The Durham Report Essay
THE DURHAM REPORT ESSAY
“The Durham Report was a racist document that has had a lasting effect on the country of Canada”. This report was bias and written by a British person ‘Lord Durham’ who wrote statement which made French look inferior to the English. This report was in a total favour towards British.
To start with, the first main recommendation was to unite the Lower and the Upper Canada into one province called ‘Canada’. This recommendation would give British Canadians an advantage in population. With this the French population would be less as in front of the British and French would have less reputation in the country and in the political government. By uniting the two states into one province, French had to pay more tax. Now it had to pay more debt that belonged to Upper Canada. They really felt forced to pay. He also said that English was more practical and was interested in improving the province. The result of this, the French became a minority, while the English made a huge majority in the province.
Secondly, he asked for a responsible government, with a proper cabinet system as in Britain for the English but not the French as he said that the responsible government should be only given to the English- speaking majority. He said the French wasn’t ready for it yet which was a total sarcasm. This system made the Executive Council responsible to the Legislative Assembly, whose members are representatives of the people. The real power was now in the hands of the voters. The problem with French was that they wouldn’t be allowed to vote because they were easily manipulated as said by the Lord Durham. This was assimilation against French. By this, only the English could vote and as obvious they would vote the English only. This would make British more powerful and French inferior to them as they wouldn’t be included more in the political government and in the decisions for the province.
Lastly, Lord Durham used a biased language for French and attacked
“The Durham Report was a racist document that has had a lasting effect on the country of Canada”. This report was bias and written by a British person ‘Lord Durham’ who wrote statement which made French look inferior to the English. This report was in a total favour towards British.
To start with, the first main recommendation was to unite the Lower and the Upper Canada into one province called ‘Canada’. This recommendation would give British Canadians an advantage in population. With this the French population would be less as in front of the British and French would have less reputation in the country and in the political government. By uniting the two states into one province, French had to pay more tax. Now it had to pay more debt that belonged to Upper Canada. They really felt forced to pay. He also said that English was more practical and was interested in improving the province. The result of this, the French became a minority, while the English made a huge majority in the province.
Secondly, he asked for a responsible government, with a proper cabinet system as in Britain for the English but not the French as he said that the responsible government should be only given to the English- speaking majority. He said the French wasn’t ready for it yet which was a total sarcasm. This system made the Executive Council responsible to the Legislative Assembly, whose members are representatives of the people. The real power was now in the hands of the voters. The problem with French was that they wouldn’t be allowed to vote because they were easily manipulated as said by the Lord Durham. This was assimilation against French. By this, only the English could vote and as obvious they would vote the English only. This would make British more powerful and French inferior to them as they wouldn’t be included more in the political government and in the decisions for the province.
Lastly, Lord Durham used a biased language for French and attacked