Canada and the Durham Report - Topic 5.3 Flashcards
The importance of the Earl of Durham
What was the importance of establishing Lord Durham as High Commissioner?
29th May 1838 - 9th October 1838
Lord Durham was a well-know, inner-crowd Whig, who is recognised as the man responsible for the passage of the Great Reform Act. During his mission in Canada, he and his aides met extensively with Canadians, including modernate Reformers from Upper Canada, compiling evidence for his report and his conclusion for self-government. Canadas praised him for his report and sympathy for their issues with the system under the 1791 Constitution.
What did Lord Durham complete while in Canada?
- Removed the old executive council and their temporary replacement with his own staff
- Ordered the deposition of the rebels to be under review by him
- Promised to work with all those who sought peaceful reform and asking for their co-operation
- Made friendly contact with the US
- Established the first Canadian police force
- Established a Commission of Inquiry of Crown Lands and Emigration for all the British North American provinces, with the aim to improve the land tenure systems in Lower Canada and what to do with the poor immigrants coming to Canada
- Exiled the “most” guilty rebels to Bermuda, and pardonded the rest; this ultimately got him to resign after a Bill of Indemnity was proposed in Parliament back in London
What was the role of Wakefield and how did he contribute?
Edward Gibbon Wakefield (1796-1862)
While in Newgate Prison, he developed a theory of systematic colonisation.¹ After his release, he was involved in the South Australian Association responsible for colonisation in Adelaide and had become close with Durham in connection with the New Zealand Land Scheme.
Because of his notoriety and intervention from PM Lord Melbourne, Durham could not appoint Wakefield as commissioner of lands in Canada, and was instead an unpaid adviser and secretary to Durham and Buller. Only the appendix on emigration and Crown lands is directly attributed to Wakefield.
¹ - Land should be sold to immigrants in colonies at reasonably high prices, rahter than given away or sold very cheaply, arguing that doing so would benefit the economies of the colonies
What was the role of Buller and how did he contribute?
Charles Buller (1806-1848)
Although he had been called to the Bar, he went into politics and journalism in the 1830s as a radical who sat on many reforming committees within Parliament. He was Durham’s official chief secretary and was appointed nominal head of the Commission into Crown Lands, although most of the actual work was done by Wakefield.
He was sympathetic to the French-Canadian rebels and felt that it was British policy that had driven them to revolt. He came up with the idea to banish some to Bermuda, not Durham’s.
Buller stayed in Canada to finish the work of the committees until Dec. 1838 and returned to London to finish the report with Durham, which was published two months later.
What were the main recommendations of Durham’s report?
- The unification of Upper and Lower Canada into one province. He judged that the best immediate solution would be to ensure that French-Canadians were placed in a minority position within the united province
- Freedoms of the Quebec Act (particularly the civil law and land tenure systems) should be rescinded to improve the economic position of the habitants and promote economic growth within the colony
- Responsbile self-government for Canada, as defined by Robert Baldwin. The legislative assembly would be elected, but the party with the majority would hold power and exercise it through cabinet government; the Westminster model. The governor of Canada would be a figure head
What were the results of the Durham Report?
The recommendations were accepted by the Melbourne government and the legislation was introduced three months after publication. Charles Poulette Thomson became the first governor-general of a united Canadian province to obtain consent of both of the Canadas. Upper Canadians fully supported the union. The Lower Canadian asssembly had been suspended since 1838 and the principal patriote rebels were no longer in the province, so the British were able to proceed with the union. The Act of Union was proclaimed on 10th Feb. 1841 in Montreal.
What were the long-term implications of the report?
Responsible self-government was eventually granted to all Canadian colonies by 1855, and the same for Australia and New Zealand during the 1850s too, bar Western Australia. As the political structure of the empire changed, so did the interpretation of Durham’s report. It grew in importance in white settler colonies. Had the report not been adopted, the empire may have seen an early dismantling.
