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Citizenship in Transnational Perspective pp 97–115Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Redefinition of Citizenship in Canada, 1950s–1970s

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Part of the book series: Politics of Citizenship and Migration ((POCM))

Abstract

In the 1950s, English-speaking Canada very much identified itself as an integral part of a wider British World. Canada’s bicultural nature, with the French-Canadians, complicated this self-identity in Canada. However, by the 1970s, this British World had come to an end. During this period, citizenship in Canada was redefined in a significant way from being an ethnic (British)-based one to a more civic-founded one – which was more inclusive of other ethnic groups and Indigenous peoples. This chapter will argue that this redefinition of citizenship took place primarily in the context of this major shift in national identity, focusing on key external events that led to this process. It will then explore pieces of citizenship legislation and other moves which illustrate the redefinition of citizenship during this period.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Christina Gabriel, “Citizens and Citizenship,” in Critical Concepts: An introduction to politics, eds. Janine Brodie and Sandra Rein (Toronto: Pearson, 2009), 166.

  2. 2.

    Ibid .

  3. 3.

    T. H. Marshall, Citizenship and Social Development: Essays by T. H. Marshall (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1964), 84.

  4. 4.

    William Kaplan, “Who Belongs? Changing Concepts of Citizenship and Nationality,” in Belonging: The Meaning and Future of Canadian Citizenship, ed. William Kaplan (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1993), 252.

  5. 5.

    Will Kymlicka and Wayne Norman, “Return of the Citizen: A Survey of Recent Work on Citizenship Theory,” Ethics 104 (1994): 369.

  6. 6.

    Jane Jenson, “Citizenship Claims: Routes to Representation in a Federal System,” in Rethinking Federalism: Citizens, Markets and Governments in a Changing World, eds. Karen Knop, Sylvia Ostry, Richard Simeon and Katherine Swinton (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1995), 99.

  7. 7.

    Valerie Knowles, Forging our Legacy: Canadian Citizenship and Immigration, 1900–1977 (Ottawa: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 1997), 88.

  8. 8.

    Linda Cardinal and Marie-Joie Brady, “Citizenship and Federalism in Canada: A Difficult Relationship,” in Contemporary Canadian Federalism: Foundations, Traditions, Institutions, ed. Alain-G. Gagnon (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009), 384.

  9. 9.

    Darlene Johnston, “First Nations and Canadian Citizenship,” in Belonging: The Meaning and Future of Canadian Citizenship, ed. William Kaplan (Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1993), 349.

  10. 10.

    R. Kenneth Carty and W. Peter Ward, “The Making of a Canadian Political Citizenship,” in National Politics and Community in Canada, eds. R. Kenneth Carty and W. Peter Ward (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1986), 74.

  11. 11.

    For more on the prevalence of Britishness in English-speaking Canada at this time and the French-Canadian reaction to it see Jatinder Mann, The Search for a New National Identity: The Rise of Multiculturalism in Canada and Australia, 1890s–1970s (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2016), 15–48. It should be pointed out though that English-speaking Canada’s Britishness was not a sign of inferiority, rather English-speaking Canadian Britons saw themselves as superior to those in the ‘mother-country.’ It was maintained that the harsh Canadian climate, the realities of colonial life, and a healthier diet had resulted in a fitter and stronger British population in Canada.

  12. 12.

    For more on the Canadian Citizenship Act of 1947 see Jatinder Mann, “The evolution of Commonwealth citizenship, 1945–48 in Canada, Britain and Australia”, Commonwealth and Comparative Politics 50, 3 (2012), 293–313.

  13. 13.

    This was a crisis precipitated by the nationalisation of the Suez Canal by Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser in July 1956, which in turn led to the UK and France, who had substantial commercial interests in the canal, entering into a clandestine agreement with Israel to invade Egypt in October 1956, thus giving the two powers the opportunity to in turn send troops into the canal zone on the pretext of ‘separating the warring parties.’

  14. 14.

    Jose Igartua, “‘Ready, Aye, Ready’ No More?” in Rediscovering the British World, ed. Phil Buckner (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2005), 48.

  15. 15.

    Dale C. Thomson, Louis St. Laurent: Canadian (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1968), 459.

  16. 16.

    Robert Bothwell, The Penguin History of Canada (Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2006), 381–383.

  17. 17.

    Thomson, Louis St. Laurent, 459.

  18. 18.

    Debates, House of Commons (Hereafter H of C), 1956–57, 27 November 1956, Howard Green cited in Igartua, “‘Ready, Aye, Ready’ No More?”, 47.

  19. 19.

    Ibid ., 61–62.

  20. 20.

    Ibid ., 58.

  21. 21.

    Jack L. Granatstein, Canada 1957–1967: The Years of Uncertainty and Innovation (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1986), 43.

  22. 22.

    Andrea Benvenuti and Stuart Ward, “Britain, Europe, and the ‘Other Quiet Revolution’ in Canada” in Canada and the End of Empire, ed. Phil Buckner (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2006), 168.

  23. 23.

    Ibid ., 169, 170.

  24. 24.

    Ibid ., 171.

  25. 25.

    Ibid ., 172–173.

  26. 26.

    National Archives of the UK, DO 159/52, Fleming, speech at Winnipeg, 19 January 1962 cited in Benvenuti and Ward, “Britain, Europe, and the ‘Other Quiet Revolution’ in Canada,” 173.

  27. 27.

    Library and Archives Canada (Hereafter LAC), RG25, vol. 5519, file 12447–40 (pt. 51), record of meeting between Prime Minister Macmillan and Prime Minister Diefenbaker, Ottawa, 20 April 1962 cited in Benvenuti and Ward, “Britain, Europe, and the ‘Other Quiet Revolution’ in Canada,” 176–7.

  28. 28.

    Benvenuti and Ward, “Britain, Europe, and the ‘Other Quiet Revolution’ in Canada,” 177.

  29. 29.

    Lester Pearson, “Symbols and realities,” in Mike: The Memoirs of the Right Honourable Lester B. Pearson: Volume 3, 1957–1968, ed. J. A. Munro and A. I. Inglis (London: Victor Gollancz, 1975), 270.

  30. 30.

    ‘The Quiet Revolution in Quebec’, Citizen, vol. 10, no. 5, December 1964, 10, 11.

  31. 31.

    The first major reference to a ‘third force’ was by Senator Paul Yuzyk, who was of Ukrainian descent in his maiden speech to the Senate in 1964. He subsequently emerged as one of the strongest proponents of multiculturalism.

  32. 32.

    LAC, MG32-C67/Vol. 91/File 1, Prime Minister Lester Pearson, in the Weekend Magazine, no. 14, 3 April 1965, has seen fit to make the following significant statement to all Canadians.

  33. 33.

    LAC, RG2/Series A-5-a/Vol. 6436, Citizenship Legislation, 10 January 1974, 11.

  34. 34.

    LAC, RG2-B-2/Vol. 26589/Cab. Doc. 1235–73, Record of Cabinet Decision by R. B. Charron, Supervisor of Cabinet Documents – Citizenship Legislation, 11 January 1974, 2.

  35. 35.

    LAC, RG2/Series A-5-a/Vol. 6436, An Act Respecting Citizenship, 8, 9.

  36. 36.

    Debates, H of C, vol. IX, 1975, Jake Epp, 9802, 9803.

  37. 37.

    Debates, H of C, vol. IX, 1975, Bill Jarvis, 9809.

  38. 38.

    Debates, H of C, vol. IX, 1975, Bill Jarvis, 9810.

  39. 39.

    Debates, H of C, vol. X, 1975–76, Walter Baker, 9899.

  40. 40.

    Debates, H of C, vol. X, 1975–76, Len Marchand, 9904.

  41. 41.

    LAC, R11236/Vol. 135/File 148–4-8, A Message from the Secretary of State (including short press release), 23 July 1976.

  42. 42.

    LAC, R11236/Vol. 135/File 148–4-8, J. Hugh Faulkner, The Secretary of State for Canada to Bud Cullen, Minister of National Revenue (including copies of a press release to the ethnic press and women’s groups and the bill itself), 6 August 1976, 1.

  43. 43.

    LAC, MG32-B1/Vol. 94/File IA-166/File 18, Memorandum by H. M. Jones, Acting Director, Department of Citizenship and Immigration to the Deputy Minister, 20 November 1959, 1–2.

  44. 44.

    LAC, MG32-B1/Vol. 94/File IA-166/File 18, Memorandum by H. M. Jones, Director, Department of Citizenship and Immigration to the Deputy Minister, 25 November 1959, 1.

  45. 45.

    LAC, MG32-B1/Vol. 94/File IA-166/File 18, Ellen L. Fairclough, Minister for Citizenship and Immigration to E. D. Fulton, Minister of Justice, 27 November 1959.

  46. 46.

    LAC, RG2-B-2/Vol. 2745/Cab. Doc. 383–59, Memorandum by Fairclough to the Cabinet Re: Proposed amendment to the Indian Act and Canada Elections Act concerning voting by Indians, 27 November 1959.

  47. 47.

    LAC, RG2/Series A-5-a/Vol. 2745, Legislation – Amendment to the Indian Act and Canada Elections Act concerning voting by Indians, 15 December 1959, 5.

  48. 48.

    This was a major committee set up by the Diefenbaker government to look into relations between First Nations and the Canadian state, with the ultimate goal of revising the Indian Act, which had not been reformed in any significant way since 1950. The awarding of the right to vote on the federal level to First Nations was one of the issues it discussed.

  49. 49.

    LAC, MG32-B1/Vol. 88/File IA-12 J, A brief submitted by the Primate of all Canada on behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada to the Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Commons on Indian Affairs, January 1960, 5.

  50. 50.

    LAC, MG32-B1/Vol. 88/File IA-12 J, Brief Prepared by the Aboriginal Native Rights Regional Committee of the Interior Tribes of British Columbia, 20.

  51. 51.

    Generally speaking, the Crown concluded treaties with First Nations in parts of Atlantic Canada, Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta when British settlers first arrived in what became Canada by which the First Nations agreed to surrender large tracts of their land and live on reservations for compensation of some sort, usually financial. However, there were no treaties with First Nations in British Columbia, the Métis (Indigenous people of mixed First Nation and European descent), and Indigenous peoples in the territories (Inuit). The treaties that did exist between the Crown and the First Nations were often not honoured though, which was a rightful cause of complaint by those First Nations that had signed the treaties in good faith.

  52. 52.

    This was a reference to the continued right of First Nations living on reserves not to have to pay tax on any income they earned there.

  53. 53.

    LAC, MG32-B1/Vol. 95/File IA-166/File 1, Extract from the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix – ‘Senate Group Approves Federal Vote for Indians’, 1 April 1960.

  54. 54.

    LAC, MG32-B1/Vol. 95/File IA-166/File 1, Fred. R. & David Conroy Barristers et al. to Department of Citizenship and Immigration, 2 April 1960.

  55. 55.

    LAC, MG32-B1/Vol. 95/File IA-166/File 1, H. B. M. Best, Private Secretary, Minister to Fred R. & David Conroy Barristers et al., 11 April 1960, 2–3.

  56. 56.

    LAC, MG32-B1/Vol. 95/File IA-166/File 1, Extract from the Globe and Mail ‘The Indian and the Vote’, 4 April 1960.

  57. 57.

    LAC, MG32-B1/Vol. 95/File IA-166/File 1, Extract from the Regina Leader-Post – ‘Guarantee Indian’s rights’, 14 April 1960.

  58. 58.

    LAC, MG32-B1/Vol. 95/File IA-166/File 1, Letter by Fairclough, 20 May 1960.

  59. 59.

    LAC, MG32-B1/Vol. 95/File IA-166/File 1, Translation of letter from Chief Alphonse T. Picard to Fairclough, 6 June 1960.

  60. 60.

    LAC, MG32-B1/Vol. 95/File IA-166/File 1, Fairclough to Chief Alphonse T. Picard, 20 June 1960; Fairclough to Chief Councillor Alex Oakes, 13 June 1960, 2.

  61. 61.

    LAC, MG32-B1/Vol. 95/File 1A-166/File 1, Press Release, 28 June 1960.

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  1. Department of History, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR

    Jatinder Mann

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  1. Department of History, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

    Jatinder Mann

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Mann, J. (2017). The Redefinition of Citizenship in Canada, 1950s–1970s. In: Mann, J. (eds) Citizenship in Transnational Perspective. Politics of Citizenship and Migration. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53529-6_5

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