The Land without a Master Narrative

George-Etienne Cartier, Elijah Harper, and Tommy Douglas

There is no single narrative in the multi-layered history of Canada.  It may be one of the few places where the ideas and actions of individuals can go on to shape larger social changes and where those changes end up getting incorporated into an evolving national identity.  However, the celebration of such individuals is often confined to a few given days and not year-round.  Three Canadians that best illustrate this idea of a land without a master narrative may be George-Etienne Cartier, Tommy Douglas, and Elijah Harper.

The Cartier Era

Many Canadians are likely to be aware that Sir John A. Macdonald became Canada’s first prime minister post-Confederation, but few are likely to be able to identify the man to his right and located up front, in the famous “Fathers of Confederation” photo.  This lesser-known man was once referred to by Macdonald as being as bold as a lion, and the person without whom Confederation would not have occurred.  That man was George-Etienne Cartier, and without Cartier’s brains and persistence, Macdonald’s vision of a “united Canada” would never have come to exist in 1867.  Had Confederation never occurred, the entirety of the North American continent would likely be unrecognizable today, and the outcomes for both World War I and World War II may have seen the Axis powers come out on top.

At the very beginning of federation, many thought that clashes between Catholics and Protestants, English, French, Irish and Scotch-Irish were inevitable.  These identities marked differences in religion and nationality, where violent histories were believed to automatically get inherited by ethnic immigrants that crossed the ocean for a chance at a better life.  Few believed that all these identities could co-exist across “British North America”, and even less that Canadian Confederation would last.  That is, except for a group of twenty-three men comprised of lawyers, farmers, and merchants.

When the plans were drafted, no other nation at the time had a similar two-level government, where the federal government handled matters that affected the entire federation while local governments (provincial) had extraordinary degree of control over their own affairs.  Not Britain, France or America.  However, it was Cartier that made it possible for the French and English to thrive alongside one another, and his work should be considered as the foundation for much of the pluralism and tolerance that Canada is known for today.

The person that was George-Etienne Cartier.

George-Etienne Cartier was born on the banks of Quebec’s Richelieu River in 1814,  the seventh of eight children.  His grandfather, Jacques Cartier I, left Europe for New France (Quebec), arriving in 1735 in a region that was in a state of constant conflict between the Indigenous tribes, the New French and New English, and which would last until 1759.

There was nothing that stuck out about Cartier’s young adult life that might have indicated that he would go on to lay the bedrock that made it possible for today’s Canada.  Perhaps one of the only compliments that historians extend to Cartier during his time as a young adult is that he was clever.  Everything else was along the lines of being awkward, belligerent, and often interrupting others.  However, Cartier would learn to rid himself of his undesirable behaviors to annoy people.

In 1837, Cartier took part in clashes with British troops, an event that resulted in six of his compatriots being hanged and others being exiled to Bermuda or Australia.  Cartier, on the other hand had somehow managed to escape capture, fleeing to Vermont, and he hid so well that one newspaper published an early obituary.  That obituary described Cartier as a young man endowed in the highest degree with qualities of heart and mind and before whom a brilliant career opened.  That close call changed Cartier’s position on his view.

During Cartier’s time in America, he came to develop a rather unique opinion on the country, and his opinion seems to have been influenced by the outcome of the French colony of Louisiana: the unique francophone culture had dissipated.  Then there was the realization of the injustice of slavery, which would later bring about civil war, and it was partly why Cartier never believed in joining with America.  One quote that describes Cartier’s position is, “Individually, the Americans are good neighbours, but as a nation, there are no individuals who are less liberal towards other peoples, except the Chinese.” However, it is difficult to identify what influenced his position on China, which was on the other side of the world.

Upon returning to Canada, Cartier surrendered his involvement in uprising rebellion activities and focused legislative reform.  His main interests revolved around language, laws, institutions, and preserving the French-Canadian culture.

To be or not to be, that was Confederation.

When it came time for everyone to agree upon the terms of Confederation, the fathers of it were most concerned with being able to achieve their expansionist vision and create social stability across the land, but they also feared becoming an extension of America.  Within this process, Macdonald wanted the creation of a strong central government and believed in limiting the powers afforded to provinces, which is where Cartier voiced his position on the matter.  Cartier believed that it was essential to ensure that French received joint-official status as a language alongside English, both in parliament and in federal court.  However, Cartier disagreed that a federal government should be involved in provincial affairs and felt instead that there was a need to ensure that adequate powers were afforded to provinces to look after their own affairs, citing the future risks of political imbalances and the need for Quebec to ensure its integrity with its schools, courts, legislature, and the continuance of Quebec’s pre-existing Civil Code.

What likely caught some of the fathers of confederation by surprise might have been Cartier highlighting the special guarantees that existed within Quebec for its English-speaking minorities for schools and political representation, and how such provisions were also necessary for the purposes of Confederation.  The outcome was a success, and similar legislation was adopted for the purpose of Confederation.

Having seen what had happened with Louisianna’s unique French culture, Cartier may have desired to distinguish between political and cultural nationality, where a dominant political culture would not negatively affect different ethnic cultures.  As it relates to today’s Canadian society, Cartier’s contributions to the creation of Confederation set us on a path where Canada was one of the first pluralist societies that is known for its tolerance of differences.  The creation of a Confederation was so successful that countries like Australia and South Africa referenced Canada’s early beginnings when they themselves sought out their own independence.

The lesser-known contributions of George-Etienne Cartier.

In addition to being referred to by Sir John A. Macdonald as one person without whom Confederation would not have succeeded, Cartier also impacted the outcome of other extremely important moments in Canadian history.

The Hudson Bay Company had been granted large portions of land across Canada, so the fact that a “corporation” owned so much of Canada made things much more complicated.  Cartier assisted with the negotiation for the acquisition of Rupert’s Land, which resulted in the creation of Manitoba.  Additionally, Cartier played a pivotal role in helping bring British Columbia into the fold, going as far as advising the British Columbians about how they could improve the quality of their demands for joining Canada.  This included advising them that they could demand a transcontinental railway that would need to be begun in two years and finished within ten years.

At a more micro level, Cartier’s connection to Manitoba goes even deeper and includes the legendary Louis Riel.  Cartier played a role in saving Louis Riel’s life after the 1869-70 uprisings, where an English surveyor was tried and executed after clashes between Metis and Canadian militia broke out.  It was Cartier who organized the “exile” of Riel, because the execution of the French-Indigenous leader would have likely created insurmountable conditions between the French and English, and Canada may have never come to be.  Perhaps if Cartier had lived a little longer (he passed away at the age of 58 in 1873) like Macdonald (who was 75 at the time of his death), there may have been the change that he could have once-again prevented the execution of Louis Riel that ultimately alienated many Indigenous and French Canadians from the Conservative Party.

Thirty-six men are considered to be Fathers of Confederation.  None came close to matching the role that George-Etienne Cartier played in nation-defining moments, outside of prime minister duties, forever changing the trajectory of the Canada that was to become – the Father of Pluralism.