Unit 2
The Durham Report
Lesson 12
The 1800’s were a time of great change for British North America. The colonies wanted more freedom from Great Britain, but these concerns were not addressed fast enough to prevent the Rebellions of Upper and Lower Canada in 1837. To understand the causes of these rebellions, the British parliament sent British politician Lord Durham to investigate. He spent four months in British North America and then resigned his position after a dispute with Britain. Once back home, he wrote a detailed report about the colonies.
In his final report he made three recommendations:
1) The colonies of Upper and Lower Canada should be merged into one colony with an English speaking majority.
2) The French people and their culture should be assimilated into the British language and culture.
3) Responsible government should be implemented in the new colony giving citizens a voice in government through an elected assembly.
The Act of the Union
In response to the Rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada, the Act of the Union was passed. On February 10, 1841, the British Parliament unified Upper and Lower Canada into one united colony named The Province of Canada. They were named Canada East (formally Lower Canada) and Canada West (formally Upper Canada) on maps. With this new colony came a new government structure.
When Upper and Lower Canada were united into one colony called the Province of Canada, each section received an equal number of seats in the parliament. Therefore, Canada East and Canada West had to work together to get any bills (new laws) passed in the legislative assembly.
This became increasingly difficult as they had completely different interests, languages, and religions. During this time, members of government and opposition would vote against each other’s bills and no new laws were getting passed. This was officially called political deadlock. Neither side was able to secure a majority of votes.
Selecting a capital for the new Province of Canada became a challenge for the new government. The capital city was initially selected as Kingston in Canada West. Complaints were made over location and border security, pressing the government to meet in Toronto, Montréal and Québec City. The leaders could not decide on a capital that would satisfy the interests of Canada East and Canada West. They finally let Queen Victoria decide where the capital city should be located. Bytown was selected as the new capital city due to its good location between both provinces.
