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Despite international impressions of Canada as a peaceful and calm nation, Canada’s journey to independence and democratic, fair government was a violent one punctuated with open rebellions. None of the rebellions compared in scale or overall effectiveness to the famous American Revolution, but they shared the common thread of settling Canadians asking for, then demanding, a decent and just way of life. And while most of the rebellions failed to achieve their intended goals, they forced British and Canadian lawmakers to recognise the importance of responsible and honest government of a new nation.

 In the 1830s, Upper and Lower Canada were controlled by the ruthless and greedy Family Compact and Chateau Clique. Following the defeat of French forces by Britain, incoming British settlers and merchants to Lower Canada quickly disliked the efforts of the Chateau Clique, a powerful oligarchy that controlled Lower Canada politics, who hindered trade with Upper Canada and blocked the installation of a Legislative Council. Reformers led by Louis Joseph Papineau won the support of the voters in the 1834 election, and demanded responsible government with a resolution passed by the Assembly in 1836. But Lord Russell, the British colonial secretary, flatly refused. This left reformers with little choice in their minds but to rebel, believing that Britain had not learned the lesson of the American Revolution. The British governor ignored the Assembly and used funds without Assembly approval, motivating Papineau’s son’s Fils de la Liberte to be more active. Street clashes caused the governor to declare martial law, making all anti-government activities illegal. Wolfred Nelson and the Patriotes, who had hoped to resist what they felt was unlawful arrest by British officials, were no match for British forces, and they fell quickly to the British. Towns sympathetic to the Patriotes were sacked by Tory men, and British forces did nothing to control it. The rebellion of 1837 in Lower Canada was a disaster, and Papineau was fled to the USA. But the anger displayed and the resulting chaos in Lower Canada inspired others to strike out at a system of oligarchy that ground working settlers and merchants down.

As much as British settlers in Lower Canada thought the French colony was backward, things were little better in Upper Canada. The 1836 election, a landslide victory for the Conservatives, was the result of a vigorous campaign by Sir Francis Bond Head, the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, slamming the reform movement, and driving reformers like William Lyon Mackenzie to desperation. Reform-minded colonists felt only armed rebellion could dislodge the entrenched Family Compact. Mackenzie admired the American Revolution, and he had hoped to seize Governor Bond Head, and declare independence from Britain. But his revolution was disorganised and doomed from the start. After the rebels lost the element of surprise in Toronto by killing Colonel Robert Moodie, government forces quickly routed the haphazard rebels, ending the rebellion at the Battle of Montgomery’s Farm. Mackenzie fled, and his rebellion achieved little other than convincing the public that his attack on the government was a monstrous act of selfishness. In both cases, the rebellions of 1837 did not gain support from the general public, and many people felt that they should deal with their problems in legal ways.

 Even though the British government crushed the rebellions of 1837, it didn’t change the fact that people were unhappy. A revolutionary group known as the Patriot Hunters operated from the USA and raided Troy targets throughout 1838 to free Canada from “British tyrrany.” In Lower Canada, a Robert Nelson led Les Freres Chausseurs in a short rebellion in February 1838, hoping he would be president of a new republic, but the revolutionaries were outgunned, and captured. Individually, the rebellions of 1837 and 1838 were failures, but they did prod certain people within the British government, like Lord Durham, to consider the need for Canadian settlers to have responsible government.

 Settlers outside the two main colonies also found government policies too oppressive tolerate, the Metis in particular. Even back in 1815, Metis people attacked British officials at Red River. In 1869 would follow the most successful rebellion in Canadian history. Louis Riel, the Metis leader, responded to abuses by incoming settlers and a lack of interest by the new Canadian government by seizing Fort Garry. He had hoped to force Canada to grant them guarantees that all languages, religions, and ways of life would be protected. Very remote from Canada and much too far away for the Canadian army to respond any time soon, Ottawa and the Metis were able to negotiate Red River being a new province. The rebellion had succeeded in securing the Metis’ list of demands, and the entry of Red River into Canada as the province of Manitoba.

 The events of 1870, including the execution of Thomas Scott, would be re-examined in 1885 when the Metis and white settlers in Manitoba felt they were again being mistreated by the Canadian government. Farmers suffered high costs, poor harvests, and difficulties getting their products to market. Metis people suffered from diseases and alcohol abuse. At the same time, MacDonald’s government cut money to the area. Louis Riel returned from Montana, and he sent a new list of demands, but this time the government ignored him. Instead, the government sent the NWMP to stabilise the area, and the Metis felt that more force would be required this time to gain the government’s attention. Riel seized Batoche and declared a provisional government, hoping again to negotiate guarantees from Canada, more considerable guarantees. But this time, the government used police, then troops brought on the new railway, to weaken and subdue Riel, and arrest him, and put him on trial. He was convicted of treason and hanged, for rebellion, and his role in the execution of Thomas Scott, a white Englishman, at the hands of Metis executioners. Instead of forcing Canada to provide stronger guarantees for the Metis, Riel’s second revolution ended in disaster, and Riel’s death.

 Rebellion is a violent act against a nation’s justice system and constitution, but in Canada, it has occurred several times as a symbol of the need for a nation to carefully fulfil its obligations to its people to provide a fair way of life for all. Earlier rebellions in 1837 and 1838 failed miserably, but they signified the need for attention to the plight of the common person in the colonies. Later, in 1869 and 1885, the rebellions in Manitoba were larger and more successful, but they too forced Canada to show more kindness and care for its outlying people. And while these rebellions largely failed to overthrow governments or defeat British armies, they all succeeded in shaping Canada as the gentle and peaceful nation it is known as around the world today.