The Vision of the Fathers

• Author: Gary William O'Brien
• Pages: 29-40

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 

The Vision of the Fathers

e movement toward Confederation can be dated from the announce-

ment made by Governor General Edmund Head on  August :

that the Province of Canada, comprising Canada East (Quebe c) and

Canada West (Ontario), was ready to open unif‌ication discussions

with the Imperial and Maritime governments. It took a few more

years before the “Great Coalition” of George Brown and John A

Macdonald was formed, which soon led to the attendance of repre-

sentatives of central Canada at the Maritime governments’ “Consti-

tutional Conference” held at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island,

in September .

Following a meeting in Halifax, the delegates met again in

October, this time in Quebec City, in what has been called “the

meeting that made Canada.” e results of the Quebec Conference,

known as the “Seventy-Two Resolutions,” were widely published,

discussed, and ratif‌ied following vigorous debates in the various

colonial legislatures. A further conference was held, this time in

London, England, with the Imperial government in December .

e provisions of the Canadian Constitution were then enacted by

the British Parliament as the British North America Act (now called the

Constitution Act, 1867) on  March . e Dominion of Canada

came into being on  July .