Full Title: Discover Canada - The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship - Study Guide,discover.pdf
Highlights
Canada is a constitutional monarchy, a parliamentary democracy and a federal state. ()
laws passed by Parliament and the provincial legislatures, English common law, the civil code of France and the unwritten constitution that we have inherited from Great Britain ()
Note: Canadian law comes from Parliamentary laws, provincial legislatures, English Common Law, the civil code of France, and the unwritten constitution we inherit from Great Britain.
these secure for Canadians an 800- year old tradition of ordered liberty, which dates back to the signing of Magna Carta in 1215 in England ()
Note: Liberty tradition goes back 800s, back to the Magna Carta (also known as the Great Charter of Freedoms) signing in 1215.
These include freedom of:
Taking responsibility for oneself and one’s family
Serving on a jury
Voting in federal, provincial, and local elections
Helping others by volunteering, etc.
Protecting and enjoying heritage and environment
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Aboriginal and treaty rights are in the Canadian Constitution. Territorial rights were first guaranteed through the Royal Proclamation of 1763 by King George III ()
Note: Although territorial rights were first guaranteed in 1763 by King George III (same King George in Hamilton!), they weren’t always respected.
Today aboriginal and treaty rights are part of the Canadian Constitution. Yet, between the 1800s to the 1980s many Aboriginal children were placed in Residential Schools - an act for which Ottawa apologized for in 2008.
the term Aboriginal peoples refers to three distinct groups ()
Note: There are three distinct groups of Aboroginal people:
The Inuit (“the people” in Inukitut) - a people that live in scattered communities across the arctic
The Metis - a people of mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry, mostly located in the Prairies and speak their own dialect, Michif
Indians - all other First Nations who are not Inuit or Metis, such as the Salish, Musequeam, etc
~65% of Aboriginal people are First Nations, ~30% are Metis, and ~%4 are Inuit.
New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province ()
The Acadians are the descendants of French colonists who began settling in what are now the Maritime provinces in 1604. Between 1755 and 1763, during the war between Britain and France, more than two-thirds of the Acadians were deported from their homeland. Despite this ordeal, known as the “Great Upheaval,” the Acadians survived and maintained their unique identity. ()
Note: Acadians are decendants of French colonists who started settling in 1604. Between 1755 and 1763 more than 2/3s of Acadians were deported.
The House of Commons recognized in 2006 that the Quebecois form a nation within a united Canada. One million Anglo-Quebecers have a heritage of 250 years and form a vibrant part of the Quebec fabric. ()
Note: Quebec is a distinct nation within Canada. It is formed from decendants of French settlers who arrived in the 1600s and 1700s.
Chinese languages are the second most-spoken at home, after English, in two of Canada’s biggest cities. In Vancouver, 13% of the population speak Chinese languages at home; in Toronto, the number is 7% ()
The largest religious affiliation is Catholic, followed by various Protestant churches. The numbers of Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs and members of other religions, as well as people who state “no religion” are also growing ()
he Huron-Wendat of the Great Lakes region, like the Iroquois, were farmers and hunters. The Cree and Dene of the Northwest were hunter-gatherers. The Sioux were nomadic, following the bison (buffalo) herd. The Inuit lived off Arctic wildlife. West Coast natives
preserved fish by drying and smoking. ()
The Vikings from Iceland who colonized Greenland 1,000 years ago also reached Labrador and the island of Newfoundland. The remains of their settlement, l’Anse aux Meadows, are a World Heritage site. ()
Note: John Cabot was the first person to draw a map of the East Coast, back in 1497
Between 1534 and 1542, Jacques Cartier made three voyages across the Atlantic, claiming the land for King Francis I of France. Cartier heard two captured guides speak the Iroquoian word kanata, meaning “village.” By the 1550s, the name of Canada began appearing on maps. ()
Note: “Canada” comes from the Iroqoian “kanata”, meaning “village.” This was first hheard by Jacques Cartier during one of his three travels across the Atlantic between 1534 and 1542.
In 1604, the first European settlement north of Florida was established by French explorers Pierre de Monts and Samuel de Champlain, first on St. Croix Island (in present-day Maine), then at Port-Royal, in Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia) ()
Note: Nova Scotia was the first European settlement north of Florida, established by Pierre de Monts and Samuel de Champlain. In 1608, Champlain built a fortress in what is now Quebec City.
Champlain allied the colony with the Algonquin, Montagnais and Huron, historic enemies of the Iroquois, a confederation of five (later six) First Nations who battled with the French settlements for a century. The French and the Iroquois made peace in 1701. ()
In 1670, King Charles II of England granted the Hudson’s Bay Company exclusive trading rights over the watershed draining into Hudson Bay. For the next 100 years the Company competed with Montreal-based traders. ()
In the 1700s France and Great Britain battled for control of North America. In 1759, the British defeated the French in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham at Québec City — marking the end of France’s empire in America. ()
Note: The French and British war in the 1700s saw a loss for France in 1759 when they were defeated at Quebec City, marking the end of French’s ambitions in America.
The French- speaking Catholic people, known as habitants or Canadiens, strove to preserve their way of life in the English-speaking, Protestant-ruled British Empire. ()
Note: Canadiens are French-speaking Catholics that lived in English-speaking Protestant Quebec after the war.
the British Parliament passed the Quebec Act of 1774. One of the constitutional foundations of Canada, the Quebec Act accommodated the principles of British institutions to the reality of the province. It allowed religious freedom for Catholics and permitted them to hold public office, a practice not then allowed in Britain. The Quebec Act restored French civil law while maintaining British criminal law. ()
Note: The Quebec Act of 1774 incorporated French civil alw - allowing Catholics to exercise religious freedom and hold public office - while maintaining British criminal law.
oseph Brant led thousands of Loyalist Mohawk Indians into Canada. The Loyalists came from Dutch, German, British, Scandinavian, Aboriginal and other origins and from Presbyterian, Anglican, Baptist, Methodist, Jewish, Quaker and Catholic religious backgrounds. About 3,000 black Loyalists, freedmen and slaves came north seeking a better life. ()
The Constitutional Act of 1791 divided the Province of Quebec into Upper Canada (later Ontario), which was mainly Loyalist, Protestant and English-speaking, and Lower Canada (later Quebec) ()
Note: The separation between Ontario and Quebec happened under the Constitutional Act of 1791.
The Act also granted to the Canadas, for the first time, legislative assemblies elected by the people. The name Canada also became official at this time and has been used ever since. ()
Note: The Act of 1791 established electoral legislative assemblies and enforced the offical name of “Canada”.
In 1793, Upper Canada, led by Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe, a Loyalist military officer, became the first province in the Empire to move toward abolition. In 1807, the British Parliament prohibited the buying and selling of slaves, and in 1833 abolished slavery throughout the Empire. Thousands of slaves escaped from the United States, followed “the North Star” and settled in Canada via the Underground Railroad, a Christian anti-slavery network ()
Note: The War of 1812 saw an invasion by American forces trying to take Canada as a result of American resentment to Brritish hegemony after their defeat of Napoleon in 1805.
The present-day Canada-U.S.A. border is partly an outcome of the War of 1812, which ensured that Canada would remain independent of the United States. ()
Note: La Fontaine was the first head of a responsible government (a proto-Prime Minister). He rose to the office in 1849.
Some reformers, including Sir Étienne-Paschal Taché and Sir George-Étienne Cartier, later became Fathers of Confederation, as did a former member of the voluntary government militia in Upper Canada, Sir John A. Macdonald. ()
Note: John A. Macdonalrd was Canada’s first prime minister, elected so in 1867
In 1840, Upper and Lower Canada were united as the Province of Canada. Reformers such as Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine and Robert Baldwin, in parallel with Joseph Howe in Nova Scotia, worked with British governors toward responsible government. ()
Note: The idea of responsible government is that ministers of the Crown must have the support of a majority of the elected representatives in order to govern.
This is the system that we have today: if the government loses a confidence vote in the assembly it must resign. La Fontaine, a champion of democracy and French language rights, became the first leader of a responsible government in the Canadas. ()
From 1864 to 1867, representatives of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Province of Canada, with British support, worked together to establish a new country. These men are known as the Fathers of Confederation. They created two levels of government: federal and provincial ()
The British Parliament passed the British North America Act in 1867. The Dominion of Canada was officially born on July 1, 1867. Until 1982, July 1 was celebrated as “Dominion Day” to commemorate the day that Canada became a self-governing Dominion. Today it is officially known as Canada Day. ()
British Columbia joined Canada in 1871 after Ottawa promised to build a railway to the West Coast. On November 7, 1885, a powerful symbol of unity was completed when Donald Smith (Lord Strathcona), the Scottish-born director of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), drove the last spike. ()
There are federal, provincial, territorial and municipal governments in Canada. The responsibilities of the federal and provincial governments were defined in 1867 in the British North America Act, now known as the Constitution Act, 1867. ()
The three northern territories, which have small populations, do not have the status of provinces, but their governments and assemblies carry out many of the same functions. ()
Parliament has three parts: the Sovereign (Queen or King), the Senate and the House of Commons. Provincial legislatures comprise the Lieutenant Governor and the elected Assembly. ()
The House of Commons is the representative chamber, made up of members of Parliament elected by the people, traditionally every four years. Senators are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister and serve until age 75. Both the House of Commons and the Senate consider and review bills (proposals for new laws). No bill can become law in Canada until it has been passed by both chambers and has received royal assent, granted by the Governor General on behalf of the Sovereign. ()
Each provincial and territorial government has an elected legislature where provincial and territorial laws are passed. The members of the legislature are called members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), members of the National Assembly (MNAs), members of the Provincial Parliament (MPPs) or members of the House of Assembly (MHAs), ()
In each province, the Premier has a role similar to that of the Prime Minister in the federal government, just as the Lieutenant Governor has a role similar to that of the Governor General. In the three territories, the Commissioner represents the federal government and plays a ceremonial role. ()
ederal elections must be held on the third Monday in October every four years following the most recent general election. The Prime Minister may ask the Governor General to call an earlier election. ()
An electoral district is a geographical area represented by a member of Parliament (MP). The citizens in each electoral district elect one MP who sits in the House of Commons to represent them ()
The people in each electoral district vote for the candidate and political party of their choice. The candidate who receives the most votes becomes the MP for that electoral district. ()