History 2201E Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Pierre Trudeau, Assembly Of First Nations, A New Era
March 27, 2018
1970s Canada: A New Era of Confederation
Quebec in the 1960s
- Quiet revolution: massive changes
o Begins in the 1960s but there since 1940s/50s with unions
▪ 60s have Duplessis and union Nationale gov’t defeated
o Largely not taking place with armed or criminal activity
o Societal, cultural and political change
o A fundamental reorganization
- Rise of Quebec nationalism
o Agitation of Quebecers for a proper place in Canadian political culture for
political autonomy or sovereignty
Quebec and the Quiet Revolution
- Full- scale political change
- Main features:
o Increased role of the state
▪ More power to the states
▪ An increased role in everyday life
o Modernization of institutions
▪ Want education to catch up
o Weakened influence of the catholic church = maitre chez nous
▪ End Quebec’s political isolation from the rest of canada
▪ Desire for more secularism
- Rejection of duplessisme, les annees noirs,
o Interpretation of Duplessisme – no longer want to follow the 1600s way of life
- Rejection of three main components of French-Canadian thought: agriculturalism, anti-
statism, and messianism
o What did it mean to be a Quebecer?
o Reject the rest but nationalism exists
- Survival of nationalism: demand for bilingualism, biculturalism and respect for Quebec
o Social change
- Popularity of separation: Le Quebec aux Quebecois
Language an important debate
Trudeaumania and National Tensions
- Pierre Elliot Trudeau: background and political career
- Tensions increasing between Quebec, wants more autonomy, and the federal government
o Conflict between two strands of though
o Quebec separatism and Canadian federalism
- Trudeau against Quebec nationalism and special status for Quebec
o Believed in the federal authority of the federal gov’t of canada
- Omnibus bill
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o Touches on different issues – changes reflect Canada becoming a more modern
and secular society
▪ Decriminalizes a lot of issues
▪ Were representative of what Canadians felt
o Also allows Trudeau to become present on the political spectrum
April 3, 2018
Trudeaumania and National Tensions
Trudeau’s theme: the just society
- Equality of opportunity for all based on individual rights
- Quebec and Quebecers place were in Canada
o Trudeau knew what Quebec needed and wanted
o Willing to stand up against Quebec separatists
- Toughness and vision
- Image as a playboy and had sex appeal
- 1968 election
o Won seats in Quebec, Ontario and out west
- Examples of political system
o White paper on Indian Affairs (1969) contrary to the Hawthorne Report 1967 and
‘citizen plus’; George Manuel, The National Indian brotherhood and the Red
Paper
▪ Hawthorne Report – ‘citizen plus’: Canadian citizens + a special status
• Many indigenous groups liked the special status
• Trudeau saw citizen plus as collective rights
o Something he doesn’t like
o Favoured individual rights
o Does not want special status for anyone
▪ White paper a policy paper – a direction for the government to take
• An idea on changes to legislation or governing bodies
• Introduced by Jean Chretien – proposed to amend the British North
America Act
• Legal distinction between indigenous peoples and other Canadians
would be eliminated
• Rationale: Indigenous people with special status prevented them
from having full equality
• Proposed to abolish the Indian Act and the Indian Affairs
department
o Was a general dislike among indigenous groups of the
above, but treaties would cease to exist
o If abolished, what does the federal gov’t do with reserve
lands and those on the land
o Compensation also ends
o Privileges lost: hunting, education and taxation
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