Marriage In Canada

INTRODUCTION
During the early 1870, the Canada Confederation expanded east and west which included the joining of the province Manitoba in 1870 and British Columbia in 1871. During 1870 and before 1930 the white settlers, the new comers and the Natives people in the western Canada underwent many changes with regard to their social structure and ethnicity. It highlights the various factors such as the growth and development of the workforce, struggles in maintaining cultural heritage and social awareness. The national policy which was initiated by Prime Minister Sir John Macdonald in 1879 was to build the Canadian Pacific Railway that linked western Canada with central Canada, strong immigration policy to settle the immigrants to the west and

Europeans refrained from choosing partner in their life. It was evident that the form of marriage in Britain was patriarchal. The European women suffered a lot as they were not allowed to leave the marriage even though their husband was unfaithful or created domestic violence. European women were not allowed to have romantic or sexual goal once she was married. Aboriginal women enjoyed more freedom than the European-origin women as infidelity was acting as the social agent. They could easily leave abusive relationships. Aboriginal women were given the right to choose their own marriage partner. This resulted in acceptance of polygamy by most of the Aboriginal people. The Canadian government imposed life-long monogamous practices for the newcomers along with the Aboriginal people in western Canada. The Canadian government reported immorality in the Northwest by ordering “unmarried farm instructor and Indian agents to get married, and missionaries were instructed in May of 1886 not to communicate with the newspaper ‘even if allegations against public officials were true.’” The Aboriginal people followed their cultural marriage practices whereas the newcomers followed multiculturalism. The Canadian government did not accept a variety of marriage models in western Canada. It considered the household made of the male-headed which consists of a man, his lawful wedded wife and their children. Things like sex outside marriage, polygamy, divorce and same-sex relations were all prohibited. This situation forced federal government to impose one view of marriage on the lives of non-Aboriginal women and men in the Prairie West before 1914. At the same time government imposed the Criminal code that stated “everyone who being married marries any other person during the life of the former husband