What Does Quebec Want?

In reality, the Proclamation was never put into effect. The reasons include British fears of rebellion, as well as the lack of English speakers within the colony. Recognizing the difficulties, in 1774 the British Parliament passed the Quebec Act. Significant features of the Act include recognition of the Roman Catholic Church and its right to collect tithes, and the restoration of French civil and property laws.

The Quebec Act was a pragmatic, forward thinking document, reflecting Britain’s realization that allowing a conquered people to retain their language, religion, and culture would ultimately make for more loyal subjects. However, the Act stopped short of providing the colonists with an elected Assembly. This would not come until the passage of the 1791 Constitution Act, which split the colony into English-speaking Upper Canada (present day Ontario) and primarily French-speaking Lower Canada (present day Quebec), with each being governed by an elected assembly as well as an appointed legislative council.

1840 Act of Union
The Act of Union was a response to the 1837 rebellions in both Upper and Lower Canada. In Lower Canada, the rebellions centred on disputes between the elected representatives and the appointed (mostly British) legislative council. In the wake of the riots, Britain commissioned Lord Durham to report on the situation. Unfortunately, Durham had a rather negative view of the French-speaking colonists, as the following quote indicates:

“There can hardly be conceived a nation more destitute of all that can invigorate and elevate a people, than that which is exhibited by the descendents of the French in Lower Canada, owing to their retaining their peculiar language and manners. They are a people with no history, and no literature.” (quoted in Conflict and Unity: An Introduction to Canadian Political Life, Roger Gibbins, p. 12).

As a result, Durham’s 1838 analysis of the situation, Report on the Affairs of British North America, goes directly against the former British practice of protecting Quebec’s unique linguistic and civil law traditions, as outlined in the Quebec Act. In the report, Durham argued that the best solution to the conflict in Lower Canada lay in assimilation of the French into the English speaking population. Accordingly, he recommended the union of Upper and Lower Canada into a single parliament, which would put English-speaking Canadians in the majority. The 1840 Act of Union united Upper and Lower Canada (now called Canada West and Canada East) into a single Parliament. Both regions

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