French and English Canadians

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the conflict between English and French Canadians as a key element of Canadian history. While the focus of the paper examines the years 1760 - 1867, a general discussion of events leading to the fall of New France is relevant and is included. The paper contends that French and English conflict in the new world, specifically in what is now officially Canada, has a long and volatile history, dating back to the emergence of an English fur trade in what is now known as the Hudson's Bay. The paper traces the nature of this conflict, roughly from the fall of New France to the English through to Canadian Confederation in 1867. Included in this discussion of the English - French conflict is the fur trade, the treaty of Utrecht, the lower Canadian rebellions and the Quebec Act.

From the Paper:

"Tensions between New France and the English colonies on the North American continent began to escalate when King Charles II gave the Hudson's Bay Company exclusive trading rights and property ownership to Rupert's Land. This vast area included all the lands within the area drained by the rivers flowing into both Hudson and James Bays.1 This tension became open conflict, punctuated with several cease-fires, between 1689 and the fall of New France in 1760. Even in the post conquest era, conflict continued between English Canadians and French Canadians. In the twenty-first century contemporary Canadian politicians grapple with the issue of Quebec sovereignty."

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