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Conscription In Canada Research Paper

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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

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