Fathers of Confederation

The Fathers of Confederation are the 36 people who attended at least one of the Charlottetown Conference of 1864 (23 attendees), the Quebec Conference of 1864 (33 attendees), and the London Conference of 1866 (16 attendees), preceding Canadian Confederation. Only eleven people attended all three conferences.

Table of participation

The following table lists the participants in the Charlottetown, Quebec, and London Conferences and their attendance at each stage.^[1]^[2]

Group photographs and paintings

Delegates from the Legislatures of Canada, gathering on the steps of Prince Edward Island's Government House for the Charlottetown Conference – Photo by George P. Roberts on September 11, 1864.
Delegates of the Legislatures of Canada gathering at the Quebec Conference – Photo by Jules I. Livernois on October 27, 1864.
An 1885 photo of Robert Harris' painting, completed the previous year and titled, Conference at Quebec in 1864, to settle the basics of a union of the British North American Provinces, also known as The Fathers of Confederation. The original painting was destroyed in the 1916 Parliament buildings Centre Block fire. The scene is an amalgamation of the Charlottetown and Quebec City conference sites and attendees.

Other possible claimants to title

Four other individuals have been labelled as Fathers of Confederation. Hewitt Bernard, who was the recording secretary at the Charlottetown Conference, is considered by some to be a Father of Confederation.^[3] The leaders most responsible for bringing three specific provinces into Confederation after 1867 are also referred to as Fathers of Confederation.^[1]

The provisional government established by Louis Riel ultimately negotiated the terms under which Manitoba entered the Canadian Confederation in 1870.^[4]
The leadership of Amor De Cosmos was instrumental both in bringing democracy to British Columbia and in bringing the province into Confederation in 1871.^[5]
The province of Newfoundland entered the Canadian Confederation in 1949 under the leadership of Joey Smallwood, who was then referred to as the "only living Father of Confederation".^[6]

References

^ a b "Fathers of Confederation". CanadianHistory. 2008. Archived from the original on 2010-08-21. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
^ a b Bélanger, Claude (2001). "Studies on the Canadian Constitution and Canadian Federalism". Department of History, Marianopolis College. Archived from the original on 2010-06-11. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
^ Harrison, Robert A (2003). The conventional man. Canadian Legal History by University of Toronto Press. p. 627. ISBN 0-8020-8842-2. Archived from the original on 2018-03-28. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
^ The Heritage Centre. "Louis Riel The Provisional Government". Archived from the original on 10 August 2007. Retrieved 23 September 2007.
^ Frances, Stanford (2002). Canada's Confederation. S&S Learning Materials. p. 44. ISBN 1-55035-708-5. Archived from the original on 2018-03-28. Retrieved 2011-09-02.
^ Argyle, Ray (2012). Joey Smallwood, Schemer and Dreamer. Dundurn Press. ISBN 9781459703698.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fathers of Confederation.

Fathers of Confederation - Library and Archives Canada
Barron Chandler - Parks Canada