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Everyone to Parliament!

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The Present-Day Place D'Youville

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Place Royale

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Place d’Armes

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Notre-Dame Street

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Champ-de-Mars

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After the Union: the Province of Canada

Detail from an old map showing the boundary between Upper and Lower Canada. Upper Canada lies to the west, Lower Canada to the east. The border is drawn along the Ottawa River.

“Upper & Lower Canada”, Pointe-à-Callière, 0373.1.2_2007.

Before 1840, the territory of what is now Canada was made up of several self-governing British colonies. Among them, Upper Canada largely corresponded to present-day Ontario and was predominantly English-speaking, while Lower Canada covered Québec and was mostly French-speaking.

Compromise

An old map shows the boundary between Upper and Lower Canada. Upper Canada lies to the west, Lower Canada to the east. The border is drawn along the Ottawa River.

“Upper & Lower Canada”, Pointe-à-Callière, 0373.1.2_2007.

The Union stemmed from Lord Durham’s recommendations, set out in his 1839 report. It ushered in a new policy aimed at assimilating French Canadians. Presented as a way to ease social and linguistic tensions, the Union nonetheless quickly put francophones in Lower Canada at a disadvantage.

Although more populous (650,000 inhabitants compared to 400,000 in Upper Canada), Lower Canada received the same number of elected members—42. As a result, its citizens were less well represented in the Legislative Assembly.