20th Century Canadian History

The 20th century was when Canadian history really began. Canada is by all accounts, a very very young nation. Although there has been a region on the map labeled "Canada" for centuries, the modern, self-governing nation of Canada as we know it today was only really established in the last 50 years.

THE WAR YEARS

In 1914 Britain decided Canada should go to war with Germany. Canada happily obliged, eager to fight for "King and Empire." It was Canada's first major war (though Canadian troops had occasionally volunteered in imperial battles in Africa and elesewhere), and she performed very well. In the peace treaty process that followed, Canadian Prime Minister Robert Borden demanded Canada be granted a seat in the new League of Nations. President Wilson reluctantly agreed, but remained suspicious of this allegedly sovereign state that still had Britain making laws for it.

Wilson's fears would be put to rest in 1931, when Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, Ireland, and Newfoundland all agreed to sign the Statute of Westminister. The British-sponsored agreement granted the five former colonies almost complete political independence. Britain would no longer be able to directly make laws for Canada, nor would she be able to dictate the nation's foreign policies. As an added bonus Canada was now free to undo or modify previous British-made colonial laws as well. The five signers of the Statute were declared to form a special "Commonwealth of Nations" within the British Empire, and would be treated as sovereign, independent countries, aligned only through their mutual allegiance to the British Crown. Britain retained only a few powers, namely the power to appoint the Governor General, and remained the final authority on judicial appeals and constitutional reform.

In 1939 Britain declared war on Germany for a second time, and although Canada now had the right to decide such matters for herself, there was little doubt that she would follow the example of the Commonwealth leader, and start sending troops to Europe. Canadians mostly fought under English command during the Second World War, but for the first time were also allowed several Canadian regiments. Canada emerged from World War two more prosperous than ever, and with a newfound sense of nationalism.

Britain was severely weakened by the war, and could no longer play a leadership role in the fast crumbling British Empire. It was at this point that Canada was forced to re-evalute her role in the world. With war-ravaged Western Europe on the course to political irrelevancy, Canada began to foster a closer relationship with the United States, by now the world's clear superpower. As the years would go on, Canada would start to get decidedly less British, less colonial, more independent, and more North American.

THE POST-WAR NATIONALISM

In 1949 the independent Dominion of Newfoundland agreed to join Canada, thus finally wiping a small anomaly off the map of North America. Canada now had 10 provinces and two territories, and spanned from sea to sea, forming the world's second largest country, just behind the Soviet Union.

The next three decades saw even greater steps towards Canadian sovereignty. In 1952 the British allowed for the Canadian Government to directly appoint a Governor General, and in doing so abolished one of the most powerful colonial ties between the two countries. In 1967 Canada turfed the Union Jack and created it's own distinct flag. In 1977 Canadians were proclaimed a distinct people, and were no longer legally considered British Subjects.

The post-war period is also often marked as the time when Canada began to establish an idependent foreign policy. Canadian troops stayed out of Britain's Suez Crisis with Egypt, and in doing so broke with Canada's traditional role as a military defender of British Imperial interests. Canadian troops fought in the Korean War, but Prime Minister Pearson refused to support the United States in Vietnam. Though Pearson's Government did not sanction any deployment of troops to Vietnam, over 40,000 Canadian soldiers voluntarily went to the region anyway. 103 Canadians died in the war, although for many years their deaths were not recognized by the Canadian government.

During the height of the Vietnam war, a great number of draft-dodging Americans migrated to Canada. After President Carter pardoned all draft avoiders, many of the American ex-pats returned to the US. Many stayed however, and to this day, a significant percentage of Americans living in Canada came during the war.

THE CONFLICTS WITH QUEBEC

Meanwhile, while all this other stuff was happening, the French-Canadians in Quebec continued to simmer in their own resentment. Until the late 50's the Canadian government continued their policy of actively trying to assimilate Quebec into Anglo society, and most of the Province's economic power remained in the hands of English-speakers with ties to Ottawa. Political authority in the province was likewise held by a corrupt hyper-conservative elite that perpetuated a rigidly hierarchical society with the Catholic Church and a small clique of wealthy industrialists holding all the power.

But then in 1959 Quebec's long-serving conservative prime minister died, and a bold, reformist leftist was elected in his place. In the years that followed French speakers slowly managed to push out the Anglo businessmen, cripple the influences of the Church, and reform the government according to more socialist principles. This period would later be known as the Quiet Revolution. Though Quebec was fast forming a distinct and independent nationalism within Canada, the paternalistic federal government continued to hold the province back. Quebec languished behind the rest of the country in terms of income, emplacement, and general standard of living, which bred a great deal of social unrest. Many Quebecers began to believe the only solution to their woes would be complete political secession from Canada. An independent Quebec would answer to no one, and would finally provide compensation to a distinct people who had suffered for decades under an unjust federal government. A Quebec terrorist organization known as the Front de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ) was established in 1963 with one goal- establish a sovereign Quebec state by any means necessary. The FLQ's message, which combined nationalistic rhetoric with extreme left-wing militancy, resonated with a lot of unhappy French-Canadians, and by 1970 the fringe group had evolved into a formidable political movement. Bombings, robberies, murders, and vandalism- all in the name of the FLQ- soon became a common part of Quebec life.

In October of 1970 the FLQ went on an unprecedented reign of terror in a series of events that would later be dubbed the October Crisis. Terrorists all over Quebec were roaming the streets, setting off bombs, brandishing rifles and loudly calling for the overthrow of capitalism and the Canadian Government. Quebec's British consul was kidnapped, as was the Vice Premier of the Quebec government, Pierre Laporte. Prime Minister Trudeau freaked out, and on October 16th he made the Governor General sign an emergency decree known as the War Measures Act, which brought Canada under martial law and gave Trudeau's government sweeping emergency powers to quell the terrorist threat.

Hundreds of people all over Quebec were arrested for being suspected FLQ sympathizers or supporters, and tanks and soldiers flooded into the province. The terrorists responded by killing the Vice Premier, and threatened more assassinations until their demands were met. Things looked pretty bleak for a while, but Trudeau stayed firm, while the police and army used their expended powers to harshly suppress all visible expressions of Quebec dissent or conspiracy. When enough people had been arrested, the FLQ eventually collapsed upon itself and its leaders fled to Cuba. The FLQ was in many ways a group that had more bark than bite. Though it was assumed to be a highly militant organization, the speed in which it collapsed seemed to prove that the organization lacked the resources and organization necessary to sustain the civil war it supposedly desired.

Trudeau emerged from the October Crisis as a national hero, and his actions were applauded by most of the country. In recent years however, some have begun to question the real nature of the FLQ threat and whether or not it was serious enough to justify such widespread suspensions of civil liberties. Many innocent people were arrested, especially students.

The legacy of the October Crisis left a long shadow. Despite the violence, Quebec separatism had now become a mainstream topic of discussion. You can read more about it all on the Quebec page.

THE STRUGGLE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL INDEPENDENCE

The terrorist threat over, Canada resumed her gradual process of establishing political sovereignty. Upon reelection in 1980, Prime Minister Trudeau began pressuring Britain to grant an independent Canadian constitution that would allow Canadians to modify their own system of government and establish a Canadian bill of rights. Britain agreed, but the Supreme Court of Canada said Trudeau must involve the other provinces in the decision-making.

The lengthy constitution debates of the late 70's are something most Canadians would like to forget. By the end, the endless committees and hearings had decided that Canada would not, in fact get a completely new constitution, but rather just the old British North America Act with a few minor revisions. Though a new constitution was a no-go, the bill of rights idea was a little more plausible, and in 1981 a Charter of Canadian Rights and Freedoms was created. The document enshrined all the same basic human rights as the United States Constitution (freedom of speech, religion, movement, etc) but also places a focus on establishing equality between French and English speakers. In 1982 Queen Elizabeth signed the Charter into law, and approved the transfer of the BNA act into the Canadian political domain. Modifications to the document could now only be made through a very complex and controversial amending formula involving mutual agreement of Canada's ten provinces. The Act was renamed the Canadian Constitution, and everyone was happy.

Okay, maybe that last sentence was a bit of a bold-faced lie. The Quebec people were certainly NOT happy with the modified constitution, and their government refused to ratify it. Unless Quebec was given unique powers and status, they argued, Quebec had no reason to grant legitimacy to the document that had been the root of so much turmoil.

In the years following 1983, every Canadian prime minister attempted to coax Quebec's various separatist governments into ratifying the constitution, but to no avail. But Quebecers weren't the only ones with a beef. Because so few changes to the original flawed BNA act were made, the "new" Canadian constitution was far from perfect, and during the 1980's many long, expensive conferences were held as the politicians discussed how to best fix it. Any constitutional debate always ended up turning into a debate on whether or not Quebec should get special powers, however, so after putting up with years of this nonsense the Canadian public finally said "enough" and in 1992 debate on the constitution officially ended.... for now. For more on the constitutional wranglings of the 80's and 90's see my Canadian Constitution page.

The late 1990's were historically notable for triggering the breakdown of Canada's traditional two-party state. After Trudeau, Canada was ruled by the charismatic Brian Mulroney, who came to power in a massive electoral landslide with support from all regions of the country. Mulroney's skill was in appeasing diverse factions, and for a while his Progressive Conservative Party enjoyed the backing of everyone from western Canadian evangelical Christians to socialist Quebec nationalists. Yet the coalition would prove short lived. Mulroney's failed attempts to amend the constitution greatly divided the country, or at the very least highlighted tensions that had long been simmering in the background. In the 1992 election Mulroney's grand coalition broke up, and the parliament now had five different parties. The westerners made their own right-wing "Reform Party" and Quebec nationalists created a pro-separation "Bloc Quebecois" party, both of which swept their respective regions. The existence of these new parties profoundly altered the Canadian political landscape, and they have in many ways made Canada a much more difficult country to govern than ever before. Prime ministers are now always elected with a minority of the popular vote, making their rule seem increasingly legitimate to large portions of the nation. Since 2004, our last two prime ministers have not even had control of the majority of seats in the parliament, creating further instability.

The challenge of contemporary Canadia is to overcome the country's deep seeded regionalism, and try to achieve some semblance of national unity. Can Canada survive another 100 years?

And that pretty much leads up to where we are now. For more information on specific political events of the 20th century, check out the sections on Quebec and Canada's Prime Ministers. Also, check out this summary chart showing Canada's slow progression to political independence and this chart which shows a timeline of Canada's leaders since 1972.