Canada East () was the northeastern portion of the

Province of Canada The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

. Lord Durham's Report investigating the causes of the Upper and Lower Canada Rebellions recommended merging those two colonies. The new colony, known as the Province of Canada, was created by the

Act of Union 1840 The ''British North America Act, 1840'' ( 3 & 4 Vict. c. 35), also known as the ''Act of Union 1840'', () was approved by Parliament in July 1840 and proclaimed February 10, 1841, in Montreal. It abolished the legislatures of Lower Canada and ...

passed by the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

, having effect in 1841. For administrative purposes, the new Province was subdivided into Canada West and Canada East. The former name of "Lower Canada" came back into official use in 1849, and as of

Canadian Confederation Canadian Confederation () was the process by which three British North American provinces—the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick—were united into one federation, called the Name of Canada#Adoption of Dominion, Dominion of Ca ...

of 1867 it formed the newly created province of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. An estimated 890,000 people lived in Canada East in 1851.

Geography

It consisted of the southern portion of the modern-day

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

. It was a former

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

colony called the Province of

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

. Based on Lord Durham's report it was merged with the Province of

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

(present-day southern portion of the Province of

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

) to create the Province of Canada.

Language

Canada East was primarily a

French-speaking French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-Romance, a descendant of the Latin spoken in ...

region. Due to heavy immigration following the American Revolutionary War, the population of English-speaking residents of

Canada West The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in British North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report ...

soon outstripped Canada East. Under the

the seats in the lower

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

were evenly divided between East and West. There was no provision under the Act for representation by population.

Politics

The Province of Canada, formed in 1840, was governed by the

Parliament of the Province of Canada The Parliament of the Province of Canada was the legislature for the Province of Canada, made up of the two regions of Canada West (formerly Upper Canada, later Ontario) and Canada East (formerly Lower Canada, later Quebec). Creation of the Parl ...

, elected in a mixture of multi-member districts and single-member districts, using block voting and

first past the post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

respectively.

Name

From 1841 to 1843, the terms Canada East and Canada West were used. The former names of the two colonies, ''Lower Canada'' and ''Upper Canada'', had no constitutional status. From April 25, 1849, the Canadian Parliament enacted an interpretation act, which once again gave legal meaning to the terms ''Lower Canada'' and ''Upper Canada'':

1866 Fenian raids

Fenian raids along the

Canada–United States border The international border between Canada and the United States is the longest in the world by total length. The boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Canada' ...

south and east of Montreal were successfully repulsed, by both local militia and British regulars. The Fenians hoped to stir up a rebellion, and the British government did not want a repeat of the rebellion of 1837 and 1838, for fear of losing more colonies to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and the material damage and loss of life such would entail.

Economy

The most important farm products were potatoes, rye, buckwheat, maple sugar and livestock. When it came time to confederate, the Francophones were nervous because they did not want to lose their French heritage. They were afraid that it would be overwhelmed by the English. At the time of Confederation (1867), Montreal was the largest city of the British North American colonies, with a population of 107,225. Some of the richest people in Canada lived in Montreal. By the late 1850s all the land of Canada West had been bought. The next frontier was west of

Lake Superior Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. Lake Michigan–Huron has a larger combined surface area than Superior, but is normally considered tw ...

. However, this land was owned by the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

. Most in Canada East resisted the takeover of this land, as it would have changed the balance of the seats in the legislature. The St. Lawrence River was full of ice for half the year. For that half of the year, goods had to be transported on American railways. People supported construction of a railway through Canada East to Halifax to provide an all-British route for trade and defence. By the 1860s, the

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; ) was a Rail transport, railway system that operated in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the List of states and territories of the United States, American sta ...

was about $72 million in debt. Its annual income was about $200. Partly because of this, the Province of Canada pulled out of the negotiations for the

Intercolonial Railway The Intercolonial Railway of Canada , also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), was a historic Canada, Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also compl ...

. Only 20% of Canada East's residents lived in cities. The rest were farmers, '' habitants'' as they called themselves. They built their own stone houses and wooden furniture. Their clothes were homemade and their food was grown on the farms. Lumber was the most important natural resource of Canada East. In the woods, hundreds of workers cut down trees, then floated the logs down the St. Lawrence River during the spring floods. Sawmills turned the logs into planks and boards to sell to markets in the United States. Factories in the District of Canada East made windows, shingles, washboards, and door frames.

References

External links

canadiana.ca
Early Canadiana on-line {{Authority control Province of Canada History of Quebec by location States and territories established in 1841 States and territories disestablished in 1867