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Lower Canada covered the southeastern portion of the present-day province of Quebec, Canada, and (until 1809) the Labrador region of Newfoundland and Labrador. [3] Upper Canada covered what is now the southern portion of the province of Ontario and the lands bordering Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. [3]
The Province of Upper Canada (French: province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Quebec since 1763.
- Background: First Nations, France and War
- Settlement by Loyalists
- New Colony Created
- First Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe Takes Charge
- Family Compact Takes Control
- War of 1812
- Economic Turmoil
- Rebellion in 1837
- Union with Lower Canada
The area that became Upper Canada was populated originally by First Nations people, in particular the Wendat, Neutral, Tionontati (Petun) and Algonquin, among others. (See also First Nations in Ontario.) Samuel de Champlain visited the region in the early 17th century. He claimed the territory for France and was followed by other French explorers. ...
Land settled by Loyalists and other European settlers was the traditional territory of Indigenous peoples. The Upper Canada Land Surrenders ceded Indigenous lands to the colonial government for the purposes of settlement and development. These treaties cover much of what is now southwestern Ontario. By the mid-1830s, treaties covered most of the ar...
The result was the Constitutional Act, 1791. The Act divided the Province of Quebec into Lower Canada to the east (on the lower reaches of the St. Lawrence River) and Upper Canada (along the lower portion of the present-day Ontario-Quebec boundary) to the west. The Act also established a government that would largely determine the colony’s politica...
The first leader of this new wilderness society was Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe. His stated purpose was to create in Upper Canada a “superior, more happy, and more polished form of government.” He wanted not only to attract immigrants, but also to renew the empire and set an example that would win Americans back into the British camp. Go...
Politics began to emerge in provincial life. The Constitutional Act, 1791, by its very nature, had created a party of favourites. Lieutenant-governors chose their executive and legislative councils from among men they could trust and understand, who shared their solid, conservative values: namely, Loyalists or newly arrived Britons. These men — lat...
During the War of 1812, Upper Canada, whose inhabitants were predominantly American in origin, was invaded a number of times and partly occupied. American forces were repulsed by British regulars assisted by Canadian militia and Indigenous groups. (See also First Nations and Métis Peoples in the War of 1812.) The war strengthened the British link, ...
The expense of administering the growing colony increased substantially in the early 1820s, and schemes to reunite the two Canadas were occasionally considered. In 1822, an effort was made to adjust the customs duties shared with Lower Canadato provide the upper province, which had no ocean port, with a larger share of revenue. In practice, this ef...
By 1820, opposition in the province was becoming sophisticated, but its politics were not yet dominated by disciplined parties. Some agitators, such as the “Banished Briton” Robert Gourlay, had dramatized popular grievances in martyr-like fashion. Until the mid-1830s, opposition was usually led by more moderate politicians such as Dr. William Baldw...
Durham’s report and its recommendations set in motion a scheme that had long been considered: the reunification of Upper and Lower Canada. By 1838, Upper Canada had a diverse population of more than 400,000 people. It stretched west from the Ottawa River to the head of the Great Lakes. It was still a rough-hewn and somewhat amorphous community, poo...
In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada. These two colonies were collectively named the Canadas until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841.
May 11, 2020 · Upper Canada was located nearest the source of the St. Lawrence, “upriver”. In contrast, Lower Canada was closest to the mouth of the St. Lawrence, “downriver” (traveling with the current).
Quebec was divided along the Ottawa River: the eastern area, with its predominantly French population was known as Lower Canada (now Quebec); the western part was called Upper Canada (now Ontario) and adopted English common law and freehold land tenure.
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May 21, 2021 · Upper Canada. Upper Canada was the smaller of the two colonies and occupied Ottawa River’s western portion. It covered areas such as Southern Ontario and pays d'en Haut in Northern Ontario. Since it was near the United States border, it became the stopping point for most Loyalists streaming from the US after the American Revolutionary War ...
