

is, in a sense, an inherited empire. The observant student of Canadian

affairs of a legal, historical, and constitutional nature will observe that

Canada is an empire by another name: it has a centralized as well as a

decentralized government system, has established a federation for the

better government of the whole, and has territories (rather than prov-

inces) which it administers in effect as colonies. Its judiciary supports

this empire. It has fiduciary responsibilities for First Nations. Ottawa,

the capital, is the new London. To maintain such a fragile creation or

polity requires more than model constitutions nicely applied: and for

this reason, Canada is a remarkable achievement, the result of the ac-

cidents and causes of history and strife, and strangely enough, it offers

a model for other federations, binational states, and multicultural societ-

ies and nations. If one were to will such into existence, it could not be

10_506_Gough.indb 210_506_Gough.indb 2 9/28/10 5:36 AM9/28/10 5:36 AM

INTRODUCTION • 3

done. Hence the value of studying its unique and compelling history, a

history not of great departures, florid rhetoric, and instant causes that

shake the world, but rather, to repeat, one of accord and compromise,

lack of haste, and sure action.

Historical influences, then, have played a prominent role in the

emergence of Canada, first under French and British colonization, then

as a dominion of the evolving British Empire and Commonwealth, and

today as an actor on the world stage. The influences from the past that

have molded and continue to direct the present-day political, social,

and economic behavior of modern Canada have a complexity all their

own, but it ought to be stressed that 1982 was a particularly important

year for the nation, for in that year all constitutional ties with the United

Kingdom, save that of the monarchy, came to an end. By this, Canada

was at last master in its own house—“our lady of the snows,” Voltaire

called her.

Canada is a North American country, state, and nation of primar-

ily European background, population, economy, culture, and political

organization. It is a European polity in the North American continent.

In most respects, frontier circumstances have had little to do with the

nature of the nation and how it is ordered and governed. It is one of

the world’s oldest democracies and one of the world’s most successful

federations—a remarkable combination. The last of the major self-

governing states in the Americas to be decolonized, Canada has links to

Europe, particularly to Great Britain, that remain deep and continuing.

This is recognized in symbols of sovereignty, for the head of state is

Queen Elizabeth II. The Crown is represented in Ottawa by the gover-

nor general of Canada and also in judicial and legislative practices and

procedures. However, despite this constitutional link with an important

past, Canada is governed at home by Canadians. Fiercely independent,

Canadians have shaped institutions for their own needs. This is the story

of Canada in the 20th and into the 21st century.

LAND AND PEOPLE

Surrounded on three sides by great oceans—the Atlantic, Pacific, and

Arctic—and bordering the United States on the south and west, Canada

is a North American nation in northerly latitudes. Canada’s climate

10_506_Gough.indb 310_506_Gough.indb 3 9/28/10 5:36 AM9/28/10 5:36 AM

4 • INTRODUCTION

varies from temperate in the south to subarctic and arctic in the north.

Canada stretches from Middle Island, in Lake Erie, north to Cape Co-

lumbia, Ellesmere Island; and from Cape Spear, Newfoundland, west

to the Yukon-Alaska border. Canada has an area of 3,851,809 square

miles, second only in extent to the vast territories of Russia. Canada

shares an unfortified frontier of almost 4,000 miles with the United

States. France’s islands St. Pierre and Miquelon, that lie immediately

south of Newfoundland, are the focus of the largely latent Canada-

France maritime boundary dispute. Another latent problem is a quarrel

with Denmark over islands in the eastern Arctic adjacent to Greenland,

and Canada’s resurgent interest in Arctic sovereignty makes this matter

more than a smoldering diplomatic file in the Department of Foreign

Affairs.

Canada’s vast area is diverse in its regional geographical character-

istics, varying from the high Arctic to the boreal or northern forest—

all in northern latitudes, above 60 degrees north. From east to west,

Canada also varies from the waters, islands, and peninsulas of Atlantic

Canada—some of which are an extension of Appalachia—to the St.

Lawrence Valley, the Great Lakes lowlands, the Canadian (or Lauren-

tian) Shield, the Red River Valley, the Canadian plains and prairies

leading to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the mountains of the

Continental Divide, and the rivers, valleys, and sounds, or fjords, of the

Pacific Coast or cordillera. Only 9 percent of Canada’s land is arable.

At one time, Canada’s forests were richer than they are now, and in

greater demand on the world markets. Today, one-third of the world’s

pulp and paper is produced in Canada.

Rich in minerals (uranium, gold, copper, and nickel, to name but a

few), Canada also has considerable deposits of potash and sulfur. Can-

ada is also blessed with abundant fresh water; indeed, one-seventh of

Canada’s landmass is water. The generation of hydroelectricity derives

from Canada’s great rivers and watersheds. In addition, Canada claims

North America’s greatest reserves of natural gas, principally in Alberta

but also in Saskatchewan, BC, and Nova Scotia. It boasts extensive coal

deposits and petroleum holdings (fluid and shale); petroleum also exists

in offshore Newfoundland and Nova Scotia (Hibernia Field). Canada’s

wheat lands of eastern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba have a

reputation as the granary of North America. Its beef and pork industries

10_506_Gough.indb 410_506_Gough.indb 4 9/28/10 5:36 AM9/28/10 5:36 AM

INTRODUCTION • 5

are the world’s leading, notably in beef cattle insemination and bacon

production.

Canada also can boast of excellent harbors, of commercial and stra-

tegic value. Halifax on the Atlantic, Churchill on Hudson Bay, Vancou-

ver on the Pacific are three such, to which might be added St. John’s

in Newfoundland, Saint John in New Brunswick, Montréal, Toronto,

Thunder Bay in Ontario, the lakehead of the Great Lakes, and Prince

Rupert, in northern BC. Canada’s rivers of prominence are the St. Law-

rence, which drains the Great Lakes (all of which, excepting Michigan,

are shared by Canada with the United States), the Mackenzie, the Nel-

son, the Churchill, the Saskatchewan, the Red and Assiniboine, and the

Fraser and the Skeena. The Columbia River, important for hydro power

generation, rises in Canadian lands, courses through BC, crosses the

49th parallel, and debouches into the Pacific Ocean near Astoria, Or-

egon. The Stikine River, which rises in the Yukon, flows to the Pacific

through the Alaska panhandle. The Yukon River begins in Canada and

flows through Alaska to the Bering Sea.

Canada’s population is approximately 34 million, making Canada

only the 29th most populous country in the world. Its population is

about the size of New York State or California. Its density of popula-

tion is remarkably low by comparison to the United States or most Eu-

ropean or Asian countries. Canada maintains a population growth rate

of 1.06 percent (1996 estimate). In terms of origin it is, in percentages:

British 40, French 27, other European 20, indigenous First Nations

(Indian, Métis, and Inuit) 1.5, and other (mainly Asian) 11.5. In terms

of religion, by percentage, it was by 1991 estimate Roman Catholic 45,

United Church 20, Anglican 8, and other 27. But there have been steady

if not rapid declines from these positions. The literacy rate, said to be 97

percent, is among the highest in the world. The rise of female university

graduates and female entry into the professions has been a noteworthy

development of the last decades.

If immigration was important in the making of the modern nation-

state, it is equally important in the present state and growth of the

country. A decline in birthrates and in the demand for labor necessitated

aggressive immigration policies by the federal government so that the

relatively rapid growth of population comes not from natural increase

of its existing population but rather from immigration. Since 1960,

10_506_Gough.indb 510_506_Gough.indb 5 9/28/10 5:36 AM9/28/10 5:36 AM

6 • INTRODUCTION

Canada’s population has almost tripled. Immigration has been primarily

from western Europe, notably Great Britain, and an upsurge of Orien-

tals, notably Chinese and Koreans, began in the 1980s. Haitians went to

Montréal and Jamaicans to Toronto. Chinese went to south Vancouver

and East Indians, mainly Sikhs, went to Surrey, BC, and to Calgary.

Middle-Easterners and North Africans arrived in increasing numbers

in the 1990s. Civil distress, wars, and revolutions overseas brought

Laotians, Vietnamese, Somalis, and various groups from the former

Yugoslavia to Canada. U.S. immigrants to Canada have always been a

small portion of the total number of newcomers, and the trickle north

continues as an important force in the population increase but by no

means a dramatic one. Immigrant families to Canada are known to be

young in age, and immigration policy has favored family reunification.

Despite Canada’s abundant size and its comparatively small popula-

tion, Canada has a population that is, according to economic indicators,

immensely productive. On a per capita basis, there may be no more

productive land or economy and, equally so, no people more blessed in

resources, space, and productivity. Canada ranks seventh largest among

the world’s economies, making Canada a member of the prized eight-

nation economic giants known as the G-8. Today’s Canadian popula-

tion is highly urbanized. The principal cities are Toronto, Montréal,

and Vancouver. Cities of secondary importance in terms of size are

Ottawa, Hamilton, Calgary, Edmonton, Mississauga, London, Halifax,

and Winnipeg.

HISTORY

Canada’s history puzzles many outsiders, as it does naturally not a few

who call themselves Canadian and live there. It features many unusual

persons, various races and religions, businesses and empires, political

parties and utopian experiments, and wars and social struggles. Cana-

da’s history might best be seen as that of steps taken in the making of

an unusual homeland. That history is, in its own way, a microcosm of

world history and of international affairs in modern times, beginning

with the Renaissance and Reformation. It dates to aboriginal times

as well as to the eras of the Viking, Breton, and Portuguese mariners.

Canada is arguably one of the most multicultural nations in the world,

10_506_Gough.indb 610_506_Gough.indb 6 9/28/10 5:36 AM9/28/10 5:36 AM

INTRODUCTION • 7

and in that sense one of the youngest nation-states, potentially perhaps

the most promising. If outsiders consider Canadian politics and history

dull or confusing, it is mainly because of a failure to appreciate the

Canadian tendency toward accommodation and co-association. Conflict

resolution is pervasive in Canadian society, and good manners and de-

cency an invariable hallmark of personal relations.

Four continuities—imperial connections, two founding European

peoples, federal-provincial relations, and a border with the United

States—are to be found throughout the national experience, although

the relative degree of importance of these varies from time to time.

Similarly, the degree of importance of these continuities can vary

widely from province to province and from region to region. These four

strands of continuity underscore the predominant themes of Canadian

history and the complexity of the nation’s past and its current historical

legacies.

Historical Continuity 1: Imperial Connections

The first continuity is the connection to and devolution from the

British Empire. Inasmuch as the creation of Canada as a nation rests on

imperial projection of European power, first by France (and marginally

Spain) and second by Britain (triumphant in 1763 in consequence of the

Seven Years War), the relationships of French-speaking and English-

speaking colonists to sovereign power and imperial structures of gov-

ernment headquartered in Paris and London have been profound and

pervasive. Such influences, now diminished to mere vestiges, declined

rapidly after 1931. They may be said to have concluded on 17 April

1982, when the consolidated British North American Act of 1867 was

“patriated,” that is, brought home or made native, by the Government

of Canada. Concurrently, an amending formula for that same act was

effected for the first time, and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was

brought into being. These were momentous days in the history of the

Canadian constitution.

Until the Quiet Revolution of the mid-20th century, the Roman

Catholic Church had a profound impact on the history of New France

and Québec, especially in measures of community building, in societal

integration and ethnic homogeneity, and in education, social welfare,

and health care. Until 1763, French imperial institutions dominated

10_506_Gough.indb 710_506_Gough.indb 7 9/28/10 5:36 AM9/28/10 5:36 AM

8 • INTRODUCTION

Canadian life in New France. Thereafter, these continued as important

legacies in civil law, the legalities of landholding, and the religious and

educational institutions. Meanwhile, French Canadian society nurtured

itself and expanded under a different, co-associational imperial power,

that of Britain. Other parts of Canada, of Britannic stock, had a different

sense of self and a different concept of identity.

The co-association of French and English in Canada was the first

task that national politicians had to concern themselves with, besides

looking after their local constituents. The balance was often difficult

and ambiguous. Modern Canada grew up in an imperial age. Canada,

the mother dominion, shared the sense of the British Empire’s power

and global influence. Adherence to the tradition of a British imperial

past may now be more sentimental than real. However, previous adher-

ence to such values, particularly during the South African or Boer War,

World War I, and World War II, showed Canada and Great Britain as

the closest of allies. The current ties that bind are represented in Can-

ada’s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),

which indicates a rejection of isolationism and an affirmation of inter-

national obligations for European stability.

Historical Continuity 2: Two Founding European Peoples

The second continuity of Canadian history is the interrelation-

ship—more specifically, the friction—between the English and

French in Canada. Separate entities developed side by side, although

in business, government, and sport, both alliances and mergers were

a way of life. Hostilities emerged long after the 1759 conquest and

became pronounced in the 1820s, leading to the Rebellion of 1837 in

Lower Canada and its aftermath. Education and language legislation

restrictions induced feelings of confinement and discrimination. The

conscription (the Canadian and British term for the draft) in the two

world wars accentuated certain French fears that Canada was fight-

ing British imperial wars. Later, rapid French Canadian population

growth, gradual secularization of Québec, and growth of institutions

in Québec (especially higher education) induced demands for greater

powers for linguistic, educational, and provincial autonomy. The fed-

eral government responded with a policy promoting bilingualism and

biculturalism.

10_506_Gough.indb 810_506_Gough.indb 8 9/28/10 5:36 AM9/28/10 5:36 AM

INTRODUCTION • 9

In recent times, especially since 1976, discussion of separation has

become an accepted part of Canadian political culture. However, more

English-speaking people speak French than ever before, more school

boards have “immersion” classes, and devolution of federal powers

to provinces, including Québec, have negated many arguments for an

independent Québec. However, the duality of the Canadian population

is an ongoing feature of Canada. Not likely to disappear, the issue will

reappear in different guises.

Historical Continuity 3: Federal-Provincial Relations

The third continuity of Canadian history is to be found in federal-

provincial relations, or intergovernmental affairs as it is now called. The

“Québec question” is one such major demonstration of the problem.

Canada is a federation. That means that centralist views of what a fed-

eration is—or might be—will vary from peripheral views of the same

arrangement. “Double-image” federalism often reflects strong federal

and strong provincial (or territorial) intergovernmental arrangements.

Just about every province has called for greater provincial powers.

Québec’s call is one variant of this; Ontario and especially Alberta and

British Columbia have called for greater autonomy, especially over fis-

cal matters.

Historical Continuity 4: The United States as Neighbor

The fourth continuity of Canadian history is the nation’s relation-

ships to the United States. Living beside the world’s most powerful

nation has had a profound effect on Canadian history. In colonial wars,

especially in 1775 and 1777 during the American Revolution, and then

again in the War of 1812, Canada was invaded by American armed

forces. After the Peace of 1814, the continuing threat of American

attack formed an important reason for British and Canadian defense

preparations. The American Civil War and the Fenian (radical Irish

nationalist) problems of the 1860s presented numerous cross-border

and diplomatic problems. Anglo-American difficulties invariably had a

side effect on Canada.

By 1914, such threats had disappeared. Allies in two great wars

and in Korea, Canada and the United States established joint defense

10_506_Gough.indb 910_506_Gough.indb 9 9/28/10 5:36 AM9/28/10 5:36 AM