Secondary 4 History of Québec and Canada flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Mercantilism

Economic doctrine under which a colony supplies raw materials and buys manufactured goods from the mother country, keeping wealth within the empire. In New France, furs and fish flowed to France under monopoly trading companies.

Seigneurial system

Land tenure in New France in which a seigneur granted long riverside lots to censitaires in exchange for rent, dues and the corvée. It structured settlement along the St. Lawrence until its abolition in 1854.

Intendant

Royal official in New France responsible for justice, finance and police, and for promoting settlement and economic development. Jean Talon, intendant from 1665, organized censuses and encouraged immigration.

Treaty of Paris 1763

Agreement ending the Seven Years' War in which France ceded Canada and its eastern territories to Britain. It confirmed British sovereignty over the former New France and its Canadien population.

Royal Proclamation 1763

British decree creating the Province of Quebec, introducing English law and promising an elected assembly. It also reserved western lands for Indigenous peoples, shaping later land-claim disputes.

Quebec Act 1774

British statute restoring French civil law and the seigneurial system in Quebec and removing the anti-Catholic oath. It enlarged the colony to the Ohio Valley, angering the American colonies.

Constitutional Act 1791

British law dividing Quebec into Lower and Upper Canada, each with an elected assembly and appointed council. It preserved French civil law in Lower Canada and English law in Upper Canada.

Responsible government

Principle that the executive must answer to the elected assembly and resign if it loses confidence. Achieved in the Province of Canada in 1848–1849 under Lord Elgin.

Act of Union 1840

British law merging Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada with equal seats for each section. It made French Canadians a minority and aimed to assimilate them, as Durham recommended.

BNA Act 1867

British statute creating the Dominion of Canada from four provinces and dividing powers between Ottawa and the provinces. Section 91 gave residual powers to Ottawa; section 92 listed provincial jurisdiction.

National Policy

John A. Macdonald's 1879 program of protective tariffs, railway construction and western immigration. It promoted industrial growth in central Canada and settlement of the prairies.

Red River Resistance

1869–1870 Métis resistance to Canadian survey and annexation, led by Louis Riel. It produced the Manitoba Act, creating a province with language and school guarantees.

Manitoba Schools Question

1890s dispute over Manitoba's abolition of French-language and Catholic school funding. Laurier's 1896 compromise restored limited religious instruction but ended official French schooling.

Second industrial revolution

Late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century shift to steel, electricity, chemicals and pulp and paper. In Québec it drew foreign capital and accelerated urban growth around Montréal.

Asbestos strike 1949

Four-month strike by miners in Asbestos and Thetford Mines, supported by the Church and intellectuals. It exposed Duplessis's anti-union stance and is seen as a precursor of the Quiet Revolution.

Conscription crisis 1917

Conflict over compulsory military service during the First World War. It divided French and English Canadians and contributed to the Conservative Party's collapse in Québec.

Padlock Law 1937

Québec statute allowing authorities to close premises used for communist propaganda. It symbolized Duplessis's repression of dissent and was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1957.

Quiet Revolution

1960s period of rapid modernization under Jean Lesage's Liberals, marked by secularization, hydro nationalization and a stronger provincial state. It reshaped Québec's institutions and national identity.

Parent Report

1963–1966 report of the Royal Commission on Education that recommended free, compulsory, secular schooling and the creation of CEGEPs. It became the blueprint for Québec's education reform.

Hydro-Québec nationalization

1963 takeover of private electricity companies by the Québec government, creating a single public utility. It symbolized 'Maîtres chez nous' and financed later state-led development.

October Crisis 1970

FLQ kidnappings of James Cross and Pierre Laporte, prompting the War Measures Act. Laporte was killed, and the crisis intensified debate over sovereignty and civil liberties.

Bill 101

Québec's 1977 Charter of the French Language, making French the language of government, work and schooling. It restricted English education and remains central to language policy debates.

1980 referendum

Québec vote on a mandate to negotiate sovereignty-association, rejected by about 60 percent. It followed the PQ's 1976 election and preceded the 1982 constitutional patriation.

1995 referendum

Second sovereignty referendum, rejected by a margin of about 50.6 to 49.4 percent. The close result prompted the 1998 Supreme Court Reference on secession and the Clarity Act.

Meech Lake Accord

1987 constitutional agreement recognizing Québec as a distinct society, which failed in 1990 when Manitoba and Newfoundland did not ratify. Its collapse revived sovereigntist sentiment.

Oka Crisis 1990

Seventy-eight-day standoff over a Mohawk land claim at Kanesatake, involving the army. It raised public awareness of Indigenous land rights and led to new federal policies.

James Bay Agreement 1975

First modern treaty between the Cree, Inuit and governments, covering hydroelectric development in northern Québec. It exchanged land rights for compensation and self-government provisions.

Married Women's Property Act

1964 Québec law ending a husband's control over his wife's property and earnings. It marked a step toward legal equality and reflected women's growing workforce participation.

Refus global

1948 manifesto by Paul-Émile Borduas and other artists rejecting clerical conservatism and calling for artistic freedom. It is a landmark of Québec modernism and social critique.

CTCC

Confédération des travailleurs catholiques du Canada, founded in 1921 as a Catholic alternative to international unions. It became the secular CSN in 1960, reflecting Quiet Revolution changes.

Primary versus secondary source

A primary source originates in the period studied, such as a law, letter or census; a secondary source interprets it later, such as a textbook or monograph. Both require source criticism.

Continuity and change

Analytical concept distinguishing what persists across periods from what transforms. Historians use it to avoid treating change as uniform or inevitable and to identify turning points.