Archbishop A.-A. Taché of St. Boniface
Archbishop A.-A. Taché of St. Boniface

Author: Raymond J.A. Huel

Publisher: University of Alberta

Published: 2003-09-12

Total Pages: 458

ISBN-13: 9780888644060

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This study goes beyond the traditional "great man" approach to biography and incorporates the newer directions of social history to produce a critical study of a controversial religious figure in western Canada. A biography of Bishop A.-A. Taché is more than the story of an individual because it is the chronicle of the Catholic Church in Quebec and the Canadian North West. It is a study of how clerical elites influenced society and its evolution and an account of an attempt to transplant and nurture and idealized agricultural society of Quebec on the prairies. As a pioneer French Canadian Oblate missionary and bishop A.-A. Taché was associated with some of the most momentous events in western Canadian history: the Red River Insurrection, French Catholic colonization, the Saskatchwan Rebellion and the school and language controversies in Manitoba and the North West Territories. Taché was an authoritarian figure and this tendency was reinforced by religious and episcopal office. In practice he was a micro manager who desired to control everything. Despite his valiant efforts his vision of a sister province of Quebec in the West failed to materialize and Quebec failed to respond to his urgent pleas for immigrants and Quebec politicians undermined his efforts by suggesting that he had betrayed his native province. Taché’s career is also a chronicle of failure and frustration but he took consolation in the fact that he had not shirked his duty nor tarnished his honour. Within this context Taché’s actions are a reminder of sacred accords concluded between English and French, Catholic and Protestant in 1867 and 1870. As an administrator Taché’s forte was in managing the material assets of his diocese. On the other hand, he lacked interpersonal skills in dealing and relating with his clergy. In the final analysis Taché will always remain an enigmatic figure.

Policing the Great Plains
Policing the Great Plains

Author: Andrew R. Graybill

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 2007-11-01

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 0803260024

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In the late nineteenth century, the Texas Rangers and Canada?s North-West Mounted Police were formed to bring the resource-rich hinterlands at either end of the Great Plains under governmental control. Native and rural peoples often found themselves squarely in the path of this westward expansion and the law enforcement agents that led the way. Though separated by nearly two thousand miles, the Rangers and Mounties performed nearly identical functions, including subjugating Indigenous groups; dispossessing peoples of mixed ancestry; defending the property of big cattlemen; and policing industrial disputes. Yet the means by which the two forces achieved these ends sharply diverged;øwhile the Rangers often relied on violence, the Mounties usually exercised restraint, a fact that highlights some of the fundamental differences between the U.S. and Canadian Wests. Policing the Great Plains presents the first comparative history of the two most famous constabularies in the world.

Violence, Order, and Unrest
Violence, Order, and Unrest

Author: Elizabeth Mancke

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 2019-05-06

Total Pages: 534

ISBN-13: 1487531613

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This edited collection offers a broad reinterpretation of the origins of Canada. Drawing on cutting-edge research in a number of fields, Violence, Order, and Unrest explores the development of British North America from the mid-eighteenth century through the aftermath of Confederation. The chapters cover an ambitious range of topics, from Indigenous culture to municipal politics, public executions to runaway slave advertisements. Cumulatively, this book examines the diversity of Indigenous and colonial experiences across northern North America and provides fresh perspectives on the crucial roles of violence and unrest in attempts to establish British authority in Indigenous territories. In the aftermath of Canada 150, Violence, Order, and Unrest offers a timely contribution to current debates over the nature of Canadian culture and history, demonstrating that we cannot understand Canada today without considering its origins as a colonial project.

Nation Maker
Nation Maker

Author: Richard J. Gwyn

Publisher: Random House Canada

Published: 2011-09-27

Total Pages: 690

ISBN-13: 0307366871

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#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER An exciting story, passionately told and rich in detail, this major biography is the second volume of the bestselling, award-winning John A: The Man Who Made Us, by well-known journalist and highly respected author Richard Gwyn. John A. Macdonald, Canada's first and most important prime minister, is the man who made Confederation happen, who built this country over the next quarter century, and who shaped what it is today. From Confederation Day in 1867, where this volume picks up, Macdonald finessed a reluctant union of four provinces in central and eastern Canada into a strong nation, despite indifference from Britain and annexationist sentiment in the United States. But it wasn't easy. The wily Macdonald faced constant crises throughout these years, from Louis Riel's two rebellions through to the Pacific Scandal that almost undid his government and his quest to find the spine of the nation: the railroad that would link east to west. Gwyn paints a superb portrait of Canada and its leaders through these formative years and also delves deep to show us Macdonald the man, as he marries for the second time, deals with the birth of a disabled child, and the assassination of his close friend Darcy McGee, and wrestles with whether Riel should hang. Indelibly, Gwyn shows us Macdonald's love of this country and his ability to joust with forces who would have been just as happy to see the end of Canada before it had really begun, creating a must-read for all Canadians.