Editing Canadian Confederation (section)

==Terminology==

===Confederation===
Canada is a [[federation]],<ref>{{cite web |title=How Canadians Govern Themselves |url=http://www2.parl.gc.ca/sites/lop/aboutparliament/forsey/fed_state_01-e.asp |url-status=dead |publisher=Parliament of Canada |edition=7th |access-date=May 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110405194326/http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Sites/LOP/AboutParliament/Forsey/fed_state_01-e.asp |archive-date=April 5, 2011}}</ref> rather than a confederate association of sovereign states, which is what ''[[confederation]]'' means in contemporary political theory. The country, though, is often considered to be among the world's more [[decentralized]] federations.<ref>{{cite web |author=Government of Canada |title=Collaborative Federalism in an Era of Globalization |url=http://www.pco-bcp.gc.ca/aia/index.asp?lang=eng&Page=archive&Sub=speeches-discours&Doc=19990422-eng.htm |url-status=dead |publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada |date=April 22, 1999 |access-date=May 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315135026/http://www.pco-bcp.gc.ca/aia/index.asp?lang=eng&Page=archive&Sub=speeches-discours&Doc=19990422-eng.htm |archive-date=March 15, 2012}}</ref> Use of the term ''confederation'' arose in the Province of Canada to refer to proposals beginning in the 1850s to federate all of the British North American colonies, as opposed to only Canada West (now Ontario) and Canada East (now Quebec). To contemporaries of Confederation, the ''con-'' prefix indicated a strengthening of the centrist principle compared to the American federation.{{sfn|Waite|1962|pp=37–38, footnote 6}}

In this Canadian context, ''confederation'' describes the political process that united the colonies in 1867, events related to that process, and the subsequent incorporation of other colonies and territories.<ref>{{citation| url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/confederation/index-e.html| title=Canadian Confederation| author=Library and Archives Canada| chapter=How Canada came to be| publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada| access-date=June 29, 2011}}</ref> The word is now often used to describe Canada in an abstract way, such as in "the Fathers of Confederation"; provinces that became part of Canada after 1867 are also said to have [[#Joining Confederation|joined, or entered into, Confederation]] (but not ''the'' Confederation).<ref>{{cite book| url=https://archive.org/details/dissolutionsover00walk| url-access=registration| last=Walker| first=Edward W.| title=Dissolution: sovereignty and the breakup of the Soviet Union| page=174| date=May 1, 2003| publisher=Rowman & Littlefield| isbn=978-0-7425-2453-8}}</ref> The term is also used to divide [[Canadian history]] into pre-Confederation and post-Confederation periods.<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FamJrJEvymIC&pg=PR13| last1=Taylor| first1=Martin Brook| last2=Owram| first2=Doug| title=Canadian History: Beginnings to Confederation| page=13| date=May 17, 1994| publisher=University of Toronto Press| isbn=978-0-8020-6826-2}}</ref>

===Fathers of Confederation===
{{main|Fathers of Confederation}}
[[File:The Founders of Confederation of the Dominion of Canada (HS85-10-32966).jpg|thumb|The Fathers of Confederation]]

The original Fathers of Confederation are those delegates who attended any of the conferences held at Charlottetown and Quebec in 1864 or in London, United Kingdom, in 1866, leading to Confederation.<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-jpXFH_ZhY8C&pg=PA7| last1=Malcolmson| first1=Patrick| last2=Myers| first2=Richard| title=The Canadian Regime: An Introduction to Parliamentary Government in Canada| page=7| date=August 15, 2009| publisher=University of Toronto Press| isbn=978-1-4426-0047-8}}</ref> There were 36 original Fathers of Confederation; [[Hewitt Bernard]], who was the recording secretary at the [[Charlottetown Conference]], is considered by some to be among them.<ref>{{cite book| url=https://archive.org/details/conventionalmand0000harr| last1=Harrison| first1=Robert Alexander| last2=Oliver| first2=Peter| author3=Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History| title=The conventional man: the diaries of Ontario Chief Justice Robert A. Harrison, 1856–1878| url-access=registration| page=627| date=October 1, 2003| publisher=University of Toronto Press| isbn=978-0-8020-8842-0}}</ref>

The individuals who brought the other provinces into Confederation after 1867 are also referred to as ''Fathers of Confederation''. In this way, [[Amor De Cosmos]], who was instrumental both in bringing democracy to British Columbia and in bringing the province into Confederation, is considered to be a Father of Confederation.<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1sSWIvvW0mIC&pg=PA44| last=Stanford| first=Frances| title=Canada's Confederation| page=44| year=2002| publisher=S&S Learning Materials| isbn=978-1-55035-708-0}}</ref> As well, [[Joey Smallwood]] referred to himself as "the Last Father of Confederation" because he helped lead [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]] into the union in 1949.<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4f_dQFXQpVkC&pg=PA168| last=McCreery| first=Christopher| title=The Order of Canada: its origins, history, and development| page=168| year=2005| publisher=University of Toronto Press| isbn=978-0-8020-3940-8}}</ref>