Patriot or Traitor

able to sympathize for both the French and English Canadians, he did a very good job at keeping the

“I have nothing but my heart, I have given it long ago to my country.” These are Louis Riel’s last words before his execution. Two themes that have been debated is whether Louis Riel is a traitor or hero to the Métis. There have been many controversial figures throughout Canada’s history, but Louis Riel is one of the most controversial figure. His perspective on how he dealt with manner is still debated today. A key aspect discussed today is why Riel is a hero to his people; the Métis. Louis Riel had once recognized the turmoil the Métis had to face, through this Riel proved that one must take actions in order to achieve a person’s right.

In Canadian history, nationalism and sovereignty tend to be common themes prevalent since Confederation. A well-known example of this in Quebec was during the Quiet Revolution which strengthened the need for change through Premier Lesage’s reforms and in turn, developed a strong sense of nationalism in Quebec. In contrast to beliefs that the rapid modernization of the Quiet Revolution had a positive impact on Quebec, it rather had a negative impact on Quebec and its citizens and identity. The three consequences which arose in Quebec as a result of the revolution are the encouragement of separatism, the elimination of traditional values and roles and the establishment of powerful bureaucratic control. Quebec’s attempt to be more like the

After the victory towards French in the Seven Years War, the political and social relationship of the colonists and Great Britain had shifted to a different direction. The colonists began to think of themselves as Americans. At that time, The British government felt that the colonies had become quite independence, and they wanted their colonies to start paying tax in order to help England pay the national debt. Not only were Americans forced to pay direct taxes, but they were also obliged to involve in strict regulatory acts such as Sugar Act and Currency Act. Sugar Act (1764) strongly affected American’s trading in which their oceanic vessels and cargos could be inspected by the British Navy and might be confiscated if the paper and the goods that being transported were in disagreement. Currency Act (1764) restricted colonial governments to print their own paper money. These two acts put some colonists in anger but they were not enough to result in civil disorder until the Stamp Act was passed. The reason that the colonists resisted government authority with the passage of the Stamp Act (1765) was because the Stamp Act collected taxes in all type of papers including newspapers, playing cards, licenses, and stamps. This outraged many colonists especially the educated and

During world war 2 mackenzie king showed that Canada is a force to be reckoned with and not just an colony under britain's control. Mackenzie king’s close friendship with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President F. D. Roosevelt was a huge cornerstone of the allied effort. Mackenzie king mobilized the canadian air forces and built the royal canadian air force .Mackenzie king implemented conscription in this war without much crisis between the french and english canadians by making conscription for defense only for most of the war, however he did send some of the defense conscripted soldiers to europe to fight at the end of the war. Mackenzie king put everything into the war effort to

“Just watch me” are the defiant words uttered by Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau in response to the Front de liberation du Quebec (FLQ), a Marxist group who captained Quebec independence through indiscriminate political violence. His words are not those of an iron-fisted strongman, despite how strong and undetailed his comments were at the time, but those of a calculated and well-versed leader, whose decisions came at the behest of prominent Quebec politicians. The FLQ instilled a decade of social violence in the streets of Quebec by systemically championing the struggles of French minorities who perceived unjust treatment in everyday life. Their qualms quickly evolved from protest to a Marxist movement, which incorporated

Some Canadians think that our history with everyone, including the French was all peaceful and perfect. It must have been all “rainbows and butterflies” and life could not have been bad. Although the French is fine with the English now, back in the period of 1914 to 2000, relations were strained. It was as if the French wanted to fight against the English for what the French wanted. French-English relations in Canada over the past century were controversial over conscription, the October Crisis, and the 1992 and 1995 Referendum.

Firstly, the Conscription Crisis of 1942 provoked conflict between the French and English Canadians, but also changed Canadian identity positively during the 1940s. Ever since World War ll began and Canada joined the war the French Canadians highly opposed to the idea of conscription; “[...]English-Canadians, who were mostly in favour of conscription, and French-Canadians, who were strongly opposed.” To begin with, the prime minister of Canada at the time, Mackenzie King had acknowledged the great disagreement the French Canadians had against conscription and made a promise to the nation: “King’s government [...] had promised the nation, and particularly Quebec, that it would not send any conscripts to serve overseas.” The last thing that King wanted to do was to impose conscription especially when Quebec strongly believed in anti-conscription: “The Quebec ministers kept a strong vigil over King's anti-conscription predisposition, reminding him of the terrible divisiveness of the World War 1

“I am more convinced everyday that without a single exception I did right. And I have always believed that, as I have acted honestly, the time will come when the people of Canada will see and acknowledge it.”- Louis Riel. We believe that Louis Riel is innocent of treason. Also, 92% of the class believes that Louis Riel is innocent. Mr.Riel is an ambitious, daring, well educated, political leader, who is a proud leader of the Metis. First, he was protecting the Metis rights. Secondly, he was threatened by racism and the Canadian Party. Finally, he negotiated with the Canadian government to create Manitoba. As you see, Louis Riel is innocent of treason.

Jocelyn Letourneau’s is a history professor that wrote the essay “Reconstructing the Canadian Identity”. The author argues that if one compares the Harper government's idea of conservatism against Trudeau’s idea of multiculturalism, the reader can infer that multiculturalism is failing and Canada should go back to its monarch roots. By bringing back symbols of monarchy, a new Canadian perspective would form. Letourneau’s essay is structured in a very well and composed matter. His arguments and connections are structured in proper format where his whole essay can be linked and understood easily by the average individual. Although Letourneau’s essay is structured in a proper format, it is without its faults. The essay contains many fallacies that give his arguments a weak perspective on the topic. Also throughout his essay, the author appears to be taking a side within his argument. His bias viewpoint makes himself, and his work uncredible to the reader.

From the overthrowing of the Russian Tsar to the exile of the Nationalists, the world has been in a state where radical movements have been the main focus of citizens, even in democratic societies. The October Crisis was one of these extraordinary events that had occurred. It was a period of international and national revolutionary movements that used violent acts against constitutional measures. The 1970 October Crisis was a pivotal moment that had an undeniable and lasting impact on Canadians as it revealed the wisdom of Trudeau’s decision to enact the War Measures Act, demonstrated that the FLQ (a left-winged terrorist organization) was not a good representative of the French-Canadians, and it

Soon after the outbreak of World War II, Trudeau began to study law at the Université de Montréal. Pierre was strongly against signing up to fight. Like most French Canadians at that time, he didn`t believe that it was just a war. Rumours about the Holocaust swirled around campus. Nothing could distract Pierre from his studies. A few months later, he heard a speech by Ernest Lapointe, who was Prime Minister Mackenzie King`s right-hand man and Quebec lieutenant. He promised the crowd that there would be no absolutely no conscription, or so Pierre thought.

Nationalism is an important aspect of national pride and identity for countries around the world. For example, Canada takes pride in its cultural identity, one that is claimed to be different from other ‘Western’ more ‘industrialized’ nations, such as countries in Europe, and the United States. Even though Canada currently has a national identity that differs greatly from that of other more established countries, history has dictated the way in which a particular national identity exists today. In Canada, Samuel De Champlain and the French established colonies that created a cultural clash between the French Europeans, and First-Nations Canadians within the country. However, this notion of French Canadian Nationalism isn’t necessarily embraced by all of the Canadian Population. This paper seeks to analyze important pieces of Canadian History that have contributed to a broken concept of what constitutes Canadian nationalism, with an emphasis on how historic events prevent and affect coherent Canadian Nationalism in modern society. Through the analysis of the notions and histories associated with ‘First-Nations Nationalism’, ‘Quebecois Nationalism’, and a broader ‘Anti-American’ identity embraced by many Canadians, this paper seeks to locate common ground within the culturally diverse Canadian population in order to progress toward a singular coherent

In the midst of the October Crisis Pierre Trudeau handled the time of terrorism well. In this essay one will see how Trudeau handled the crisis excellently by examining the first domestic use of the War Measures Act which led to improvements on the Act, ensuring that Quebec did not become its own independent country, and how Canada stood behind and supported Quebec and Pierre Trudeau through the acts of violence led by the FLQ.

For my heritage fair I decided to research George Etienne Cartier, who if you haven’t heard about was a lawyer, rebel, politician and railway promoter whose contributions to Confederation were on the same level as figures like John A. Macdonald and George Brown(Sweeny). If you haven’t heard of any of these people, then don’t worry I’ll be going into length on all of them, but I’ll make sure to focus from the perspective of George Cartier. Furthermore, if you were wondering why I chose this topic to research, I would truthfully tell you that the only reason I chose “George Etienne Cartier” was because he was as good a topic as anything else, so personally I didn’t care about the topic.