O Patriot, seeking freedom

still,

Who find you are not yet free,

To you the struggle calls

again,

Freedom you yet shall see.
—Harold Griffin, in
“Confederation and

Other Poems.’’

The problem of Canada’s future
and the relationship between our
two founding peoples, French and
English Canadians, looms larger
than at any time in Canada’s
history this May Day as working
people gather to celebrate their
international holiday.

Throughout history democrats in
French and English Canada have
made common cause in defence of
independence and freedom. Today
again, common cause. by
democratic and labor people in
French and English Canada is vital
if Canadians are to lay a new
foundation for the co-existence of
our two national peoples.

A major obstacle which stands in
the way of an understanding of the
present crisis of Confederation is
the distortion of the part played in_
Canada’s history by the French
Canadian people, and the denial of
their claim to being a nation with
national rights. The denial of that
claim lies at the heart of the
present crisis. The starting point
for an understanding of this crisis
is to recall the historic roots of the
French Canadian people-and their
struggle for national rights.

The roots of the French nation in
Canada go back to the British
Conquest which ended with the
Treaty of Paris in 1763. That treaty
ceded North America to England.
Every Canadian child knows that
General Wolfe defeated Montcalm
on the Plains of Abraham. What
Canadian child has not been taught
the words: “‘In days of yore, From
Britain’s shore, Wolfe the daun-
tless hero came, and planted firm
Britannia’s flag. ..’’?

When the British conquered what
is now Quebec they found a
population of some 70,000 French

Artist's sketch above -shows
Quebec after the siege of 1759,
showing the scars of cannon fire
by Wolfe across the St.
Lawrence. British vessels can be
seen riding at anchor in the
background. The struggle of the
French Canadian people for
their rights dates from the
British Conquest.

with their customs of life,
language, -religion, law and
economic relationships. There
were only 300 or 400 English-
speaking people in the new colony.
The British were faced with a
dilemma. Would they be able to
rule the French colony or would
they lose it altogether as a result of

the influence of the colonies to the

south who were already growing
rebellious against their British
overlords? _

The first clash between the
French people and their British
conquerors came within months
when the British adopted the Royal
Proclamation of 1763 which
proposed to wipe out the rights of
the French by establishing English
civil law, end religious freedom for
Catholics, and impose protestant
schools and the protestant religion
on the French.

The French people responded
with their first mass struggle to
defend their rights as a people. The
opposition of the populace to the
Royal Proclamation forced the
British to make concessions to the
French. Thus, in the first contest
with their conquerors, the French
won recognition of their rights
from the British — rights which
they were soon to be called upon to
defend again, and which they
would be called upon to defend
many times throughout their
history.

Faced with the problems of
trying to rule a conquered people,
and with the danger that the
French might join with the in-
creasingly rebellious people in the
13 colonies to the south, the British
decided to compromise, and
adopted what has become known in
history as the first Canadian
constitution, the Quebec Act. of
1774.

The Quebec Act was
distinguished by three main
features: It granted French
Catholics freedom of religious
belief and worship and allowed
French civil law to continue; it
achieved a compromise with the
French ruling class and the
Catholic hierarchy who were
empowered to collect tithes from
habitants, granting Catholics also
the right to hold public office; and
it set up Quebec as a colony to be
ruledby a British governor and an
appointed Council with French
Canadian Catholics eligible for
appointment to the Council.

For the first time the French
people were given a charter of
rights in the Quebec Act. It also
marked the first time that the new

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—APRIL 29, 1977—Page 10

rulers turned to an alliance with
reactionary ruling forces among
the French to seek a compromise.
With all its reactionary features,
the Quebec Act recognized the
national rights of the French

By
MAURICE RUSH

A test for the French people
came soon after adoption of the
Quebec Act. In 1775 the armies of
the Continental Congress invaded
Canadian territory, expecting the
French to welcome them with open

arms. But reflecting a growing

sense of national consciousness,
and fearing that they would be
gobbled up as a people, the French
refused to support them. Thirty-
seven years later, when U.S. ar-
mies invaded Canada in the War of
1812, the French, and English-

Canadians joined forces to fight the -

invasion and ‘saved Canada from
annexation to the US. Had they not
done that in the War of 1812,
Canada’s independence may have
ended there and then.

=

* * * a

The American Revolution which
ended in 1776 brought many
changes to Canada. Most im-
portant of these was that it forced

Britain to make concessions to the

national rights of the French-
Canadians andit led to the creation

-of an English-speaking colony in

what we know today as Ontario but
which was called Upper Canada at
that time. The coming of thousands
of English-speaking United Em-
pire Loyalists, large numbers of
settlers from the U.S. who were
promised free land, and tens of
thousands of immigrants from the
British Isles, led to the rapid
growth of an English-speaking
colony alongside the French. The
roots of Canada’s English-
speaking nation trace back to those
days (although an earlier English
colony existed in Nova Scotia).
These historic changes were
reflected in the Constitution Act of
1791 which provided for the
creation of two provinces, each
with a Legislative Council ap-
pointed by the Crown, and a
Legislative Assembly elected by
the people. Each of the two
provinces were to have a
Lieutenant-Governor and an ap-
pointed Governor-General over
both. The important thing,
however, about the Constitution
Act was that it provided for a
French Canadian majority in
Lower Canada and an English
majority in Upper Canada. It also
incorporated the rights won by the
French in the Quebec Act. The new
Act adopted by the British Crown
for the first time recognized the
existence of two national peoples

_ overwhelmingly French Canadian,

ae

and provided for a government in —
Lower Canada based on the French —
majority. :

The rights which the French —
people thought were ensured in the —
Constitution. Act were soon to be —
challenged again. Shortly after the —
two provinces were created it —
became obvious that the Executive —
Council, appointed by the Crown ©
over the two provinces, wanted to —
end French Canadian nationa
rights. A sharp conflict arose —
between the Legislative Assembly —
in Lower Canada which wa

Wy

and the appointed Executiv
Council, which increasingly im!
posed measures against th
democratic aspirations ant
national. rights of the French
Canadian people.

As a result of the growing con —
flict between the French in Lowe
Canada and the British-appointed

government authorized ,
Executive Council to put through —
an Act of Union. This Act, provided
for the elimination of the two pro-—
vincial assemblies and the creation |
of asingle assembly with 60 repre-

sentatives from Upper and Lowel
Canada. The Act of Union was an
attempt to place English superior —
ity over the French in the adminis- _

tration of the provinces, and thus —
‘destroy the national independence

of the French. :
The Act of Union would have -
meant solid representation from —

birth of Canadian democracy.

In the Rebellion of 1837 the French Canadian people in Lower Canada, led by Joseph Papineau ~
(left), and English Canadians in Upper Canada, led by William Lyon MacKenzie (right), fought to
establish responsible government. The. two leaders corresponded with each other, and the demands
against British colonial rule and the Family Compact were similar, except that in Lower Canada they
included the national rights of the French. Although the Rebellion was defeated it led within a few
years to responsible government. The struggle of the French and English Canadian people led to the