The Province of Canada or the United Province of Canada was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham in the Report on the Affairs of British North America following the Rebellions of 1837.
The Province of Canada ceased to exist at Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1867, when it was redivided into the modern Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
Before 1841, the territory roughly corresponding to Southern Ontario in Canada belonged to the British colony of the Province of Upper Canada, while the southern portion of Quebec and the Labrador region of Newfoundland and Labrador belonged to the colony of the Province of Lower Canada. Upper Canada was primarily anglophone, whereas Lower Canada was francophone. The Act of Union (1840), passed July 23, 1840, by the British parliament and proclaimed by the Crown on February 10, 1841, merged the two colonies by abolishing the legislatures of Upper and Lower Canada and replacing them with a single legislative assembly.
While this new legislature maintained equal representation for both of the former colonies, the democratic nature of Lower Canada's elections was fundamentally flawed. Despite the francophone majority in Lower Canada, most of the power was concentrated on the anglophone minority, who exploited the lack of a secret ballot to intimidate the electorate.
The area that had previously comprised Upper Canada was designated "Canada West", while the area that had comprised Lower Canada was designated "Canada East". After the British North America Act was passed by British Parliament, the Province of Canada ceased to exist. Subsequently, Canada West and Canada East were renamed the Province of Ontario and the Province of Quebec, respectively.
The location of the capital city of the Province of Canada changed six times in its 26-year history. The first capital was in Kingston. The capital moved from Montreal to Toronto in 1849 when rioters, spurred by a series of incendiary articles published in The Gazette, protested the Rebellion Losses Bill and burned down Montreal's parliament buildings. In 1857, Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as the permanent capital of the Province of Canada, initiating construction of Canada's current parliament buildings. The first stage of this construction was completed in 1865, just in time to host the final session of the last parliament of the Province of Canada before Confederation.
The Act of Union (1840) made no provision for responsible government (i.e., government responsible to the elected legislature instead of the colonial office); in fact, it explicitly gave the governor general of the province the authority to reject any bill passed by the elected assembly. Early governors general of the province were closely involved in political affairs, maintaining a right to make Executive Council and other appointments without the input of the legislative assembly, and even manipulating election results using intimidating mobs at polling stations. Secret ballot had not yet been introduced, so the democratic nature of this colony was fundamentally flawed.
However, in 1848 Governor General James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, appointed a cabinet nominated by the majority party of the Legislative Assembly, the Baldwin-Lafontaine coalition that had won elections in January. Lord Elgin upheld the principles of responsible government by not repealing the Rebellion Losses Bill, which was highly unpopular with some English-speaking Tories who favoured imperial over majority rule.
As Canada East and Canada West each held 42 seats in the Legislative Assembly, there was legislative deadlock between English (mainly from Canada West) and French (mainly from Canada East). Initially, the majority of the province was French, which demanded "rep-by-pop" (representation by population), which the anglophones opposed.
Once the English population, rapidly growing through immigration, exceeded the French, the English demanded rep-by-pop. In the end, the legislative deadlock between English and French led to a movement for a federal union which resulted in the broader Canadian Confederation in 1867.
Amongst its accomplishments, the United Province of Canada negotiated the Reciprocity Treaty of 1854 with the United States, built the Grand Trunk Railway, improved the educational system in Canada West under Egerton Ryerson, reinstated French as an official language of the legislature and the courts, codified the Civil Code of Lower Canada in 1866, and abolished the seigneurial system in Canada East.
Longstanding municipal reform was another important achievement. Originally, local government in Canada West operated mainly at the district level, until 1849, when a system based on counties was introduced. In 1841, elected district councils were introduced; prior to that time, officials were appointed by the Lieutenant-Governor.
Legend
Current territory · Former territory
* now a Commonwealth Realm · now a member of the Commonwealth of Nations
18th century
1708–1757 Minorca
since 1713 Gibraltar
1763-1782 Minorca
1798–1802 Minorca
19th century
1800–1964 Malta
1807–1890 Heligoland
1809–1864 Ionian Islands
1878–1960 Cyprus
20th century
since 1960 Akrotiri and Dhekelia
17th century
1607–1776 Virginia
1610–1907 Newfoundland
since 1619 Bermuda
1620–1691 Plymouth Colony
1629–1691 Massachusetts Bay Colony
1632–1776 Maryland
1636–1776 Connecticut
1636–1776 Rhode Island
1637–1662 New Haven Colony
1663–1712 Carolina
1664–1776 New York
1665–1776 New Jersey
1670–1870 Rupert's Land
1674–1702 East Jersey
1674–1702 West Jersey
1680–1776 New Hampshire
1681–1776 Pennsylvania
1686–1689 Dominion of New England
1691–1776 Massachusetts
18th century
1701–1776 Delaware
1712–1776 North Carolina
1712–1776 South Carolina
1713–1867 Nova Scotia
1733–1776 Georgia
1763–1873 Prince Edward Island
1763–1791 Quebec
1763-1783 Florida
1784–1867 New Brunswick
1791–1841 Lower Canada
1791–1841 Upper Canada
19th century
1818–1846 Columbia District / Oregon Country1
1841–1867 Province of Canada
1849–1866 Vancouver Island
1853–1863 Colony of the Queen Charlotte Islands
1858–1866 British Columbia
1859–1870 North-Western Territory
1862–1863 Stikine Territory
1866–1871 Vancouver Island
and British Columbia
1867–1931 *Dominion of Canada2
20th century
1907–1949 Dominion of Newfoundland3
1Occupied jointly with the United States
2In 1931, Canada and other British dominions obtained self-government through the Statute of Westminster. see Canada's name.
3Gave up self-rule in 1934, but remained a de jure Dominion until it joined Canada in 1949.
17th century
1605–1979 *Saint Lucia
1623–1883 Saint Kitts (*Saint Kitts & Nevis)
1624–1966 *Barbados
1625–1650 Saint Croix
1627–1979 *St. Vincent and the Grenadines
1628–1883 Nevis (*Saint Kitts & Nevis)
1629–1641 St. Andrew and Providence Islands4
since 1632 Montserrat
1632–1860 Antigua (*Antigua & Barbuda)
1643–1860 Bay Islands
since 1650 Anguilla
1651–1667 Willoughbyland (Suriname)
1655–1850 Mosquito Coast (protectorate)
1655–1962 *Jamaica
since 1666 British Virgin Islands
since 1670 Cayman Islands
1670–1973 *Bahamas
1670–1688 St. Andrew and Providence Islands4
1671–1816 Leeward Islands
18th century
1762–1974 *Grenada
1763–1978 Dominica
since 1799 Turks and Caicos Islands
19th century
1831–1966 British Guiana (Guyana)
1833–1960 Windward Islands
1833–1960 Leeward Islands
1860–1981 *Antigua and Barbuda
1871–1964 British Honduras (*Belize)
1882–1983 *St. Kitts and Nevis
1889–1962 Trinidad and Tobago
20th century
1958–1962 West Indies Federation
4Now the San Andrés y Providencia Department of Colombia
18th century
1792–1961 Sierra Leone
1795–1803 Cape Colony
19th century
1806–1910 Cape Colony
1816–1965 Gambia
1856–1910 Natal
1868–1966 Basutoland (Lesotho)
1874–1957 Gold Coast (Ghana)
1882–1922 Egypt
1884–1966 Bechuanaland (Botswana)
1884–1960 British Somaliland
1887–1897 Zululand
1888–1894 Matabeleland
1890–1980 Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe)
1890–1962 Uganda
1890–1963 Zanzibar (Tanzania)
1891–1964 Nyasaland (Malawi)
1891–1907 British Central Africa Protectorate
1893–1968 Swaziland
1895–1920 East Africa Protectorate
1899–1956 Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
20th century
1900–1914 Northern Nigeria
1900–1914 Southern Nigeria
1900–1910 Orange River Colony
1900–1910 Transvaal Colony
1906–1954 Nigeria Colony
1910–1931 South Africa
1911–1964 Northern Rhodesia (Zambia)
1914–1954 Nigeria Protectorate
1915–1931 South West Africa (Namibia)
1919–1960 Cameroons (Cameroon) 5
1920–1963 Kenya
1922–1961 Tanganyika (Tanzania) 5
1954–1960 Nigeria
18th century
1757–1947 Bengal (West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh)
1762–1764 Philippines
1795–1948 Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
1796–1965 Maldives
19th century
1819–1826 British Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore)
1826–1946 Straits Settlements
1839–1967 Colony of Aden
1841–1997 Hong Kong
1841–1941 Kingdom of Sarawak (Malaysia)
1858–1947 British India (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Burma)
1882–1963 British North Borneo (Malaysia)
1885–1946 Unfederated Malay States
1888–1984 Sultanate of Brunei
1888–1946 Sultanate of Sulu
1891–1971 Muscat and Oman protectorate
1892–1971 Trucial States protectorate
1895–1946 Federated Malay States
1898–1930 Weihai Garrison
20th century
1918–1961 Kuwait protectorate
1920–1932 Iraq5
1921–1946 Transjordan5
1923–1948 Palestine5
1946–1948 Malayan Union
1946–1963 Sarawak (Malaysia)
1948–1957 Federation of Malaya (Malaysia)
since 1965 British Indian Ocean Territory
18th century
1788–1901 New South Wales
19th century
1803–1901 Van Diemen's Land/Tasmania
1807–1863 Auckland Islands6
1824–1980 New Hebrides (Vanuatu)
1824–1901 Queensland
1829–1901 Swan River Colony/Western Australia
1836–1901 South Australia
since 1838 Pitcairn Islands
1841–1907 Colony of New Zealand
1851–1901 Victoria
1874–1970 Fiji7
1877–1976 British Western Pacific Territories
1884–1949 Territory of Papua
1888–1965 Cook Islands6
1889–1948 Union Islands (Tokelau)6
1892–1979 Gilbert and Ellice Islands8
1893–1978 British Solomon Islands9
20th century
1900–1970 Tonga (protected state)
1900–1974 Niue6
1901–1942 *Commonwealth of Australia
1907–1953 *Dominion of New Zealand
1919–1949 Territory of New Guinea
1949–1975 Territory of Papua and New Guinea10
6Now part of the *Realm of New Zealand
7Suspended member
8Now Kiribati and *Tuvalu
9Now the *Solomon Islands
10Now *Papua New Guinea
17th century
since 1659 St. Helena
19th century
since 1815 Ascension Island11
since 1816 Tristan da Cunha11
since 1833 Falkland Islands12
20th century
since 1908 British Antarctic Territory13
since 1908 South Georgia and
the South Sandwich Islands12, 13
11Dependencies of St. Helena since 1922 (Ascension Island) and 1938 (Tristan da Cunha)
12Occupied by Argentina during the Falklands War of April–June 1982
13Both claimed in 1908; territories formed in 1962 (British Antarctic Territory) and 1985 (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands)
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