How Did The Balfour Report Affect Canada

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The Balfour Report was created in 1926 at the Imperial Conference and it declared that Britain and its colonies were constitutionally equal to one another. This document was created by Lord Arthur J. Balfour, a British cabinet minister, and the Committee on Inter-Imperial Relations which he led. The document was also greatly influenced by Mackenzie King and South African Prime Minister J.B Hertzog. The Balfour Report was created because the question of who had the supreme governing authority came up after the King-Byng crisis where Mackenzie King (PM) went against the Governor General in a federal election. The significance the document had in the time period is that the report clarified the new relationship between Britain’s colonies, making them independent and no more under Britain’s influence in internal and external issues. The Balfour Report shaped Canada’s identity declaring that Canada was now independent and that she could make her own decision. This furthered patriotism in Canada making her one more player on the global field.

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In 1917, the Alberta Supreme Court said that women were persons. That rule however only applied within the province of Alberta so Emily Murphy put her name as a candidate for the Senate, by the federal government. But Canadian Prime Minister Robert Borden turned her down because she was again not considered a person under the BNA Act. The Persons Case was the debate led by the famous 5 on whether or not women counted as persons in section 24 of The BNA Act of 1867 saying "Women are persons in matters of pains and penalties but are not persons in matters of rights and privileges." The famous 5 were a group of women

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