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

high tariff on imported goods to protect the manufacturing industries. These policies came up with the discrimination of class, race, and gender. Many western Canadians believed that the national policies were partial towards the central Canadian. The Natives were disregarded and discriminated when the immigrants started entering Canada. The federal government imposed certain morality such as the Dominion Land Act which gave Natives their land back with some yearly allowance, the criminal law, and the life-long monogamous marriage law for the new comers to Canada.

Canada during 1870-1900
In the early 1871, the government of Canada negotiated altogether eleven treaties with the First Nations. The government introduced the land grants policy which provided land to any settler for a small fee. Following with the Dominion Lands Act of 1872, the First Nation were granted smaller piece of land were they had right of hunting and fishing. The North West Mounted Police helped establishing the National policy by administrating the treaties between the Aboriginals and the federal government. Many Doukhobors migrated to the Manitoba whom was given land by the government for settling down. They followed their own cultural tradition. “The Mennonites were even slower to adapt to the British-Canadian ways, but in their case adjustment was delayed by their determination to remain separate from the materialism and godlessness that they associated with the larger prairie community.” The Hutterites community gained prosperity which was similar to the ethnic Mennonites. The white Anglophones which arrived in Canada before the Manitoba was formed was discriminated by the French speaking communities and the Natives. This Dominion Lands Act also made racism against the Metis which led them move to the Northwest.
The Northwest rebellion came into effect in 1885 from “the federal government’s failure to live up to its promises to the Metis in the Manitoba Act of 1870 and to negotiate the question of land titles for Metis who lived in the Northwest Territories.” Metis led rebellions against the Canadian government for their land claim. The major concern of the Metis was to protect the property rights and to establish their children on farms. This Act provided Metis their land for farming, maintain religious and language rights and establishing both the English and French language schools. The Roman Catholic Church as well as Protestant churches gained a weak hold over the western adherents. The parliament passed Criminal code in 1892 to put an end to the criminal offences in Canada.

Manitoba, which joined Canada, faced many challenges such as allowing voting for only male property-holders, discrimination between race, class, and gender and refraining from providing public fund to the Catholics and Anglicans school. The people of Manitoba consider non-whites, non-English speakers, and non-Protestants as inferior to themselves. The Alberta and Saskatchewan joined the confederation in 1905 which fuelled the wheat economy worldwide. Winnipeg created not only urban values but also greater national policies which made it metropolis of Manitoba. The city of Winnipeg restricted voting to only male property-holders which resulted in the lower municipal elections. This propertied elite control the city council for their own financial needs. They provided sewers, drains, and parks for the wealthy areas of the city while the working class refrained from all this service. Women also played an important role by protecting the health and welfare of the family members.

British Columbia also observed discrimination against race and gender. “Voting for the elected seats in the legislature was restricted to the white colonists, leaving the Native majority, and the Chinese and African minorities without representation.” British Colombia was mainly depended on its resource such as minerals and wood which gained greater values abroad. Blue collar workforce and building of the railway made British Colombia economically strong. Trade union made its way to fight for the rights of the labours between employers and blue-collar workers. Social distribution between the industry and the government was growing which favored the white males. Ethnic group such as white race, yellow race, black race and British race was evident. The British race was superior to the other race in the racial hierarchy. Minority women face much difficulty as only few employments were available. Chinese labor faced difficulty in bringing their wives and families to British Columbia because of the head tax. British Columbia maintained its egalitarian society despite the implementation of these reforms.

The Canadian government made efforts in creating a particular notion of marriage in western Canada which had the impact on the lives of Native peoples and on Native-European relations.

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

or wife, whether the second marriage takes place in Canada or elsewhere, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to seven years imprisonment.” The Indian Act reinforced life-long monogamous marriages which ended polygamy among First Nations people in western Canada.

Canada during 1900-1930
The various political and trade union movements that emerged in western Canada from 1900 to 1930 reflect the social divisions within western Canada. The immigrant groups from various cultures such as Chinese, French, Ukrainian, Icelandic, American, Scottish and German struggled to preserve their distinct cultures. The immigrants from central and southern European who were Roman Catholics or Greek Orthodox were opposed by the western Canadians to assimilate into larger society. They wanted French Canadians to become English speakers. The non-white suffered a lot as they were prohibited from obtaining citizenship, voting and most occupations. The immigrants witnessed the low wages, poor working conditions, slum housing without the benefit of unions as many of them were unskilled or semi-skilled. Ethnic minorities were prohibited to enter western Canada due to the lack of workers and farmers in their region. Many immigrants such as Jews, Africans or Chinese required support from the Anglo-Canadians and French Canadians to migrate to Canada as they entry was denied completely. The Canadian government was more liberal towards non-British Canadians or non-French Canadians which made few French-Canadians attracted to western Canada. The immigrants suffered a lot because they were given low wages and was targeted by social reformers. Social reformers made the immigrants lives miserable by destroying their cultural uniqueness. In 1914, the World War I broke out, which made government to put a hold on immigration.

The Winnipeg General Strike which occurred in May-June 1919 was the outcome of the radical movements among the western Canada. This strike occurred because the workers demanded for the wage rise due to high cost of living, employer recognition for the trade union, and to establish safety working conditions. The federal government reported distress as the strike would increase the workers economic status. In 1920, the federal government passed the order-in-council to end the strike and mandatory joining the union. The RCMP played a key role in reinforcing a particular social order in the Prairie West. It was believed that RCMP was racist to the Native peoples as well as to the non‐Anglo Canadians. “As the 1920s drew to a close, the expansion of popular and high culture, together with the quiescence of working people, seemed to confirm the triumph of capitalism.” Later in 1929, Canada witnessed recession and unemployment period which put an end to the immigrants and lower the Canada’s economy causing the great depression.