1.
French language
–
French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
2.
Ontario
–
Ontario, one of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada, is located in east-central Canada. It is Canadas most populous province by a margin, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all Canadians. Ontario is fourth-largest in total area when the territories of the Northwest Territories and it is home to the nations capital city, Ottawa, and the nations most populous city, Toronto. There is only about 1 km of land made up of portages including Height of Land Portage on the Minnesota border. Ontario is sometimes divided into two regions, Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario. The great majority of Ontarios population and arable land is located in the south, in contrast, the larger, northern part of Ontario is sparsely populated with cold winters and is heavily forested. The province is named after Lake Ontario, a thought to be derived from Ontarí, io, a Huron word meaning great lake, or possibly skanadario. Ontario has about 250,000 freshwater lakes, the province consists of three main geographical regions, The thinly populated Canadian Shield in the northwestern and central portions, which comprises over half the land area of Ontario. Although this area mostly does not support agriculture, it is rich in minerals and in part covered by the Central and Midwestern Canadian Shield forests, studded with lakes, Northern Ontario is subdivided into two sub-regions, Northwestern Ontario and Northeastern Ontario. The virtually unpopulated Hudson Bay Lowlands in the north and northeast, mainly swampy. Southern Ontario which is further sub-divided into four regions, Central Ontario, Eastern Ontario, Golden Horseshoe, the highest point is Ishpatina Ridge at 693 metres above sea level located in Temagami, Northeastern Ontario. In the south, elevations of over 500 m are surpassed near Collingwood, above the Blue Mountains in the Dundalk Highlands, the Carolinian forest zone covers most of the southwestern region of the province. A well-known geographic feature is Niagara Falls, part of the Niagara Escarpment, the Saint Lawrence Seaway allows navigation to and from the Atlantic Ocean as far inland as Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario. Northern Ontario occupies roughly 87 percent of the area of the province. Point Pelee is a peninsula of Lake Erie in southwestern Ontario that is the southernmost extent of Canadas mainland, Pelee Island and Middle Island in Lake Erie extend slightly farther. All are south of 42°N – slightly farther south than the border of California. The climate of Ontario varies by season and location, the effects of these major air masses on temperature and precipitation depend mainly on latitude, proximity to major bodies of water and to a small extent, terrain relief. In general, most of Ontarios climate is classified as humid continental, Ontario has three main climatic regions
3.
Ministry of Education (Ontario)
–
This Ministry is responsible for curriculum and guidelines for all officially recognized elementary and secondary schools in the province and some outside of the province. The ministry is responsible for public and separate school boards across Ontario. Notable ministers of education in the past have included Bill Davis, Dr. Bette Stephenson, Sean Conway, the current Minister of Education is Mitzie Hunter. Ontario public schools use progressive discipline, discipline is corrective and supportive rather than punitive, with a focus on prevention and early intervention. It is a whole-school, systemic approach, engaging students, families, schools are to recognize and respect the diversity of parent communities, and partner with them accordingly. Students are surveyed at least every two years about their experience of the school climate, for students with special education needs, interventions, supports, and consequences must be consistent with the student’s strengths and needs. While the school principal is responsible for discipline, all employees who come into contact with students are responsible for stepping in if inappropriate behaviour occurs. The principal may also delegate powers and duties related to discipline, the report also calls for innovation in how these areas are learned. From 1993 to 1999 the Ministry was also responsible for Training, Colleges and Universities when the Ministries of Colleges and Universities, Education in Ontario Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development List of school districts in Ontario Ministry of Education Biography of the Minister of Education
4.
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
–
The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, often shortened to Ontario PC Party or PC, is a right-of-centre political party in Ontario, Canada. It governed the province for 80 of the 149 years since Confederation and it is the Official Opposition in the current Legislative Assembly of Ontario. The first Conservative Party in Upper Canada was made up of United Empire Loyalists, once responsible government was granted in response to the 1837 Rebellions, the Tories emerged as moderate reformers who opposed the radical policies of the Reformers and then the Clear Grits. The modern Conservative Party originated in the Liberal-Conservative coalition founded by Sir John A. Macdonald and it is a variant of this coalition that formed the first government in Ontario with John Sandfield Macdonald as Premier. Sandfield Macdonald was actually a Liberal and sat concurrently as a Liberal Party of Canada MP in the Canadian House of Commons, after losing power in 1871, this Conservative coalition began to dissolve. The party became opposed to funding for schools, opposed to language rights for French-Canadians. Paradoxically, an element of the party gained a reputation for being pro-labour as a result of links between the Orange Order and the labour movement. After 33 years in Opposition, the Tories returned to power under James P. Whitney, the Whitney government initiated massive public works projects such as the creation of Ontario Hydro. It also enacted legislation against the French-Canadian population in Ontario. The Tories were in power for all but five years from 1905 to 1934, after the death of Whitney in 1914, however, they lacked vision and became complacent. The Tories lost power to the United Farmers of Ontario in the 1919 election but were able to regain office in 1923 election due to the UFOs disintegration and they were defeated by Mitch Hepburns Liberals in 1934 due to their inability to cope with the Great Depression. Late in the 1930s and early in the 1940s, the Conservatives re-organized and developed new policies, the Conservatives took advantage of Liberal infighting to win a minority government in the 1943 provincial election, reducing the Liberals to third-party status. Drew called another election in 1945, only two years into his mandate, to get a majority government, the party would dominate Ontario politics for the next four decades. In 1961, John Robarts became the 17th premier of Ontario and he was one of the most popular premiers in years. Under Robarts lead, the party epitomized power and he hosted the 1967 Confederation of Tomorrow conference in Toronto in an unsuccessful attempt to achieve an agreement for a new Constitution of Canada. Robarts opposed Canadian medicare when it was proposed, but later endorsed it fully, and he led the party towards a civil libertarian movement. As a strong believer in the promotion of official languages, he opened the door to French education in Ontario schools. In 1971, Bill Davis became party leader and the 18th premier, anti-Catholicism became an issue again in the 1971 election, when the Tories campaigned strenuously against a Liberal proposal to extend funding for Catholic separate schools until Grade 13
5.
Premier of Ontario
–
The Premier of Ontario is the first minister of the Crown for the Canadian province of Ontario. The premier is appointed as the head of government by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and presides over the Executive Council. The Executive Council Act stipulates that the leader of the government party is known as the Premier, the current Premier of Ontario is Kathleen Wynne, she was sworn in on February 11,2013, and became Ontarios first female premier and Canadas first openly gay premier. The longest serving premier is Sir Oliver Mowat, who was in office from 1872 to 1896, Ontarios first premier was John Sandfield Macdonald
6.
James P. Whitney
–
Sir James Pliny Whitney, KCMG was a Canadian politician in the province of Ontario. Whitney was a lawyer in eastern Ontario, Conservative member for Dundas from 1888 to 1914, and he was called to the bar in 1875, and practiced law in Morrisburg. Whitney was elected to the Ontario legislature in 1888 and he became leader of the Conservative Party in 1896 taking it from a narrow, bigoted rump into a forward-looking party determined to build the province. In the 1905 election, he led the Tories to victory for the first time in 33 years by defeating the Liberal government of George William Ross. Whitneys government laid the basis for Ontarios industrial development by creating the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, with Sir Adam Beck as its chairman and his government also passed significant temperance and workmens compensation legislation. He also supported the anti-Catholic, anti-French-Canadian sentiments of supporters of the Orange Order in his caucus by passing Regulation 17 and this regulation banned the teaching of French in schools beyond the first three years of school. The measure inflamed French-Canadian opinion across Canada, particularly in Quebec, Whitney died in office shortly after winning the 1914 election. Ontario Legislative Assembly Parliamentarian History Humphries, Charles W. Whitney, Ontario Plaques - Sir James Pliny Whitney Sir James Whitney fonds, Archives of Ontario
7.
Military history of Canada during World War I
–
The military history of Canada during World War I began on August 4,1914, when the United Kingdom entered the First World War by declaring war on Germany. However, the Canadian government had the freedom to determine the level of involvement in the war. On August 5,1914, the Governor General declared a war between Canada and Germany, the Militia was not mobilized and instead an independent Canadian Expeditionary Force was raised. Canadas sacrifices and contributions to the Great War changed its history and enabled it to more independent. For the first time in Canadian military history, Canadian forces fought as a unit, first under a British commander. The highpoints of Canadian military achievement during the Great War came during the Somme, Vimy, Canadas total casualties stood at the end of the war at 67,000 killed and 250,000 wounded, out of an expeditionary force of 620,000 people mobilized. Canadians of British descent—the majority—gave widespread support arguing that Canadians had a duty to fight on behalf of their Motherland, however this did not stop Laurier along with Henri Bourassa from leading the opposition to conscription three years later in 1917. Canadian Prime Minister Robert Borden offered assistance to Great Britain, which was quickly accepted, prior to the war, Canada had a small permanent standing army and a much larger Canadian militia. The Minister of Militia and Defence, Sam Hughes, was ordered by Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden to train, at the time, Canada had a regular army of only 3,110 men and a fledgling navy. Although the force was raised quickly, it was riven with political patronage and lacked a solid core of professional officers,600,000 men and women participated in the war by enlisting as nurses, soldiers and chaplains. In general, non-white people and those born in enemy nations were not welcomed into the military, when blacks from Sydney, Nova Scotia volunteered their services, they were told, This is not for you fellows, this is a white mans war. Nonetheless, some segregated units were formed, in 1915, Indigenous people were allowed to enlist and accepted into a 114th battalion as well as others. In total, about 3,500 Indigenous people would serve with the Canadian Forces, the Canadian Japanese Association in British Columbia put forward a volunteer reserve force of 227 men, some of whom were later admitted into the military. The No.2 Construction Battalion included black soldiers from both Canada and the United States, the latter having crossed into Canada in order to participate, the over one thousand Black Canadians who served would continue to be segregated during their tour, both on ships and in camps. The Canadian government had restricted the arrival of all Asians and the CLC were secretly landed in Victoria and they were drilled in the old quarantine station at William Head and secretly shipped across Canada in cattle-trucks. The Canadian Corps was formed from the Canadian Expeditionary Force in September 1915 after the arrival of the 2nd Canadian Division in France, the soldiers of the Corps were mostly volunteers, as conscription was not implemented until the end of the war. The Corps was expanded by the addition of the 3rd Canadian Division in December 1915 and the 4th Canadian Division in August 1916. The organization of a 5th Canadian Division began in February 1917, originally commanded by Lieutenant General Sir E. A. H
8.
French Canadians
–
French Canadians are an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to French colonists who settled in Canada from the 17th century onward. Today, French Canadians constitute the main French-speaking population in Canada, today, French Canadians live across North America. The province of Quebec has the largest population of French-Canadian descent, though smaller communities exist throughout Canada, between 1840 and 1930, roughly 900,000 French Canadians emigrated to the United States, mostly to the New England region. Other terms for French Canadians who continue to reside in the province of Quebec, are Quebecers or Québécois, the other major group of French Canadians are the Acadians who reside in the Maritime Provinces. In total, those who identify as French Canadian, French, Québécois, the French Canadians get their name from Canada, the most developed and densely populated region of New France during the period of French colonization in the 17th and 18th century. The original use of the term Canada referred to the area along the St. From 1535 to the 1690s, the French word Canadien had referred to the First Nations the French had encountered in the St. Lawrence River valley at Stadacona, at the end of the 17th century, Canadien became an ethnonym distinguishing the inhabitants of Canada from those of France. French Canadians living in Canada express their identity using a number of terms. The Ethnic Diversity Survey of the 2006 Canadian census found that French-speaking Canadians identified their ethnicity most often as French, French Canadians, Québécois, the latter three were grouped together by Jantzen as French New World ancestries because they originate in Canada. Canadien was used to refer to the French-speaking residents of New France beginning in the last half of the 17th century, the English-speaking residents who arrived later from Great Britain were called Anglais. This usage continued until Canadian Confederation in 1867 and those reporting French New World ancestries overwhelmingly had ancestors that went back at least four generations in Canada. Fourth generation Canadiens and Québécois showed considerable attachment to their group, with 70% and 61%, respectively. The generational profile and strength of identity of French New World ancestries contrast with those of British or Canadian ancestries, which represent the largest ethnic identities in Canada. As a result, their identification with their ethnicity is weaker, for example, only 50% of third generation Canadians strongly identify as such, bringing down the overall average. The survey report notes that 80% of Canadians whose families had been in Canada for three or more generations reported Canadian and provincial or regional ethnic identities and these identities include French New World ancestries such as Québécois, Acadian. Since the 1960s, French Canadians in Quebec have generally used Québécois or Québécoise to express their cultural and national identity, rather than Canadien français, francophones who self-identify as Québécois and do not have French-Canadian ancestry may not identify as French Canadian. Those who do have French or French-Canadian ancestry, but who support Quebec sovereignty and this is a reflection of the strong social, cultural, and political ties that most Quebeckers of French-Canadian origin, who constitute a majority of francophone Quebecers, maintain within Quebec. French Canadians outside Quebec are more likely to self-identify as French Canadian, identification with provincial groupings varies from province to province, with Franco-Ontarians, for example, using their provincial label far more frequently than Franco-Columbians do
9.
Henri Bourassa
–
Joseph-Napoléon-Henri Bourassa was a French Canadian political leader and publisher. In 1899, Bourassa was outspoken against the British governments request for Canada to send a militia to fight for Britain in the Second Boer War. Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Lauriers compromise was to send a volunteer force, Bourassa challenged, unsuccessfully, the proposal to build warships to help protect the empire. He led the opposition to conscription during World War I. He opposed Catholic bishops who defended military support of Britain and its allies, Bourassa was an ideological father of French-Canadian nationalism. Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to Napoléon Bourassa and Azélie Papineau and he was educated at École Polytechnique de Montréal and at Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1890, he became mayor of the town of Montebello, Quebec, in 1896, he was elected to the House of Commons as an independent Liberal for Labelle, but resigned in 1899 to protest against the sending of Canadian troops to the Second Boer War. He was re-elected soon after his resignation and he argued that Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier was un vendu to British imperialism and its supporters in Canada. To counter what he perceived to be the evils of imperialism, the League opposed political dependence on either Britain or the United States, supporting instead Canadian autonomy within the British Empire. 2, leading the Ligue Nationaliste until retiring from the assembly on September 5,1912 and he supported the eventual creation of an independent navy, but did not want it to be under British command, as Laurier had planned. Bourassas attacks depleted Lauriers strength in Quebec, contributing to the Liberal Partys loss in the 1911 election, ironically, Bourassas moves aided in the election of the Conservatives, who held more staunchly Imperialist policies than the Liberals. In 1910, while serving in the Provincial Assembly as the member for Saint-Hyacinthe he founded the newspaper Le Devoir to promote the Nationalist League, above all they are French Canadians weakened and degraded by the conquest and three centuries of colonial servitude. Let no mistake be made, if we let the Ontario minority be crushed, Bourassa led French Canadian opposition to the participation in World War I, especially Robert Bordens plans to implement conscription in 1917. He agreed that the war was necessary for the survival of France and Britain and his opposition to conscription brought him the anglophone publics disfavour, as expressed by hostile crowd amassed in Ottawa that threw vegetables and eggs during his oration. In the 1930s, Bourassa demanded that Canada keep its gates shut to Jewish immigrants, Bourassa also opposed the draft during the conscription crisis of 1944 in World War II, though less effectively, and was a member of the Bloc populaire. His influence on Quebecs politics can still be today in all major provincial parties. Macmillan, Bourassas political thought was largely a combination of Whig liberalism, Catholic social thought and he was distinctly liberal in his anti-imperialism and general support for civil liberties for French Canadians, while his approach to economic questions was essentially Catholic. Bourassa opposed state intervention wherever possible and increasingly throughout his career emphasized the need for moral reform, as Levitt has shown, attitudes of historians, both Anglophone and Francophone, toward Bourassa consistently have been colored by the position of each historian on the major issues Bourassa addressed
10.
Franco-Ontarian
–
Franco-Ontarians are French Canadian or francophone residents of the Canadian province of Ontario. They are sometimes known as Ontarois, according to the 2006 Canadian census, there were 488,815 self-declared francophones in Ontario, comprising 4.1 per cent of the provinces total population. A further 1,000,000 Ontarians self-declared French to be one of mother tongues. According to the subsequent 2011 Canadian census, there were 493,300 self-declared francophones in Ontario comprising 3. 9% of the total population. There were 284,115 Ontarians who declared French as their home language, Franco-Ontarians constitute the largest French-speaking community in Canada outside of Quebec, as well as the largest minority language group within Ontario. Other communities with notable populations are Lakeshore, Windsor, Penetanguishene. Most communities in Ontario have at least a few Franco-Ontarian residents, Ottawa, with 128,620 francophones, has the provinces largest Franco-Ontarian community by size. Some smaller communities in Ontario have a francophone majority and these include Hearst, Kapuskasing, Smooth Rock Falls, Embrun, St. Charles, Sturgeon Falls, Rockland, Casselman, Dubreuilville, Vankleek Hill and Hawkesbury. The French presence in Ontario dates from the mid-17th century, early settlements in the region include the Mission of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons at Midland in 1649, Sault Sainte Marie in 1668, and Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit in 1701. Southern Ontario was part of the Pays den-haut of New France and was part of the province of Quebec until Quebec was split into The Canadas in 1791. Modern Franco-Ontarians are instead descended primarily from people who moved to Ontario from Quebec or New Brunswick in the 19th and 20th centuries, in popular usage, the first meaning predominates and the second is poorly understood. Although most Franco-Ontarians meet both definitions, there are notable exceptions, both meanings can be politically charged. The Franco-Ontarian identity is further split into three groups according to historical waves of settlement and immigration, the first wave of settlement in the Detroit/Windsor area came in the 18th century, under French rule. Most settlers then came from what is now Quebec, including both full French and Métis, a second wave came in the 19th and early 20th centuries to the areas of Eastern Ontario and Northeastern Ontario. In the Ottawa Valley, in particular, some families have moved back and forth across the Ottawa river for generations, which results in a complex borderland identity. In the city of Ottawa some areas such as Vanier and Orleans have a rich Francophone heritage, the third and most recent wave consists of Quebecers and other francophones who move to the larger cities and often preserve their original identity as their primary cultural affiliation. Franco-Ontarians may also have ties to more than one of these three groups, which blurs the lines between these distinctions. Intermarriage between Franco-Ontarians and people of ethnic or cultural backgrounds is also quite common
