It is a well known fact that through Canadian history, English and French Canadians did not get along very well. French and English Canadians had many differences throughout history, and as time got closer to the 21st century, situations between these two groups of people got worse and worse. Their main differences, as seen in the visual component of my CPT, were usually around times of war, when conscription was a very big topic. However, we cannot forget the post World War II situations that caused Canada to change forever. Therefore, the top three events that really caused transformations in relations of French and English Canadians were the conscription crisis of 1917, the Union Nationale of the 1930s, and the Official Languages Act of …show more content…
This event began when Prime Minister Borden passed the Military Service Act, an act that introduced conscription. English Canadians supported this act and conscription, and believed that Canada should always be loyal to Britain. French Canadians, on the other hand, hated this act and opposed conscription, and saw no need for Canada to get involved in the world war (Martinello,“Conscription Crisis of 1917”). This event is one of the most important events in French Canadian and English Canadian relations, because it initiates the beginning of a troublesome rivalry. From this point on, there are going to be huge amounts of issues due to this topic, which will not get solved until many years after World War II. As well, this troublesome rivalry will result in major fighting between French and English Canadians, and which will almost lead to the separation of Québec. This conscription crisis was also a momentous debate that echoed public divisions on not just war, but also on language education, agriculture, religion, and the political rights of women and immigrants (Behiels, “Francophone-Anglophone Relations”). The conscription crisis really showed the federal government, as well as the rest of Canada, that there truly is a division between the two major groups of people living in this …show more content…
Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau decided to implement a solution to finally stop the French Canadians and English Canadians from constantly fighting with each other. Therefore, he developed and passed the Official Languages Act, which was an act that would finally recognize the equal status of English and French throughout the federal administration, and ensure that all federal institutions provide their services in English or French at the customer's choice. This act allowed for French Canadians to no longer be seen as a minority in Canada and to finally be recognized for who they are. Having Prime Minister Trudeau work very hard to pass this act showed French Canadians that the Federal Government had finally recognized all the injustices directed towards them, and that there was no longer any need for fighting between French and English Canadians. The importance of this event is that finally, French Canadians were seen and identified as actual “Canadians”, and this act is an apology from the Federal government towards the French Canadians for all the injustice that had happened to them in the past. The Official Languages Act was a way to show French Canadians that the culture of the French was in no danger of disappearing (Patriquin,“Canada’s language wars are over”), one of the
One of the earliest changes occurred very early in his career as a Prime Minister and it was the creation of the Official Language Act in 1969. The act made it so that both the English and French languages attained equality within the government. Furthermore, this act also made them both the official languages of Canada. The act also states in Section 2 of that its purpose is to, “support the development English and French linguistic minority communities and generally advance the equality of status and use of the English and French languages within Canadian society.” When first introduced, this act was met with some controversy from the English-speaking portion of Canada, as there were occurrences of anti-French. However, Trudeau went through with the act
During the 1960s, Quebec nationalism changed to focus on reform and independence. These changes effected French-English relations in many ways. First, Quebec’s new independent attitude caused tension between French and English Canadians because of many reforms brought in by the Lesage government. Secondly, Quebec’s new attitude also tried to improve French-English relations with the creation of the Bi and Bi Commission. Also, Quebec’s government started to make decisions on their own which didn’t sit very well with the Canadian government. “The government embarked on a series of reforms that altered substantially conditions in Quebec: … creation of the Quebec Pension Plan (1965) … The second source of tension has already been pointed out: the Lesage government brought in many
Being an English speaker myself it is very encouraging and helpful that I am perfectly bilingual, being bilingual has helped me in the work force, in my studies and in my social life. These are some factors that have English speaking Quebecers speak more French and really made an impact among English and French speakers of Quebec. In Bernard Landry’s video he talks about speaking to his cousins that live in British Columbia and displays how they have lost their French Background it is in the Parti Quebecoise best interest to prevent this from happening. As we have seen, la survivance was the notion that fuelled traditional Quebec nationalism. The Quiet Revolution gave rise to a new type of nationalism in Quebec which had a different vision of the state and its ability, through its institutions, to help the French survive (L7, S49). The French-English divide was further aggravated when the Quebec government decided to use its institutions to implement legislation to ensure the survival of the French language in Quebec. This caused a great deal of controversy in English .In an attempt to counter such nationalist language tactics and appease the French, the federal government also used its institutions to enact legislation related to language. There is no doubt that the
English and French Canadians have had years of disagreements and the Quebec Referendum of 1995 proves how separate both really are. The Quebec Referendum of 1995 was the second referendum to ask voters in the province of Quebec whether or not Quebec should declare national sovereignty and become an independent country. The Quebec Referendum of 1995 was a defining moment in Canadian History that emphasized the disunity between Quebec and the rest of Canada. With the alienation of Québec, the Parti Quebecois advocating for national sovereignty, and Lucien Bouchard taking over the leadership of the "Yes" side from Parizeau causing the “Yes” side to get momentum, are all examples of how this historic event emphasized the disunity between Quebec and the rest of Canada.
The source clearly communicates a perspective that is in favour of conscription. The source starts off by portraying their opinion through the key term ‘to maintain the contribution of Canada’s fighting force.’ Conscription was a way to build up a stronger force for Canada because more soldiers became involved this way. This was seen as ‘necessary’ according to the source because as stated in the beginning, “Canada would not back down from the commitment it made to Great Britain.’ The key words in the context ‘in order to protect freedom and democracy,’ are in correlation to Canada’s determination to defeat in battle and to keep their force strong. This term demonstrates that Canada’s morals were for the better of our country and how conscription
1). Evidently, the Official Languages Act was the key to improving their relationship and created a pathway to a unified Canada. Firstly, this act helped maintain and strong connection with Quebec and prevented their total isolation from Canada (par. 1). To explain, Quebec sought to maintain their culture and preserve the French language and if the terms were not met, they would attempt to leave Canada (Quebec par. 2). Therefore, this act agreed upon the terms that the Quebecers wanted and allowed every single Canadian citizen to seek services in their preferred language (Understand par. 1). This right allowed French Canadians to feel less disconnected with the rest of Canada, thus fixing the English and French relationship. Secondly, this act prevented discrimination between the two cultures, as rights were created to merge the two languages into the Canadian society (Understand par. 3). For example, a section in the Official Languages Act states that “federal institutions are required to provide services in both official languages” (par. 3). In other words, these two languages were now implemented into the Canadian society and English Canadians became more exposed to this minority culture, which lead to acceptance of the French culture and language. Lastly, the Official Languages Act endorsed the advancement of
1917 Canadian Conscription occurred during War War I and was the involuntary recruitment to the armed forces of canada to go overseas and fight
Once the Military Service Act was put in place, the problems began that made the Conscription Crisis of 1917 so significant. Almost immediately Quebec anti-conscription riots broke out all over Montreal. The province of Quebec was totally opposing the fact of serving in World War One. The fact that forcing young men to fight and die was thought to be an outrage in Quebec. Never minding the fact that the Canadian Corps was nearly in Complete English. During the riots nearly forty percent of the Québécois conscripted men did not report for their duty in the war. The views French-Canadian's between the majorities of the English Canadian's were basically utterly opposed to each other causing the relations between the two the lowest ever within Canadian history. In both the elections of 1917 and 1921 seventy percent of the Quebec Population voted liberal for the loss of trust from the conservatives due to this event. "The 1917 Election was the most bitter in Canadian history, viciously fought on both sides"- said
Finally in 1867, the United Canadas joined two other British Colonies, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to form the Dominion of Canada (McRoberts 1991, 413). French-Canadians continued to fight against assimilation and received autonomous privileges with exclusive jurisdiction over matters regarding its cultural distinctiveness***. Thus, the Francophone language and culture has always been at the forefront of Quebec priorities. Since Confederation, Quebec nationalist have felt that the Francophone language and culture has been at risk of assimilation by the rest of Canada. As a result, Quebec nationalism is fundamentally rooted in the preservation of the Francophone language and culture (Guiberneau 2006, 52). Political leaders in Quebec continuously urge for the recognition that Canada is composed of two nations or cultures (McRoberts 1991, 413). Prior to confederation Quebec enjoyed numerous autonomous privileges. Unfortunately, post-confederation Quebec did not enjoy as many autonomous privileges because Canada was created as a relatively centralized federation (Beland and Lecours 2007, 406). A centralized federation not only took several of these autonomous powers away from Quebec, but it also threatened the Francophone language and culture (Beland and Lecours 2007, 406). With this said, Quebec nationalism has placed a great deal of pressure on the federal government to decentralize, giving more powers to provincial governments.
The United States of America is the nation with the largest, most powerful, and most funded military. The United States has been known to commonly get involved with other nations purely based off the fact that it is militarily capable. In the past the United States has had to implement several drafts to support the military’s need for more troops. The question is, in this day and age, would it be acceptable for the United States to order a national mandatory military conscription to fuel the military? There are always those that are exempt from military service, as well as those who cannot be exempt which increases the gap of inequality which will harm some more than others. Due to evidence presented in previous conscription efforts, possible
Up until the end of the 1960s, the French people of Quebec could be seen living as second-rate citizens in Canada. It wasn’t until 1969, that the Official Languages Act was passed by Pierre Elliot Trudeau giving both the English and French languages equal representation in Canadian parliament. Up until then, most documents written by the Canadian government and its affiliates were solely in English and did not recognize French as an official language. In The Hockey Sweater, the character of Mr. Eaton can be equated to the role of the Canadian government. The order forms provided in the Eaton’s catalogue were completely in English even though they were being shipped to a small French town in Quebec. This could be seen as the English speaking people of Canada imposing their language and culture upon Quebec in an almost assimilation-like manner. The lack of equality with regards to the French and English language pre- 1969 led to many people of Quebec feeling subservient to the rest of Canada. The language issue played a vital role in the story of The Hockey Sweater which led to great turmoil just as it did with Quebec’s culture during the
Due to the bitter rivalries of their mother countries, the two sides also had a strong feels of animosity against one another. This animosity was furthered when the French surrendered New France. This cession of French territory to the British occurred after the French and Indian Wars of the mid 18th century; specifically after the treaty of Paris in February 20th of 1763. The essential annexation brought about much anger within the French. This was illustrated during the highlights of the Patriote movement (the rebellions of 1837 and 1838) and the secession of New France to become British. These events, along with prior rivalry with Britain and its colonies brought forth a substantial amount of Francophone nationalism. Though the rebellion was also caused by famine and poverty on some level, it was the strong French nationalism was the spark that brought about Canada’s first “civil war.”
The 1950s and 1960s were widely recognized as the second “Golden Age” after the 1920s. However, it is questioned whether it really was a period of growth and stability for all the citizens of Canada. Many French Canadians have brought up the question about if their rights and needs were properly recognized by Canada during this time period. The needs of French Canadians were met to an extent by Canada in the 1950s and 1960s because of the inclusion of their culture, the economic standing of French Canadians, and the unification of Canada as a country.
One of the aspects of Canada that makes our country so desirable is our diverse heritage. Preserving our culture is essential in maintaining our collective identity. Language is one of the many worldly tools that is a key component in heritage. Our history is unique and embraces both of our official languages; English and French. If we can protect our languages and the collective rights of both Anglophones and Francophones, then we are also protecting our heritage. It is important to be able to share our languages’ with future generations in order to sustain our cultural identity.
The people in Canada were affected by many different ways. The first way was in their school systems. In Canada we are now able to go to Francophone schools which are all french and french immersion schools where some of the classes are in english. The next thing that has changed are all our products. When you look at your average food product like a cereal box or a juice box you can see that there is english on one side and french on the other. What changed in Quebec is that the school systems changed by most of the schools becoming French, some being french immersion and some staying Engish. Another thing that changed is that all the street signs in Quebec are now in French.