Union of Upper and Lower Canada

The 1841 union of Upper Canada and Lower Canada created the Province of Canada. This province lasted until 1867 when Canadian Confederation encouraged the two groups to split again into the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec

History

Upper and Lower Canada

Lower Canada was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791-1841). It covered the southern portion of the modern-day province of Québec, Canada, as well as the Labrador region of the modern-day province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Upper Canada was a British province located in what is now the Canadian province of Ontario. Upper Canada officially existed from 1791 to 1841 and covered generally present-day Southern Ontario. Its name reflected its elevation, not its latitude, as it was located on the Upper Great Lakes, upriver from Lower Canada. By latitude, Upper Canada was mainly south of Lower Canada.

Before 1841, the territory roughly corresponding to Southern Ontario in Canada belonged to the British colony of Upper Canada, while the southern portion of Québec, Canada, and the Labrador region of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, belonged to the colony of Lower Canada.

The Act of Union

The "Act of Union (1840)", passed July 23, 1840 by the British parliament and proclaimed by the Crown on February 10, 1841, merged the two colonies by abolishing the legislatures of Upper and Lower Canada and replacing them with a single legislative assembly. However, the new legislature maintained equal representation from the areas of each of the former colonies.

The area that had previously comprised Upper Canada was unofficially designated Canada West, while the area that had comprised Lower Canada was unofficially designated Canada East.

The Province of Canada ceased to exist upon Confederation in 1867, when it joined with the British North American colonies of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to form the Dominion of Canada.

The creation of Ontario and Quebec

The political structure of "the Canadas" was changed after Lord Durham's Report on the Affairs of British North America (1839) recommended they be merged into a single colonial province.

Lower Canada, Upper Canada and their legislatures were abolished by the British Act of Union of July 23, 1840, which came into force in early 1841.

The act abolished the legislatures of both Lower and Upper Canada and united them as one political entity, the Province of Canada.

An unhappy political union

The political union of Upper and Lower Canada proved contentious. Reformers in both Canada West (formerly Upper Canada) and Canada East (formerly Lower Canada) worked to repeal limitations on the use of the French language in the Legislature. The two colonies remained distinct in administration, election, and law.

In 1849, Baldwin and LaFontaine, allies and leaders of the Reformist party, obtained the grant (from Lord Elgin) for responsible government and returned the French language to legal status in the Legislature.

The 1850s were a time for political reforms and infrastructure building in the Union of Canada.

Canadian Confederation

In the 1860s, the delegates from the colonies of British North America (Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland) met in a series of conferences to discuss self-governing status for a new confederation.

The first Charlottetown Conference took place in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island followed by the Quebec Conference in Quebec City which led to a delegation going to London, England to put forth the proposal for the national union.

As a result of those deliberations, in 1867 the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the British North America Act, providing for the Confederation of most of these provinces. The former Province of Canada was divided into its two previous parts as the provinces of Ontario (Upper Canada) and Quebec (Lower Canada).

Population

* Source: Statistics Canada website Censuses of Canada 1665 to 1871.

See also

Political units
* Upper Canada
* Lower Canada
* Province of Canada

Geographical disambiguation
* The Canadas

Political history
* Canada under British Imperial control (1764-1867)
* List of elections in the Province of Canada
* List of Governors General of Canada

Political structure
* Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada
* Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada