Confederation & Peoples of Canada

Question 1

Act of Union

Answer 1

The third Canadian constitution since the Conquest in 1763. The Act of Union contained measures for the management of French-Canadians, built on the premise (from Lord Durham’s 1839 Report on the Affairs of British North America) that assimilation of French-Canadians was essential to the future of the larger colony.

Question 2

Clear Grits

Answer 2

Reformers in Canada West (Ontario) before Confederation. Anti-Catholic and largely anti- French, the Grits opposed John A. Macdonald’s Tories and advocated the annexation of Rupert’s Land. In the post-Confederation period they became one section of the Liberal Party.

Question 3

Executive

Answer 3

Also called the Cabinet. The highest offices — either elected or appointed — in Canadian politics: before the 1840s, a mostly appointed Executive Council led by the Governor General; after 1867, an elected body comprised of members of the current House of Commons and supported by a majority of votes in the House of Commons.

Question 4

Family Reconstitution

Answer 4

In demographic studies, the consolidation of population information from censuses, church records, and civic documents to enable a complete history of a family, street, or community in terms of births, marriages, deaths, divorces, movement, and other demographic behaviours.

Question 5

Father of Confederation

Answer 5

Anyone involved in the Charlottetown or Quebec Conferences leading to confederation.