Unit Overview: The Road to Democracy

This unit will focus on two key societal relationships - the relationship between the members of a society and the decision-making processes that govern their society, and the relationship between the peoples and the land. During the 19th century, the peoples of British North America faced challenges and issues surrounding both of those relationships.

Resource exploitation was aimed at meeting the needs of European and other foreign markets. The pattern of development, starting with the fur trade, continued into the nineteenth century. The reliance on foreign markets secured the economic well-being of the colonies, but also placed them in a vulnerable position. Their economic well-being depended on access to foreign markets, and foreign decision makers could determine whether those markets would be available. If access to those markets was restricted, the economic well-being of the colonies was endangered.

Events during the first half of the nineteenth century demonstrated the vulnerability inherent in depending on foreign markets. The uncertainties associated with the repeal of the Corn Laws, and later the cancellation of a reciprocity agreement with the United States, convinced many that there were advantages to developing a larger domestic economy. That interest contributed to the political union of the colonies and the creation of Canada.

The advent of responsible government politicized the debate between the two linguistic communities, forcing elected members of each population to form political alliances to fulfil their respective agendas. The political alliances were fragile, and a succession of short-lived governments and legislative paralysis characterized the politics of mid-nineteenth-century British North America.

Some political leaders in the colonies saw a possible solution to legislative paralysis and economic uncertainties in the political union of all the colonies of British North America and the development of a national economy.

The political process that led to the creation of Canada was largely a dialogue between the English-speaking and French-speaking communities of central Canada. Within the two communities, there were lively debates concerning the merits of creating a new nation and what form such a nation take. For French Canada, the paramount political goal was to ensure the continuation of the French language and French-Canadian culture. French-Canadian political leaders were determined that if there was to be a new nation, French Canada would possess the means to protect its identity and culture. A federal structure, which provided Quebec with a provincial government possessing sovereignty in a number of jurisdictions, seemed the only solution.

External forces influenced public opinion within British North America and promoted the proposal for a political union of British North America. The U.S. Civil War was a period of crisis in Anglo-American relations. British North America became involved/intertwined in the international politics of that crisis in relations. Many Americans in the northern states felt that Britain was siding with the rebellious Confederacy. The British textile industry depended on importing cotton from the southern states. It was in Britain's interest to continue that trading relationship even during the Civil War. Confederate agents used British North America as a base to launch raids on northern U.S. settlements. The St. Albans Raid, the Trent Affair and the Fenian raids all strained relations between Britain and the United States.

A number of leading U.S. politicians proposed invading and annexing Britain's colonies. Although possessing adequate military power, the U.S. did not invade British North America. If the military option were not to be pursued, then other means of punishing the northern neighbour would be utilized. In early 1865, the U.S. government gave notice that it planned to end the Reciprocity Treaty with British North America, terminate the Rush-Bagot Treaty, and force British North Americans to have passports when entering the U.S. The ending of reciprocity generated support among British North Americans for a political union of the colonies.

The terms of the British North America Act of 1867 reflected the agendas of English and French Canada. Significant segments of the population of the new nation were neither consulted nor involved in the decision making surrounding Confederation. Women, First Nations peoples, and many non-Aboriginal adult males were denied the vote.

The B.N.A. Act created the institutions necessary for a federal state in which power and responsibilities were divided between a central government and the provincial governments. The Act also established the parliamentary structure that is still in operation today.

The proponents of Confederation had argued that a political union would promote economic growth and prosperity for all regions of the new nation. Confederation was now a reality and a strategy was needed to achieve the promised economic growth and prosperity. That strategy rested on securing access for Canadian products and resources in the markets of the world, and on developing a viable national economy that would generate economic activity and significantly contribute to the national well-being.

The National Policy, which envisaged a nation-wide economy influenced economic policy in the following decades. That Policy assigned economic roles to each region of the nation. The newly acquired Canadian West was to develop an agricultural-based economy that supplied resources for both the Canadian market and foreign markets, and serve as a market for the manufactured goods of Central Canada.

The Aboriginal peoples of the Prairies, although greatly impacted by the National Policy, were not consulted in developing or implementing it. The imposition of the Indian Act and the Department of Indian Affairs largely deprived First Nations peoples of control of the decision making that affected their lives.

Canadian women were also deprived of the right to participate in the political decision-making processes that governed the new nation of Canada. Their struggle to obtain the vote marked the first concerted attempt by a distinct population to challenge the political status quo and the assumptions underlying that status quo.

Core Material for Unit Two

Core material appears in bold type on the pages that follow. The remainder of the material in this unit is not core material; teachers may choose to work through all, some, or none of this material. This material should be seen as an opportunity to individualize instruction for students with different levels of intellectual ability and motivation. Teachers may also choose to substitute locally-developed material in optional areas where it is appropriate. Such material should reflect community interests and must also meet the skills, values, and concept objectives of the course.

Unit Two: Foundational Objectives

Foundational Objective 1

Know that within societies, there exists a competition among interest groups for influence over the society's decision-making processes, and that those groups will vary in terms of their ability to influence those processes.

Core Concepts

Interest Group

whether society has achieved a balance in securing the interests and well-being of particular populations, groups and/or regions of the nation, and securing the interests and well-being of the entire nation.