Signing up enhances your TCE experience with the ability to save items to your personal reading list, and access the interactive map.
Create AccountEditorial
The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated. It is the greatest murder mystery in Canadian political history. Thomas D’Arcy McGee, Father of Confederation and outspoken opponent of the Fenians, was assassinated on an Ottawa street in the early hours of Tuesday, 7 April 1868.
"https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/4a74eaf5-4691-4b89-9d50-e98da872ed41.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/4a74eaf5-4691-4b89-9d50-e98da872ed41.jpg
Editorial
The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated. The Baldwin–LaFontaine government of 1848 has been called the “great ministry.” In addition to establishing responsible government, it had an incomparable record of legislation. It established a public school system and finalized the founding of the University of Toronto. It set up municipal governments and pacified French-Canadian nationalism after a period of unrest. Responsible government did not transform Canada overnight into a fully developed democracy. But it was an important milestone along the road to political autonomy. Most importantly, it provided an opportunity for French Canadians to find a means for their survival through the British Constitution. The partnership and friendship between Baldwin and LaFontaine were brilliant examples of collaboration that have been all too rare in Canadian history.
"https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/ba6bdff6-574a-4697-ac95-afdcc5ddfcc9.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/ba6bdff6-574a-4697-ac95-afdcc5ddfcc9.jpg
Macleans
Only a true foreign policy wonk would expect to be stirred up by a document called "Canada in the World: A Global Networks Strategy.This article was originally published in Maclean's Magazine on June 28, 2010
"https://development.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://development.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9
Macleans
In the suite of Parliament Hill offices reserved for the leader of the official Opposition, a scrap of paper on a receptionist's desk one day last week seemed to have drifted ashore from a previous era. The name scrawled on it in blue ballpoint - Jim Coutts.This article was originally published in Maclean's Magazine on February 16, 2009
"https://development.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://development.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/images/tce_placeholder.jpg?v=e9dca980c9bdb3aa11e832e7ea94f5d9
Article
The Penner Report was a report prepared by the Special Committee of the House of Commons on Indian Self-Government. It was issued in November 1983. Named after committee chairman Keith Penner, the report made a series of recommendations. These recommendations promoted the concept of self-governing First Nations. First Nations, in this legal context, are classified as status Indians under the Indian Act.
"https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/1eef3d08-4031-40d3-bbd4-6443822cd128.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/1eef3d08-4031-40d3-bbd4-6443822cd128.jpg
Editorial
The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated. In 1946, John Humphrey became director of the United Nations Division on Human Rights, and Eleanor Roosevelt was named the United States representative to the UN’s Commission on Human Rights. Humphrey was an obscure Canadian law professor. Roosevelt was the world’s most celebrated woman. For two years, they collaborated on the creation of one of the modern world’s great documents: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was adopted on 10 December 1948.
"https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/6afcc1db-4a9a-4e2f-9a50-ad1981f54caf.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/6afcc1db-4a9a-4e2f-9a50-ad1981f54caf.jpg
List
Canadians like to think our justice system is one of the best in the world. But ask the dozens of people prosecuted and imprisoned for serious crimes they didn't commit, and you're likely to get a different view, especially from those accused of murder. In recent decades, more than 20 Canadians have been locked up — much of their lives destroyed — for murders they had nothing to do with. Their wrongful convictions are a stain on our history, while their subsequent exonerations give cause for hope. Here are six of their stories. (See also Wrongful Convictions in Canada.)
"https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/a5a37c90-f350-403f-b8fd-d2b40c0520a9.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/a5a37c90-f350-403f-b8fd-d2b40c0520a9.jpg
Article
Thelma Julia Chalifoux, senator, entrepreneur, activist (born 8 February 1929 in Calgary, AB; died 22 September 2017 in St. Albert, AB). Chalifoux was the first Métis woman appointed to the Senate of Canada. As a senator, she was concerned with a range of issues, including Métis housing, drug company relations with the federal government, and environmental legislation. An ardent advocate for women’s and Indigenous rights, Chalifoux was involved in organizations such as the Aboriginal Women’s Business Development Corporation and the Métis Women’s Council. She was also known for her work in the protection of Métis culture, having served in the Alberta Métis Senate and Michif Cultural and Métis Resource Institute (now Michif Cultural Connections).
"https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/IndiLeaderStamps/thelma-chalifoux-stamp.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/IndiLeaderStamps/thelma-chalifoux-stamp.jpg
Article
Thomas D’Arcy McGee, journalist, politician, poet (born 13 April 1825 in Carlingford, County Louth, Ireland; died 7 April 1868 in Ottawa, ON). Thomas D’Arcy McGee was dedicated to the cause of Irish national liberation. This pushed him towards revolutionary anti-British doctrine in his early years. However, he matured to become a staunch defender of British constitutional monarchy and a Father of Confederation. He was an advocate for minority rights at a time when the politics of ethnic and religious identity were intensely fraught. He was an incredibly eloquent public speaker and a passionate advocate for Canadian interests. However, his political transformation ultimately damaged his popularity with Irish nationalists, particularly the Fenians. He was assassinated in 1868.
"https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/4a74eaf5-4691-4b89-9d50-e98da872ed41.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/4a74eaf5-4691-4b89-9d50-e98da872ed41.jpg
Article
Thomas Joseph “Tom” Mulcair, PC, Leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) 2012–17, Leader of the Opposition 2012–15, provincial Cabinet minister, lawyer, university professor, political commentator, author (born 24 October 1954 in Ottawa, ON). Mulcair played a key role in building support for the NDP in Quebec during the 2011 federal election, after which the party, under leader Jack Layton, became the official opposition. Four years later, Mulcair led the party to a disappointing third-place finish in the 2015 federal election. He remained leader of the NDP until he was replaced by Jagmeet Singh in 2017. The following year, Mulcair resigned his seat in the House of Commons and became a visiting professor at Université de Montréal. He also became a political commentator on several radio and TV networks in 2018.
"https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/tm-feature.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/tm-feature.jpg
Article
Tilly Jean Rolston, Canadian politician (born 23 February 1887 in Vancouver, BC; died 12 October 1953 in Vancouver, BC). Rolston was best known for her service as education minister for the province of British Columbia in the Social Credit government of W.A.C. Bennett in the early 1950s. She has the distinction of being the second woman cabinet minister elected in that province, but the first with a portfolio in all of Canada. Rolston was instrumental in developing a new financing formula for the funding of BC’s public schools, and also instituted the province’s first sex education curriculum. She is noted for being the first woman in British Columbia to receive a state funeral upon her death.
"https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/TillyRolston/TillyRolston2.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/TillyRolston/TillyRolston2.jpg
Article
Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow was a document that set out land claim grievances in Yukon and recommended an approach to settlement. The Council of Yukon Indians, the organization that authored the document, presented it to then Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau in Ottawa on 14 February 1973. The document told the story of traditional Indigenous ways in the territory. It chronicles ways in which life changed with the arrival of the “Whiteman.” It identifies some of the contemporary challenges the local First Nations faced at the time. Additionally, it proposes solutions and offers a roadmap forward. Finally, it sets out a vision for the future that sees control and authority for decision-making returned to the First Nations of the territory. Fifty years later, it continues to be a guiding force for First Nation and non-First Nation Yukoners. It promotes “walking together down the same road.” In other words, it suggests participating equitably as partners in the fabric and governance of Yukon society.
"https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/TCE_placeholder.png" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/TCE_placeholder.png
Article
Thomas "Tommy" Clement Douglas, CC, premier of Saskatchewan, first leader of the New Democratic Party, Baptist minister and politician (born 20 October 1904 in Falkirk, Scotland; died 24 February 1986 in Ottawa, Ontario). Tommy Douglas led the first socialist government elected in Canada and is recognized as the father of universal health care in Canada. He also helped establish democratic socialism in mainstream Canadian politics.
"https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/d27e812a-e155-4b23-94b4-55060feada96.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/media/d27e812a-e155-4b23-94b4-55060feada96.jpg
Article
Tommy Douglas — the father of socialized medicine in Canada and one of the country’s most beloved figures — once supported eugenic policies. In 1933, he received a Master of Arts in sociology from McMaster University for his thesis, “The Problems of the Subnormal Family.” In the thesis, Douglas recommended several eugenic policies, including the sterilization of “mental defectives and those incurably diseased.” His ideas were not unique, as two Canadian provinces (and 32 American states) passed sexual-sterilization legislation in the 1920s and 1930s. However, by the time Douglas became premier of Saskatchewan in 1944, he had abandoned his support for eugenic policies. When Douglas received two reports that recommended legalizing sexual sterilization in the province, he rejected the idea.
"https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/Eugenics/Eugenics_congress_logo.png" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/Eugenics/Eugenics_congress_logo.png
Article
Anthony (Tony) Wilfred James Whitford, ONWT, Commissioner of Northwest Territories 2005-2010, politician (born 11 June 1941 in Fort Smith, NWT). Throughout his life, Tony Whitford has held multiple political positions, including on the town council of Fort Smith and in the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly. In 2005, Whitford was named commissioner of the Northwest Territories.
"https://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/TonyWhitford/NWT_2008_Election_Order_resized.jpg" // resources/views/front/categories/view.blade.phphttps://d2ttikhf7xbzbs.cloudfront.net/TonyWhitford/NWT_2008_Election_Order_resized.jpg
