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The Atlantic Provinces and the Confederation Debates of 1865

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The Atlantic Provinces and the Confederation Debates of 1865 SPRING 2016 PRACTICAL AND AUTHORITATIVE ANALYSIS OF KEY NATIONAL ISSUES DEBATING THE CONFEDERATION DEBATES OF 1865 Reconsidering the debates over Canadian confederation tional arrangement of 1867 (enshrined A PRE-ORDAINED BY COLIN M. COATES NORTHERN COUNTRY? AND PHILIP GIRARD in the British North America Act, passed ith the 150th anniversary of Con- by the British Parliament in 1866) exist- Colin M. Coates teaches Canadian studies ed: at the conclusion of the debates in Wfederation approaching, it is an at Glendon College and is the former appropriate time to review the process- director of the Robarts Centre for Canadian the Canadian legislature that this collec- es and historical contexts that framed Studies. Philip Girard is professor of law at tion of essays considers, politicians vot- the formation of Canada in 1867. The Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. ed 91 to 33 in favour of Confederation in Canada that took shape on July 1, 1867 1865. The other British colonies negoti- looked very different from the Canada many politicians believed fervently in ated their entry later (British Columbia that we know today. Comprising only the expansion of the country. They may in 1871, Prince Edward Island in 1873, southern Ontario and southern Quebec have embraced too readily a northern and Newfoundland and Labrador even- and the provinces of New Brunswick version of the “manifest destiny,” how- tually in 1949), while title to other large and Nova Scotia, this new dominion ac- ever, when they assumed that the cre- tracts (the western prairies and the Arc- counted for less than 10 percent of the ation of a northern country from sea to tic) was transferred with no consultation current land mass of the country. But as sea to sea was preordained in the 1860s. of the inhabitants. Some of the Métis the essays in this publication show, Considerable opposition to the constitu- Reconsidering, page 3 The Atlantic provinces and the Confederation debates of 1865 features—people from one of these prov- THE EMERGENCE OF BY PHILIP GIRARD “ATLANTIC CANADA” inces generally feel more at home in the Philip Girard is professor of law at he phrase “Atlantic Canada” is of others than they do in the rest of Can- Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. ada. But in the 1860s and still today, the Trelatively recent vintage, having He has published extensively on the been coined as a convenient way of history of law in Canada, his best-known region contains geographic variety, dis- referring to the four eastern provinces work being Bora Laskin: Bringing Law to parate resource endowments and econ- after Newfoundland joined Confedera- Life (2005; reissued in paperback, 2013). omies, and considerable ethno-cultural tion in 1949.1 Before 1949 no one spoke The Atlantic provinces, page 4 of Atlantic Canada—in the debates of As purely geographic shorthand, the 1865 these colonies were referred to as phrase cannot be objected to (though of The contents of this issue are listed the maritime provinces, the lower prov- course Quebec is an “Atlantic province” in the Features box on page 2. inces, or the eastern provinces. After too). Nevertheless, insofar as it suggests 1949, the Maritimes plus Newfoundland a common identity, a common culture, became “Atlantic Canada” in bureau- the term must be approached with cau- cratic and eventually popular parlance. tion. There are certainly some unifying Canada Watch is a publication of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies of York University CANADA WATCH SPRING 2016 PRACTICAL AND AUTHORITATIVE ANALYSIS OF KEY NATIONAL ISSUES Debating the Confederation EDITOR Gabrielle Slowey, Director Debates of 1865 Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, York University FEATURES GUEST EDITORS Reconsidering the debates over “Canada was … just like a farmer”: Colin M. Coates Canadian Studies and former director Canadian confederation Confederation from the perspective Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies By Colin M. Coates and Philip Girard ...... 1 of agrarian society Philip Girard By Colin M. Coates .............................21 The Atlantic provinces and Osgoode Hall Law School the Confederation debates The nature of Confederation and faculty associate Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies of 1865 By Sean Kheraj ...................................24 By Philip Girard .................................... 1 A workingman watches MANAGING EDITOR An example for the world? By Craig Heron ...................................27 Laura Taman, Coordinator Confederation and Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, Gender and the French Canadians York University Confederation debates By Marcel Martel ................................. 7 By Kathryn McPherson......................... 30 COLUMNISTS IN THIS ISSUE Confederation as Colin M. Coates Elsbeth Heaman an intra-Christian pact Confederation comes at a cost: Indigenous peoples Philip Girard Dennis Pilon By David Koffman ...............................10 and the ongoing reality of Marcel Martel Sean Kheraj Revisiting the 1865 Canadian colonialism in Canada David Koffman Craig Heron debates on Confederation: By Gabrielle Slowey ............................33 David R. Cameron Kathryn McPherson Rights and the Constitution Using history to justify Jacqueline D. Gabrielle Slowey By David R. Cameron, Krikorian Marlene Shore Jacqueline D. Krikorian, Confederation Robert C. Vipond and Robert C. Vipond ........................13 By Marlene Shore ...............................37 Ged Martin Confederation and taxation The Robert Harris PRODUCTION By Elsbeth Heaman .............................16 group portrait WordsWorth Communications By Ged Martin .................................. 40 Canadian Confederation CONTACT FOR INFORMATION and democracy Suggested readings ....................... 44 Canada Watch By Dennis Pilon ...................................18 7th Floor, Kaneff Tower 4700 Keele St., Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3 Phone 416-736-5499, Fax 416-650-8069 http://robarts.info.yorku.ca The Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies and For information regarding future issues, contact Laura Taman, Coordinator, Robarts Centre. PRACTICAL AND AUTHORITATIVE ANALYSIS OF KEY NATIONAL ISSUES Please address comments to Gabrielle Slowey, Director, Robarts Centre. LEARN MORE AT: Canada Watch is produced by http://robarts.info.yorku.ca the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies of York University. Copyright © 2016 The Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies Printed in Canada ISSN 1191-7733 2 CANADA WATCH • SPRING 2016 Reconsidering continued from page 1 inhabitants in the Red River region of current-day Manitoba objected to the process, and under the leadership of Louis Riel they staged a resistance that led to the entry of a small portion of southern Manitoba into Canada in 1870. Beyond its geographical boundaries, Canada differed in many other ways from the country in 2016: it was less eth- nically diverse, even though the politi- cians dedicated substantial efforts to bridge the chasm that was perceived to exist in the Western world at the time between Protestants and Catholics, and between English and French. The coun- try was largely agrarian. Few Canadians lived in cities then, while the vast major- ity do so today. Women had a con- strained political role, labour interests had little effective voice, and Indigenous peoples were defined outside of the pol- ity, all with consequences that still require substantive attention today. Con- cepts and practices of democracy dif- PROVINCES OF CANADA: July 1, 1867 to July 15, 1870. fered as well: to take one example from the 1867 general election, only slightly had been raised in different guises for From the Quebec meeting, the prop- more than 5,000 voters participated in many years, historians often focus on ositions were then debated, with no the election that returned Thomas two key meetings, Charlottetown in Sep- room for further modifications, in the D’Arcy McGee in the constituency of tember 1864, where delegates from legislature of the United Canadas. (The Montreal West in Canada’s largest city, “Canada” (that is, Ontario and Quebec) United Canadas comprised Canada East and the men would have voted in public took over another meeting planned to or southern Quebec, and Canada West for their candidate in conditions that we discuss the confederation of the Atlantic or southern Ontario. The older terms would fail to recognize today as demo- provinces. After achieving some level of Lower and Upper Canada remained in cratic. In contrast, in the 2015 election, agreement, delegates from the five Brit- use.) The government of the day clearly, the smallest constituency in population ish colonies in eastern North America and not surprisingly, saw this debate as was Nunavut, with over 18,000 voters. convened in Quebec City in October being worthy of a permanent record, 1865 to propose the specific details of a and it supported the publication of REVISITING THE DEBATES constitutional arrangement that would those debates a short while afterward. OF 1865 bring all the British North American col- Lasting from February 3 to March 13, As one part of York University’s desire onies together. After three weeks, the 1865, and totalling over 1,000 pages in to recognize the 150th anniversary of delegates had hammered out a series of printed form, these debates are avail- Confederation, we convened a group of resolutions to take back to their legisla- able for consultation in print and online. scholars to examine the same published tures. These were practical proposi- In the 1960s, at a time when the Canad-
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