A Parliament is the highest legislative institution under the British system. It is where elected representatives meet to debate, pass laws and oversee the management of a country’s or a colony’s resources. In the Province of Canada, after the Union, Parliament was made up of three parts: – the British monarch’s representative, the Governor General, appointed by the Crown; – a Legislative Assembly made up of elected members representing the population (today’s House of Commons); – a Legislative Council, made up of unelected members responsible for reviewing bills (today’s Senate).

A place for debate and sometimes opposing views, Parliament was also a space marked by tension.

In Montréal, these clashes of ideas and deep social tensions led to a tragedy in 1849: the burning of the Parliament.

Illustration published in The Illustrated London News after the fire, produced by an artist who was not actually there. Because communications were so slow at the time, the scene was reconstructed from sketches and eyewitness accounts once the news reached London.

Five years after the opening of Parliament, in 1849, Montréal was on edge. Conservatives and progressives clashed over the colony’s future, pitting royal authority against political autonomy. Reformers called for responsible government, more representative of the population, while the Tories defended keeping power in the governor’s hands, in the name of the Crown.

This painting, attributed to Joseph Légaré, depicts the scene on the evening of the fire.

On April 25, 1849, the vote to compensate victims of the 1837–1838 Rebellions—approved by Governor Lord Elgin—set off a powder keg. The Tories denounced a law that, in their view, would also benefit former Patriotes—one pretext too many.

That very evening, at the urging of The Montreal Gazette, nearly 1,500 demonstrators gathered at the Champ-de-Mars. Speeches grew heated, the crowd marched on Parliament… and the fire was set deliberately.

The consequences were immediate: Montréal lost its status as the capital. Toronto and Québec City took turns, before Ottawa was finally chosen by London.

Here is the ballot that made the compensation law official.

Two commemorative pitchers were found in the ruins of the Parliament. They depict British Prime Minister Robert Peel and parliamentarian Richard Cobden, key figures in the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. The repeal deeply angered Canada’s Tory merchants, who were stripped of their preferential tariffs on grain exported to Great Britain.