Canadian History And Government Essay Research Paper

Canadian History And Government Essay, Research Paper

Canadian History / GovernmentPart I. GOVERNMENT AND LAW The Governor General represents the monarch in Canada. He/she isappointed by the monarch on advice of the Canadian Government. GovernorsGeneral open Parliment and read the speech from the throne whichoutlinesthe governments plans. They also give royal assent to bills, appointimportant officials, greet foreign leaders, and give out awards andmedals. The role of the Governor General is formal and symbolic. The current Govener General is Ray Hnatyshyn. The Last one was JeanneSauve. The Senate is, in essence, an independant House of Commons. Itappoints its own Speaker and runs its own affairs. The Prime Minister(I’ll call him the PM) chooses new members for the senate whenever avacancy occurs. The Senate acts as a check on the power of the House ofCommons by rejecting bills. The Senate may also introduce bills itself,pass them, and send ‘em to the House of Commons. Elections for the House of Commons occur every five years, unless thePMwants one sooner. Elected members of the House of Commons (MPs) eachrepresent a Constituency. How many members in the commons depends on howmany people in Canada. MPs must be over 18, and not disqualified by law. The House only has to meet once a year, but usually there’s so much todothey have to put in many months of work. Any MP can try to introduce abill, but the Cabinet usually controls the number of bills introduced. Most bills come from the Cabinet, but the ideas can come from thingslike:A senator, public servant, the media, party platform etc. The PM chooses The Cabinet from fellow party members who have beenelected to the House of Commons. When choosing Cabinet members, the PMmust choose representatives of all regions and cultural groups of Canadawho together, represent and understand all of Canada. A Cabinet memberisusually made head of, and responsible for a department of government. Forexample, the Minister of Finance prepares the federal budget and assumesabig role in managing our economy. The Cabinet members meet togetherunderthe leadership the of the PM to discuss the important decisions that thegovernment must make concearning proposed laws or bills. Each Cabinetmember is expected to accept decisions made by the Cabinet on the whole. The Cabinet must always appear unified and capable to Parliment and tothecountry. How A Bill Becomes A Law:-Cabinet Minister has idea for a bill-Idea explained to Cabinet-Cabinet approves idea-Lawyers Draft bill-Cabinet committee examines bill-Cabinet and caucus approve bill-Bill introduced to House of Commons or Senate (first reading)-Second reading-House debates and votes on principle of bill-Parliamentary committee examines bill-House amends bill-Third reading, debate and vote-Bill passes House-Senate (or House of Commons if introduced in Senate) examines, debates,amends bill-Bill passes Senate-Govener general gives royal assent, Bill is now Law. Criminal Law deals with the punishment of people who commit crimesagainst the public such as murder, arson, and theft. These areconsideredto be crimes against society. The rules for this are set down in theCriminal Code of Canada. The federal government is responsible forbringing criminal offenders to trial. Civil Law deals with the protection of private rights. It isconcearnedwith disputes between individuals or groups. In civil cases, it is up tothe injured party to take the case to court. For an exmaple of a civilcase, let’s say that a friend of yours pulls out a gun and shoots a holethrough your wall, but doesn’t want to pay for it. It would be up to youtosue your friend for the cost of the wall in a civil court. Supreme Court of Canada Supreme (or Superior) Court of The Province Trials Division Appeals DivisionDistrict (or County) Courts Provincial (Magistrate’s) Court Family Court Youth CourtIndictable Offences Summary Conviction Offences Classification Hearing Alleged OffenceRights Guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of rights and FreedomsFundamental freedoms:Worship as you like, believe what you want, express your opinions,associate with whomever you like, and gather together peacefully. Democratic rights:Vote in elections, run as a candidate in elections, elect a newgovernmentat least every five years. (except, possibly in times of war.)Mobility rights:Enter or remain in or leave Canada, live and work wherever you wishwithinCanada. Equality rights:Live and work and be protected by the law without discrimination basedonrace, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, arge, or mentalorphysical disability. (There are also Language rights and Enforcement.) The Rights of The Accused in The Legal Process: (As outlined in thelegal rights of all Canadians in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The right to be secure from unreasonable search and seizure. Thisprevents the police from searching you, your home, or your personalbelongings unless they have a good reason to believe that the searchwillhelp them discover some information about a criminal activity. The right of Habeus Corpus. This means that you have to be told thereason you are being arrested. You must also be brought to trialwithoutundue delay. The right to a fair trial. This means that you a right to have alawyer. If you cannot afford one, the court must appoint one to defendyou. You have a right to give your side of the case. The judge musttreatyou in a fair manner. The right not to be tried twice for the same crime. this means thatonce you have been tried and sentenced, the government cannot decide totake you to court again for the same crime. The right not to be subject to cruel and unusual punishment. Thismeansthat if you are found guilty of a crime, the courts cannot decide totorture you. (pity.) Also, your sentance must be the same as thesentanceof other people who have been found guilty of a similar crime. Some other rights outlined in the same section of the charter are:The right not to be arbitrarily detained and imprisoned. The right against self-incrimination. The right to an interpreter. The right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. The right to bail. Governor Sir Guy Carleton was convinced that the Thirteen Colnoieswereon the verge of rebellion and he felt that he had to secure the loyaltyofthe Canadiens (The French-speaking inhabitants of New France) to preventthem from joining with the rebels. To accomplish this goal, he convincedthe British government to pass The Quebec act in 1774. The AnglophoneColonists in Quebec felt that the act made Quebec a French Colonyinsteadof a British colony. Generally, Canadiens were pleased. The act meantthatthey could keep their land, religion, and language and participate inpolitics. Basically, here are the Main points of the Quebec Act:- Quebec border is expanded far to the west. The new area included thebestfur- trapping lands. – Freedom of religion is granted for Roman Catholics. Roman Catholicsarealso permitted to hold public office. – French civil law is retained, but British (fag) criminal law isestablished. – Roman Catholic churches are permitted to own property and collecttithes. – No land is taken from the French. – No elected assembly is created. Red River resistance The settlement of Red River was occupied by some Metis, (people ofmixedEuropean (usually French) and Native Ancestry) and some Anglophonesettlers. When the Canadian Government bought the Northwest from the Hudson BayCompany in the 1860s, the Metis were angered that they were notconsultedin the sale of the land, nor had their intrests been safeguarded. AMetisleader, Louis Riel felt that Metis rights had to be safeguarded beforeCanada took over the settlement. So he organized groups of Metis whoforceda surverying team to leave, and prevented the new Governor, Mcdougall,fromentering the colony. In November 1869, The Metis organized a provisional government (atemporary government) with Riel as president. They drew up a list ofrightswhich they wanted the government to grant before Red River joinedconfederation. While these were being negotiated, some Anglophones gotmadat the provisional government and one of them, Thomas Scott, wasarrestedand executed for treason. This execution stopped the negotiations withthefederal government. Macdonald had wanted to bring Red River intoconfederation peacefully, but he had to forget about that. Citizens ofOntario were outraged that an Anglophone had been killed byFrancophones. the longer Macdonald delayed action in the Read River settlement, themore complex the problem became. English speaking Canadians wanted amilitary force to be sent to Red River to stop Riel’s uprising. Frenchspeaking Canadians wanted the Metis rights to be protected. Finally Macdonald acted. His government passed a bill that made theprovince of Manitoba, sent over a new governor who the Metis agreed on,gave each Metis 240 acres of land, gave the Metis the right to vote, andgave Red River a representative in Parliment. French was made anofficiallanguage. Macdonald also sent a military force to Red River to keeporderin the colony. The crisis was over, in 1870 the French-English relationslooked good. The Northwest Rebellion During the 1880s many Metis moved farther west near to present daySaskatchewan in search of buffalo, and because of loss of land in RedRiverdue to more settlers. By 1885 the buffalo again disappeared and moresettlers moved into Saskatchewan. The federal Government sent outsurveryers. The Metis demanded payments of money and land and weregettingconcearned about their rights again. Anglophones too wanted the landissueresolved. Macdonald’s government, did not respond. Riel came to Saskatchewan on request of the Metis. He drew up yetanother bill of rights for the Metis and sent it to Ottawa. Macdonaldstillignored the situation in the Northwest. After waiting about four months,Riel concluded that the government wasn’t going to meet any demands, soRiel decided to use force and he appointed Gabriel Dumont as hismilitarycommander and an armed clash between the Metis and the North WestMountedpolice occured. The Anglophone settlers withdrew their support when Rieldecided to use force. Meanwhile, the Cree’s economy was hurt by destruction of the Buffaloandthey used the unrest caused by the Metis to launch several attacks ontheBlackfoot. The government mistakingly thought that the Metis wereencouraging the Cree to rebel. People in eastarn Canada were in a fenzy after the news of theseeventsreached them, so Macdonald ordered General Middleton, the commander oftheCanadian Militia to go to Red River and kick some %&! So, using the new

Canadian Pacifac Railway, troops were rushed to the disturbances. Dumontand his allies beat the government in early battles, but the governmenthadsuperior military equipment and greatly outnumbered the Metis, soeventually their stronghold at Batoche was surrounded and defeated onMay12, 1885. Riel surrendered on May 15 and he was tried and executed fortreason, which became a national French-English conflict. Strains on French-English relations worsened with the outbreak ofWorldWar I. In the early years of the war, Canadians were eager to help Britainandits allies, and Canadians served in the war on a voluntary basis and itseemed like there would be enough volun

teers. By 1916, however, thedeathtolls in Europe were staggering. No matter how hard Canada tried, theycouldn’t recruit enough volunteers. It became apparent that Quebec wasproviding fewer volunteers than Ontario, although their populations weresimilar in size. The government had to resort to other methods of recrution such asconscription. (The compulsory enlistment of citizens into militaryservice.) The government was hesitant to bring in conscription, becausethey knew it would damage French-English relations. (Which it did.) ManyFrancophones had refused to volunteer for the army. How would they reactifthey were forced to join? Robert Borden was PM of Canada when WorldWar Ibroke out. He felt that Britain and its allies would need all the helpCanada could give. He thought Canada should supply arms, ships, food,andabove all, soldiers. In 1917 he attended the Imperial War Cabinet, whichconvinced him even more that Britain needed help. Consequently, when hefound that he couldn’t wait for enough men to volunteer, he passed theMilitary Service act (which made conscription legal) in 1917. In 1918,conscription began, but a large number of Canadians (mostlyFrancophones)refused to join the army. What wimps! Henri Bourassa was the founder of the Francophone daily paper, LeDevoir. He used the paper to express his ideas. Bourassa felt thatCanadashould think of itself as an independant nation, not as a colony ofBritain, and as far as he was concearned, World War I had nothing to dowith Canada so we shouldn’t help Britain. He thought that Britain andFrance were imperealistic and that they were just fighting Germany toseewho could build up the greatest empire. In 1960 the “impatient generation” (Basically, these people wereproudof being Francophones and felt that Francophones were not being treatedaswell as they deserved to be by Anglophones. They wanted to change thisbygaining political power.) gained political power and great changesoccurredin Quebec. This period of Radical change has become known as the QuietRevolution. These changes were introduced by the Liberal government of JeanLesage,who became premier of Quebec in the 1960 election. Here is a list of some of the concearns of Quebeckers in 1960:- Wages in Quebec were less than the national average. – The unemployment rate in Quebec was 9.1%. – Only 18% of Canada’s federal jobs were given to Francophones. – Majority of businesses in Quebec were owned by Anglophones. – Hospital and health care were not adequate. – Education system was not geared towards an industrial society. Here are the Lesage Government’s solutions to Quebec’s concearns:- Get more hospitals and doctors in Quebec. – Increase old age pensions. – Have new laws which increase wages paid to workers. – Provide more schools and education facilities. – Provide jobs by providing money to start businesses. – Develop Quebec’s vast natural resources. – Take over all the hydro-electric companies in Quebec. In 1962 Lesage campaigned under the slogan “maitres chez nous”. Thissuggested that he wanted to change the relationship between Quebec andOttawa. He felt that English Canada had too much control over theeconomyand the federal government. After the Conscription Crisis, English Canada thought that Quebec wasreletively satisfied with their situation, ergo they were suprised whenLesage used that above mentioned slogan. The federal government and English Canada did not see why Quebecshouldbe given special status over the other provinces. (i.e. Quebec wantedcomplete control over all of its taxes.) French Canada argued that theyareone of Canada’s founding people, and they are Canada’s largest minority,(28%) and they have their own language and culture to preserve,thereforethey should have special status to determine their unique way of life. Thus, during the ’60s Canada was divided into two parts. On one sidewere French Canadians who demanded special status. On the other sidewerethe rest of Canadians, who felt that Quebec should not be given specialprivileges. The Official Languages Act of 1969 had four main points:- English and French are the official languages of Canada. – Both languages must be recognized in parts of the country where therearelarge minorities of French or English speaking people. – Both languages must be recognized in certain sections of the federalcivil service. – Both languages must be offered as the language of instruction in allschools in Ottawa. When Trudeau made this act, it led to big changes such as all labelsbeing bilingual, and all civil servants learning french. Bilingualismwas asymbol that all Francophones were accepted in Canada. The governmentwantedto prove that the French didn’t have to seperate form Canada to protecttheir way of life. Trudeau was so sure that this act was the solution toall French-English relation problems that he made four more proposals,which were:- All of the provinces of Canada should provide French services fortheirFrench- speaking minorities. – Provinces with large French-speaking minorities should recognize bothFrench and English as an official language. – All provinces should provide both French and English schools. – Businesses in Quebec should use both French and English. Meanwhile, Anglophones were unhappy with being asked to give agreatershare of power and influence to Francophones. They were afraid that theywould either learn French, or be excluded form many jobs and politics. Also, they didn’t like that fact that Trudea was spending so much oftheirtax money on bilingualism. In October 1970, members of the FLQ (Front de liberation du Quebec. Thisis a political terrorist group in Quebec which used violence to promotetheseparation of Quebec from the rest of Canada during the 1960s and early1970s.) kidnapped James Cross, the Britsh Trade Commissioner, and PierreLaporte, the Quebec Labour Minister. As a result of this, the WarMeasuresAct was put into effect. (This is an act giving police and the armedforcessweeping powers of arrest, search and detention. It was also used inWorldWar I and II.) The FLQ killed Laporte and then released Cross. Thekidnappers were allowed to fly to Cuba. Some people were arrested inconnection with the Laporte case, and they are tried and sentanced. Meech lake is a lake in Quebec near Ottawa where the Mulroney cabinetgoes for it’s out ot town meetings. The Meech Lake Accord is a deal between Ottawa and the Provinces forchanging the Constitution, worked out at Meech Lake on April 30, 1987andrefined in an all- nighter June 2-3 1987, at the Langevin Block acrossthestreet from the Parliment buildings in downtown Ottawa. The objective of this accord is to get Quebec to sign theconstitutionof April 17, 1982. All provinces must ratify the Meech Lake amendment oritdies because it tries to change parts of the 1982 Constitution that needagreement by Ottawa and all provinces. Mulrony’s government has set thedeadline for all the provinces to sign the accord for June 23, 1990, although some people say there is no deadline. Here are some of the key points in the accord:- The “Quebec Clause” is the key clause in this accord. It means that nomatter what happens, Quebec must always be recognized within Canada as adistinct society and the Quebec government must be allowed to preserveandpromote the distinct society. – Other provinces are just given the job of preserving the fundamentalcharacteristic of Canada, which is the fact of Francophones centered inQuebec and present in the rest of Canada, and Anglophones concentratedoutside of Quebec but also present inside Quebec. – Changes to the Senate will need consent of all province. – Supreme Court goes into constitution, provinces get right to proposepeople when new justices are being names, Quebec gets 3/9 judges. – Each province gets a guarantee on it’s share of immigrants The International Joint Commission handles conflicts in which anactionby a country on one side of the border effects the country on the otherside of the border. It was created in 1912 and has three American andThreeCanadian members which are appointed by each country’s federalgovernment. It makes dicisions by majority rules. It has one headquarter in Ottawaandone in Washington. There are three main functions of the commission:- To regulate. – To investigate. – To survey and coordinate. With the creation of The Autopact in 1965, the makers of cars couldfreely move cars across the Canadian-US border without tariffs. The pactrequired that a certain proportion of the cars manufactured in NorthAmerica be made in Canadian factories. Despite the tensions of the twocountries being mad that the flow of trade sometimes went in the othercountries favour, the Autopact allowed car makers to better planproduction. This was to the benefit of both Canada and US. In 1957 Canada and US made a formal agreement to join defenceeffortsagainst attack from the air. This is the North American AerospaceDefenceCommand (NORAD). Billions of dollars from Canada and US have been spentonradar stations, fighter planes, and command centres. Also, Canadians andAmericans train with each other. The basic function of NORAD is todetectany attack on North America and respond to it quickly. The Americanbomberforces need to be kept from suprise attack, so the US wanted Canada’shelpto provide the land for radar warning sights. There is a big debate as to whether or not Canada should remain inNORAD, some arguments for Canada remaining in NORAD are:- NORAD provides protection of Canada’s airspace. – North America would be a single target in any nuclear war. – NORAD protects the US deterrent force. Some arguments for Canada not remaining in NORAD are:- The US doesn’t need Canada to help with air defence. – It is unlikely that the Soviet Union would Launch an all-out war onNA. – Costly CF-18 fighters are not needed to meet intruders into ourairspace. Canada’s contribution to victory in World War I. The Canadian army entered combat in the spring of 1915. Thousands ofCanadians died, and Canada’s army soon gained a reputation for itsbraveryand good organization. (note – a lot of Canadians were forced to jointhearmy with conscription) General Currie, Commander of the Canadian Corps,was rated among the best generals on the Allied side. Some Canadianvictories were the battle of Ypres, and Hill 70. Canadians also foughtinBritsh Empire forces. Billy Bishop, a Canadian in the flying corps, wasanoutstanding pilot. Canada’s contribution to victory in World War II. In World War II, Canada only sent a few soldiers to the war (therewasNO conscription, as PM Mackenzie King didn’t want the country dividedagainlike in world war I. Most Canadian help took the form of food andmanufactured goods such asvehicles and weapons. After the defeat ofFrancein 1940, Canada made a full-scale war effort. In 1941, Canada declaredwaron Super Mario 3 Japan. By 1942, Canada, with its many volunteers, wasready to make a major contribution to the fighting. By 1944, King wasforced to send 13 000 soldiers oversees because the war was going prettybadly. b) The United Nations is the international organization (formed in 1945)ofnations dedicated to world peace and security. Canada was one of thefiftyoriginal members. Canada has been one of the United Nations SecurityCouncil non-permanent members in 1948-49, 1958-59, 1966-68, and 1977-78

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