Riendeau A Roger E. Brief History of Canada

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF CANADA

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hopes have been raised by the discovery of possibly one of the world’s

richest deposits of natural gas located just off Sable Island, 300 kilome-

ters southeast of Halifax. The $2 billion dollar Sable Offshore Energy

Project initiated in 1995 by a conglomerate including ExxonMobil,

Shell, and Imperial Oil completed a 237-kilometer subsea natural gas

pipeline from Goldboro (northeast of Halifax) to the offshore oil plat-

form in 1999 and opened two gas ﬁ elds over the next ﬁ ve years. Nova

Scotia’s promising energy future, in addition to a booming tourist

industry marketing its maritime folkloric image, is offsetting the con-

tinuing decline of coal mining in Cape Breton Island. Tourism has also

boosted the prospects of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island,

especially with the completion of the Confederation Bridge across Nor-

thumberland Strait to link the two provinces in 1997.

Despite the western resource boom, central Canada remained the

economic engine of the nation, with southern Ontario in general and the

Greater Toronto Area in particular leading the way. The tax and spend-

ing cuts of the “Common Sense Revolution” were praised by the busi-

ness community for leading the province out of its relative economic

decline after the mid-1990s, despite provoking labor unrest and acrimo-

nious debates about social welfare, health care, education, and urban

development policies. The revival of Montreal, merged with 27 other

cities and towns to become a “super city” with a population approaching

2 million in 2002, was the catalyst for the thriving Quebec economy,

which helped to temper separatist aspirations over the past decade.

While public opinion polls in the wake of the sponsorship scandal

reported support for independence rising slightly above 50 percent, this

response appeared to be primarily an expression of disgust toward the

federal Liberals rather than a concerted nationalist resurgence. Prime

Minister Harper’s controversial parliamentary motion in November 2006

recognizing that “the Québécois form a nation within a united Canada”

has rekindled a debate over the divisive sovereignty issue. Supporters

cautiously view it as a bold political step to improve Conservative Party

fortunes in Quebec and to undercut the independence movement, while

critics describe it as a recipe for tearing apart the country by playing into

separatist hands. With the anti-separatist Action Démocratique Québec

(ADQ) under Mario Dumont supplanting the Parti Québécois as the

ofﬁ cial opposition to the Liberals in the provincial election of 2007, it

would appear that the majority of Québécois, like most Canadians, are

more preoccupied with the social and economic agendas of their govern-

ments. Still, the threat of separatism looms as a strategic negotiating ploy

for greater provincial autonomy and federal consideration.

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While regional discontent and disparity will inevitably persist in

Canada, the face of regionalism appears to be transforming in the wake

of new opportunities for economic diversiﬁ cation. The debates over the

allocation of national resources and the determination of national policy

appear to be focusing less on the alleviation of regional imbalances and

more on the distribution of federal-provincial powers and responsibili-

ties to address adequately pressing socioeconomic realities, such as

health care for an aging population, poverty in the midst of plenty, edu-

cation responsive to a changing global economic order, and the service

and infrastructural needs of growing cities. Stronger regional economies

This mobile offshore drilling platform located at Hibernia off the east coast of Newfoundland

and Labrador has rejuvenated the provincial economy hard hit by the demise of its cod

ﬁ sheries. A predecessor of this unit, the Ocean Ranger, sank to the bottom of the Atlantic in

the wake of a vicious winter storm in February 1982, resulting in the death of all 84 crew

on board.

THE ILLUSION OF CONSENSUS

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CANADA

382

tend to encourage negotiation and compromise rather than dominance

and intransigence. In essence, regionalism will always be prevalent in

Canada, not so much because of formidable barriers of geography that

can now be overcome by technology, but more because no single politi-

cal force is powerful enough to impose its continuous will.

Further complicating efforts to achieve national unity and to deﬁ ne

a national identity is multiculturalism. Canada has always been a mul-

ticultural society in search of cultural homogeneity, and the continuous

ﬂ ow of immigrants ensures the elusiveness of this prospect. According

to the 2001 census, 2.2 million immigrants were admitted to Canada

from 1991 to 2000 the highest ever for any decade. Nearly three-ﬁ fths

of the 1.8 million immigrants who actually took up permanent resi-

dence in Canada came from Asia, including the Middle East; about

one-ﬁ fth from Europe; over one-tenth from the Caribbean, Central and

South America; and one-eighth from Africa. The People’s Republic of

China was the leading country of birth among Asian immigrants, fol-

lowed by India, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and

Taiwan. As a result, visible minorities accounted for more than 13 per-

cent of the Canadian population in 2001, about triple the number

recorded two decades earlier. Projections indicate that by 2016, visible

minorities will make up one-ﬁ fth of the Canadian population. With

more than 18 percent of its residents born outside the country (com-

pared to 11 percent in the United States), Canada ranks second only to

Australia, and Canada is destined to pass Australia because of its higher

annual intake of immigrants. Indeed, another 1.2 million immigrants

arrived in Canada between 2001 and 2006.

Almost three-quarters of the immigrants who arrived in the 1990s

settled in the three metropolitan areas of Toronto, Vancouver, and

Montreal, as compared to two-thirds of immigrants in the 1980s and

fewer than three-ﬁ fths in the 1970s. The metropolitan Toronto area

attracted 43 percent of these immigrants, while Vancouver and Mon-

treal received 18 percent and 12 percent, respectively; Calgary tied with

Ottawa for fourth place with 4 percent. Vancouver boasts the highest

proportion (37 percent) of visible minorities, almost entirely Asian.

With populations that are 44 percent and 40 percent foreign-born,

Toronto and Vancouver, respectively, rank among the world’s most

multicultural cities. On the other hand, the concentration of immi-

grants in the larger urban centers belies the paradox of multicultural-

ism in Canada. For all the rhetoric and reality of their cultural mosaic,

Canadians generally continue to oppose increased immigration out of

a concern for the potential social and economic problems that it might

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bring. Even new Canadians, regardless of ethnicity, still tend to support

closing the immigration door behind them.

The dramatic shift away from traditional British and other European

sources of immigrants over the past three decades has not only pro-

foundly altered the Canadian cultural landscape but also has prompted

a redeﬁ nition of the concept of Canadian ethnicity. In the process, Sta-

tistics Canada has had to modify its method of recording, reporting, and

interpreting data about ethnic ancestry in two important respects. First,

in recognition of the growing trend toward intermarriage among ethnic

THE ILLUSION OF CONSENSUS

When she was appointed governor-general in 1999, Asian-born journalist Adrienne Clarkson

(1939– ), pictured here with her husband, author John Ralston Saul (1947– ), was the ﬁ rst

member of a visible minority to become head of state in Canada.

(Canadian Press/Tom Hanson)

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CANADA

384

groups, the census of 1981, for the ﬁ rst time, allowed respondents to

report “multiple” or “mixed” ethnic ancestry. Second, because so many

respondents to the 1991 census wrote in “Canadian” as their ethnic

origin rather than choosing an existing category, Statistics Canada

decided to recognize this self-identiﬁ cation as an ofﬁ cial nationality in

the 1996 census. Although a precise comparison of ethnic origins from

one census to another has, therefore, become exceedingly complex, if

not impossible, the census of 2001 highlights the ever-growing diversity

of Canadian society and the awakening of a unique national identity.

Respondents to the 2001 census question on ancestry listed more than

200 ethnic groups. The most common ancestry was Canadian (or Cana-

dien, on the French questionnaire); 23 percent of the total population

reported Canadian as their only ethnic origin (compared to only 3 per-

cent in 1991), while another 16 percent reported Canadian in combina-

tion with other origins (compared to only 1 percent in 1991). Most of

these respondents who had English or French as their mother tongue

were from families who have been living in Canada for several genera-

tions and had self-identiﬁ ed as

British (including English, Irish,

Scots, and Welsh) or French in

previous censuses. People of Brit-

ish and other European back-

grounds whose ancestors were

among the early immigrants to

Canada and therefore had more

opportunity over time for mar-

riage with people of different eth-

nic backgrounds were prevalent

among the 38 percent of respon-

dents who reported multiple eth-

nic origins. The tendency for

respondents to self-identify as

being of Canadian or mixed origin

accounts for the decline in those

reporting British (9 percent) or

French (3 percent) as their only

ethnic origin. On the other hand,

42 percent of the respondents self-

identiﬁ ed as British in combination

with another ethnic origin, usually

Canadian, while 12 percent self-

Reﬂ ecting the growing inﬂ uence of visible

minorities in Canada, Haitian-born Quebec

journalist Michaëlle Jean became the ﬁ rst black

person to be appointed governor-general, in

2005.

(Canadian Press/Fred Chartrand)

385

identiﬁ ed as French in combination with another ethnic origin, mostly

Canadian. Likewise, North American Indians and Métis who made up 3

percent and 1 percent of the population, respectively, appear more

inclined to identify their ethnic origins in combination with Canadian.

On the whole, the recent census reveals the ﬂ uidity of the modern

concept of ethnicity and the greater willingness to embrace a sense of

Canadian nationality in the face of increasing ethnic diversity. In effect,

Canadianism is evolving more decisively from the bottom up rather than

the top down. While the politicians endlessly debate the right prescrip-

tion for achieving national unity or deﬁ ning the national identity, usu-

ally cast in terms that will enhance their power, the Canadian people

appear to be increasingly capable and willing to accept that they are

inevitably bound by a common experience. Indeed, the formidable chal-

lenges of Canadian development have often forced people to set aside

their differences and to work together to achieve their aspirations.

The ambivalent responses of Canadians and the tensions that have

sustained them are not about to change. Canada is destined to remain a

multicultural and regional society in which private and state enterprise

collaborates to maximize the potential of the nation’s abundant natural

and human resources. Furthermore, the course of Canadian develop-

ment will continue to be inﬂ uenced by external forces beyond national

control. The 18th century was the century of imperialism, and within

this context, Canada developed as a colony. The 19th century was the

century of nationalism, during which Canada became a nation. The 20th

century was the century of internationalism, during which Canada

became a fully autonomous nation and earned international recognition

as one of the leading places to live and work. Whatever the 21st century

may bring is bound to add to the richness of Canadian history.

THE ILLUSION OF CONSENSUS

386

APPENDIX 1

Basic Facts about

Canada

Ofﬁ cial Name

Canada. Originally called the Dominion of Canada in 1867 to indicate

its status as a self-governing colony of the British Empire (the ﬁ rst

time it would be so used in reference to a country), the term gradually

fell out of common usage after 1931, when Canada ofﬁ cially achieved

national autonomy through the Statute of Westminster.

Government

Under the British North America Act of 1867, amended as the

Constitution Act 1982, Canada is a federation (or confederation)

governed by parliamentary democracy. The head of state, on behalf of

the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, is the governor-

general, appointed by the queen on the advice of the prime minister.

Although not stipulated in the constitution, the prime minister has

evolved through convention into the real head of government by

virtue of being the leader of the majority party or coalition in the

House of Commons. The bicameral Parliament consists of a popu-

larly elected House of Commons (lower house) which has real legis-

lative power and a predominantly ceremonial Senate (upper house)

appointed on a regional basis by the queen on the advice of the prime

minister.

Although four major political parties contest parliamentary elections

held every four to ﬁ ve years, the centrist Liberal Party has governed for

most of the past century, while the Conservative Party (recently recon-

stituted as a right-wing coalition) has enjoyed occasional interludes in

power, and the left-wing New Democratic Party has never formed the

Ofﬁ cial Opposition. The Bloc Québécois focuses on promoting sover-

eignty or provincial autonomy for Quebec.

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APPENDIX 1

Canada’s judiciary plays an important role in interpreting laws and

has the power to strike down laws that violate the constitution. The

Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court and ﬁ nal arbiter. All

judges at the superior, appellate, and Supreme Court of Canada levels

are selected and appointed by the federal government.

Political Divisions

Ten provinces and three territories, all with a parliamentary system of

government with basically the same features as the national govern-

ment, except for an upper house in the legislature.

Capital

Ottawa, Ontario

Geography

Area

Covering nearly 10 million square kilometers, or more than 3.8 million

square miles, Canada is the second in size only to Russia.

Boundaries

To the south, mainland United States. To the north, the Arctic Ocean

and Russia. To the east, the Atlantic Ocean and Greenland. To the west,

the Paciﬁ c Ocean and Alaska.

To p o g r a p h y

Spanning nearly 4,000 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the Paciﬁ c

Ocean, the Canadian landscape consists of the low-lying Appalachian

Highlands (reaching no more than 2,000 feet in altitude) along the east

coast; the St. Lawrence Lowlands to the southwest; the vast and rugged

Canadian, or Precambrian, Shield (reaching no more than 1,500 feet in

altitude) to the northwest and extending to the Arctic Archipelago in

the Far North, the Great Central Plain in the West, culminating with

the towering Western Cordilleras (the Rocky Mountains being the most

famous at upwards of 15,000 feet in altitude) along the west coast.

Canada has a total water area of nearly 900,000 square kilometers, or

about 350,000 miles, the most of any country in the world. More than

60 percent of the world’s lakes are located in Canada, including four of

the ﬁ ve Great Lakes, which constitute the largest group of freshwater

lakes on Earth. Transcontinental exploration of this vast country was

possible through an extensive system of navigable rivers, the major of

which is the St Lawrence River ﬂ owing out of the Great Lakes. The St.

Lawrence–Great Lakes waterway extends 1,900 miles from the Gulf of

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF CANADA

388

St. Lawrence, the largest estuary in the world, into the interior heartland

of North America. The Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories is

the second-longest river in North America after the Mississippi.

Although slightly less than 5 percent of the total land area is arable,

Canada still has the fourth most arable land in the world, behind

Russia, China, and the United States. Canada is endowed with an ines-

timable supply of natural resources, including ﬁ sh, timber, minerals,

oil, natural gas, and hydropower.

Highest Elevation

Mount Logan (Yukon Territory) 5,959 meters, or 19,550 feet

Demographics

Population (2005)

With 33 million people, 80 percent of whom live within 200 kilome-

ters of the American border, Canada ranks only 33rd in the world. Its

population density of 3.5 per square kilometer is among the lowest in

the world.

Largest City

Toronto; the metropolitan area has a population of more than 2.5 mil-

lion (2004), while the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) has a population of

more than 5.2 million (2004).

Language

Canada is ofﬁ cially a bilingual country, with speciﬁ c legislative provi-

sion for the equality of English and French. Almost 60 percent speak

English as a ﬁ rst language; about 23 percent speak French as a ﬁ rst

language; and almost 18 percent speak another ﬁ rst language (the three

most common being Chinese, Italian, and German). An estimated 98

percent of the population can speak English. The Aboriginal peoples

speak more than 50 languages but communicate mostly in English.

Ethnic Groups

In the 2001 census, nearly 40 percent of respondents reported their eth-

nic origins as “Canadian,” most of whom tend to be of British, French,

or other European heritage of earlier immigrants. In addition, among

more than 200 ethnic groups listed, 20 percent identiﬁ ed their origin

as English, 16 percent as French, 14 percent as Scottish, 13 percent as

Irish, 9 percent as German, and 4 percent as Italian. The total “visible

minority” population is 13 percent of the Canadian population (exclud-

ing First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples). Nonwhites make up 15

percent of the population, half of whom are Asians. With more than 18

percent foreign-born, Canada ranks second to Australia.

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APPENDIX 1

Education

Literacy: 97 percent

Compulsory schooling: until 16 years of age

Health

Infant mortality rate: 4.75 deaths /1,000 live births

Life expectancy: 80 years

Fertility rate: 1.6 children born/woman

Religion

Roman Catholic: 43 percent

Protestant: 23 percent

Other: 18 percent

None: 16 percent

Economy

GDP (2004)

$1.023 trillion; the 12th largest in the world

Economic Sectors (2004)

Services: 71.3 percent

Industry: 26.4 percent

Agriculture: 2.3 percent

Main Trading Partners—Exports (2004)

United States: 85.2 percent

Japan: 2.1 percent

United Kingdom: 1.6 percent

Total exports: $315.6 billion (2004)

Main Trading Partners—Imports (2004)

United States: 58.9 percent

China: 6.8 percent

Mexico: 3.8 percent

Total imports: $256.1 billion (2004)