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LÉPINE, AMBROISE-DYDIME – Volume XV (1921-1930)

b. 18 March 1840 in St Boniface (Man.)

Confederation

Responsible Government

Sir John A. Macdonald

From the Red River Settlement to Manitoba (1812–70)

Sir Wilfrid Laurier

Sir George-Étienne Cartier

Sports

The Fenians

Women in the DCB/DBC

The Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences of 1864

Introductory Essays of the DCB/DBC

The Acadians

For Educators

The War of 1812 

Canada’s Wartime Prime Ministers

The First World War

National Unity
 

Introduction

A central goal of John A. MACDONALD, George-Étienne CARTIER, and the other Fathers of Confederation was to bring the different ethnic, religious, and regional groups of British North America together in a new polity that would establish a common Canadian identity while respecting minority rights [see The Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences of 1864]. “If we unite,” said Cartier in February 1865, “we will form a political nationality independent of the national origin and religion of individuals.” This section examines the challenges to this objective that arose between the achievement of confederation in 1867 and the end of the First World War in 1918.

To find out about national unity as envisioned by the Fathers of Confederation, see the following biographies.

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