À l'origine, la francisation de l'immigration et la francophonisation de l'entreprise au Québec, dans le projet d'affirmation tel que validé par les recherches de la Commission royale d'enquête sur la situation de la langue française, la Commission Gendron, devaient servir à garantir la pérennité du fait français en Amérique du Nord. C'est aussi un cocktail qui permet d'expliquer le phénomène de polarisation du vote des minorités ethnique et linguistique au Québec observé lors du référendum du 20 mai 1980. Ces dernières, à l'échelle des deux majorités, ne sont pas restées muettes, mais leur point de vue demeurera ignoré tant et aussi longtemps qu'elles seront définies comme telles. L'histoire nationale, comme son nom l'indique, n'a que faire d'appendices, d'excroissances et d'immigrants. Elle se veut un socle et un promontoire sur lequel s'arrime l'identité d'une majorité et trône un aréopage d'ancêtres. Au Canada, il y en a, que, et seulement deux. Pour se faire, notre tentative d'explication est formée de trois parties qui correspondent aux deux mandats successifs des libéraux de Bourassa et le premier des péquistes de Lévesque. Lors du premier mandat du gouvernement libéral, que nous pouvons qualifier aussi de pré-crise, le débat se limite aux droits acquis en matière de langue d'instruction que semblent ne plus détenir certains anglophones d'adoption et au sujet de la francophonisation de l'entreprise privée. Durant son second mandat, les suggestions de la Commission Gendron deviennent des réalités concrètes. Elles donnent lieu à la Loi sur la langue officielle, la Loi 22. C'est le cadre d'un nouvel ordre économique et social au Québec. Elle sera décisive dans la position que prendront les minorités linguistique et ethnique à l'égard du gouvernement du Québec. Dans la troisième partie, la position des belligérants est tranchée. Le 15 novembre 1976, la province venait d'élire un gouvernement dont le dessein est l'indépendance du Québec, appelée souveraineté-association. La Loi 22 est suspendue. Elle est remplacée par la fameuse Loi 101. Les mêmes objectifs que visait la Loi sur la langue officielle (la Loi 22) sont reconduits et qualifiés de projet de société. Ils se distinguent cependant de leurs précédents par leur radicalisme. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This thesis is an analysis of advertising directed at Canadian women that appeared in Canadian publications during World War Two. The reaction advertisers had to women's new wartime roles reveals much about what they believed was appropriate for women. Wartime advertisements often appeared quite progressive in their portrayal of women at first glance. However, a closer look reveals that many advertisements contained ideas about women that were quite traditional, even if the surface image seemed progressive. Commercial and government advertisements have been analysed separately and this separate analysis reveals several differences between the two. Commercial advertisements encouraged consumption and presented it as an aid to women doing war work and to help them stay feminine while government advertisements stressed thrift and portrayed women as capable participants in the war effort. Despite this reliance on the traditional, much that is positive can be seen in advertising's wartime portrayal of women.

Through an examination of the discourse involved in the gun control debate surrounding Bill C-68, this thesis examines the importance of rhetoric in the claims-making process. In particular, it examines the manner in which women's groups used the rhetoric of violence against women to lobby for further restrictions to Canada's gun control laws. The rhetoric used by women's groups is examined through a social constructionist perspective, utilizing Joel Best's model of claims-making. Major sources of data included House of Commons and Senate Committee submissions and transcripts. Through a descriptive analysis, the rhetoric of women's groups is presented; in addition, a content analysis aids in summarizing the broader findings. The principal finding is that a number of specific claims were commonly used by women's groups. These include: the impossibility of separating criminals from law-abiding citizens; the notion of women as defenceless victims; the concept of power; the notion of guns as inherently dangerous; the long-term implications of gun control; and, the assertion that gun control is only one part of a larger solution. While the Ecole Polytechnique killings served as a catalyst to push for increasing controls on firearms, during the debate over Bill C-68, women's groups unanimously choose to highlight the more common plight of the abused woman. The issue of violence against women saved as the common "ground" for woman's groups, who offered different approaches to the issue, but nonetheless presented a common theme in terms of their definition of the problem. During the debate over Canada's most recent gun control legislation, the gendered discourse of violence against women played a key role in the rhetoric of women's groups.

La question qui nous intéresse est celle de la responsabilité pénale. Responsabilité bien particulière puisqu'il s'agit de celle exclusivement d'une jeunesse jugée pour meurtres, puis, subséquemment trouvée coupable et condamnée au châtiment suprême (soit la mort par pendaison) dans l'espace-temps du Québec en ses XIXè et XXè siècles (soit de 1874 à 1967). À dessein de s'enquérir du discours autour de la responsabilité pénale d'adolescents (entre 15 et 20 ans) auteurs d'homicides, notre travail trouve principalement ses sources dans le dépouillement de dossiers de procès. Notre démarche comporte exclusivement une recherche en archives (aux Archives nationales du Canada). Il s'agit, plus précisément, d'une analyse documentaire de contenu du discours sur la responsabilité (arguments, affirmations, énoncés, propos) qui se dégage du matériau à l'étude. Discours tant institué (avocats, juges, jurés, psycho-médical, etc.) que celui donnant à entendre les paroles de gens «ordinaires» (organisations, prêtres, journalistes, etc.). Il est important de préciser que concernant LE discours analysé, quelque soit l'acteur social qui s'exprime, il est toujours question du " sens commun " de la notion de responsabilité . En somme, on pouvait dire que le sens commun entend la responsabilité des jeunes dans un SENS LARGE. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

En 1903, 1907, 1909 et 1910, des projets de loi antisyndicaux sont déposés coup sur coup au Sénat. Ces bills auraient bien pu freiner l'évolution du syndicalisme canadien, qui est à cette époque à un tournant de son histoire. Menés par Lougheed, McMullen et Belcourt, certains sénateurs s'inquiètent de «l'influence étrangère» sur les sections locales canadiennes des syndicats internationaux. Aucun des projets de loi n'est adopté par le Parlement; mais le fait que la plus haute institution canadienne se penche sur la question mérite une attention particulière. Par contre, l'historiographie ne s'attarde guère sur ce débat, l'effleurant seulement à quelques reprises. Ce débat mérite pourtant une analyse en profondeur, puisque les constatations que l'on y fait sont révélatrices et démontrent son importance. Avec la reprise économique au tournant du siècle, le nombre d'organisations ouvrières augmente à un rythme effarant. La croissance du nombre des syndicats (particulièrement celui des organisations internationales) est phénoménale, ce qui entraîne le nombre de grèves à un sommet jusqu'alors inégalé. Certaines grèves particulièrement violentes, s'attirent alors les foudres de l'élite politique qui accusent des «agitateurs» américains de venir créer le trouble entre les travailleurs canadiens et leurs employeurs. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This thesis examines the changing representations of children and clothing by drawing upon textual, visual and material sources. Clothing is an important part of our identities and it may be argued that clothing helps to define who we are. Clothing is our second skin. On a social, economic and material level, it shields us from the natural environment. On a cultural level, it mediates relationships between the individual and the larger society by delving into constructions of gender, ritual and dress. This study explores the ways in which clothing illustrates social change in late nineteenth-and early twentieth-century Canada. This thesis provides an opportunity to examine changing representations of children and clothing by drawing upon a wide variety of sources and building upon previous studies. In examining constructions of gender and childhood, it focuses on the emergence of the 'new boy', using clothing as a point of entry into the history of masculinity and femininity. What also emerges is the importance of the mother/son relationship, as portrayed by the process of dressing children. Overtime, rituals associated with clothing children altered. This daily process required more clothing that clearly differentiated between boys' and girls' garments. An adapted material history study of clothing allows the unique opportunity to peel back the layers of meanings of clothing, photographs, images and representations, advertisements, advice columns, and mail-order catalogue descriptions. This research strategy also permits a re-appraisal of nineteenth and early twentieth-century images that have dominated our perception of children and gender. This study, exploring a diversity of textual and pictorial sources, such as newspapers and advertisements, trade literature, and department store catalogues, informed by material history questions and viewed from a Canadian perspective, helps to unravel the mysterious connections between 'new women' and 'new boys'.

La pensée du philosophe canadien Charles Taylor constitue une contribution majeure et originale à la réflexion sur l'identité et sa reconnaissance. Depuis bientôt quarante ans, son oeuvre traite des questions identitaires et nationales, notamment du débat Canada-Québec. Mon étude présente tout d'abord les éléments clés de la philosophie de Taylor: les éléments constitutifs de l'identité individuelle et collective, et sa méthode herméneutique. C'est à partir de ces éléments que Taylor propose sa lecture du débat identitaire Canada-Québec. On note une évolution de sa pensée depuis les années soixante jusqu'à l'échec de l'accord du lac Meech (1990). Taylor exige alors la reconnaissance de la nation québécoise par le reste du Canada, dans un pays entièrement redessiné. Par contre, depuis le second référendum sur la souveraineté du Québec (1995), Charles Taylor tient des propos qui exigent moins du Canada. Bref, il nous semble aujourd'hui que Taylor le politologue s'est éloigné de Taylor le philosophe.

The 1950s was the decade of the largest volume of immigration to Canada. Germans figured prominently in this great wave contributing 200,000 migrants in the peak years of 1951--57, a number only surpassed by British newcomers. In fact, more Germans came to Canada in this seven year span than during any comparable period in Canadian history. This influx was made possible by the great interest in emigration in Germany and the generous immigration policy of the Canadian government. Indeed, government immigration policies and programs were decisive and determining factors, shaping the size and character of the German influx. Policy makers in Ottawa could and, in fact, did exercise considerably more control over the intake of Germans than was possible for the movement of other immigrant groups. They saw in German migrants a means of meeting Canadian economic and manpower needs, a policy they carried out with mixed success, missing golden opportunities in the first half of the 1950s. This thesis is an analysis of the German immigration boom to Canada from the perspective of Ottawa's policies and programming. This thesis is the first comprehensive study which addresses the influence of government policy on German immigration to Canada in the 1950s. It assesses Ottawa's policy within the complex context of key domestic and external forces. This study also explores new fields including the developments leading to the government's decision to admit German nationals, the history of the Canadian Christian Council for the Resettlement of Refugees in the 1950s and Canada's role in the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration. It is based primarily on records of the government of Canada but also draws on personal interviews, manuscript collections, newspapers and secondary sources, including recent German scholarship in the field. This study argues that Ottawa's German immigration policy was profoundly governed by Canada's economic and political self interest.

The intent of this endeavor is to consider the Second World War from the perspective of one group of men who served with a machine gun regiment based out of Ottawa. The objective is to rediscover what the early war experience was like for these Canadian soldiers. All the questions considered in this undertaking may be subsumed into three basic queries: Who were these men who came forward to serve? Why had they 'volunteered' to go to war? And, what were the early war years like for these predominantly young Canadians? The third query comprises the bulk of the attention in this thesis. The time period under review is from September 1939 until May of 1941. This covers the mobilization period in Ottawa and the unit's first overseas posting in Iceland. This time frame concerns an overlooked aspect of war service---the induction and foundation period for Canadian Armed Forces. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

An analysis of literature from an historical perspective brings to light the cultural change experienced by French-Canadian society during the first two decades of the Union period. French-Canadian poetry from 1838 to 1859 reflected the onset of conservative nationalism that would shape Quebec society until the Quiet Revolution. The French-Canadian intellectual elite made increasing use of poetry published in a growing number of newspapers to influence public opinion. By identifying the themes and techniques evident in the poetry compiled in four volumes of Les Textes Poetiques du Canada Francais, it is possible to recognize why this elite attempted to control the values and behaviour of the rural population. The significant migration of young farmers from Canada East to the United States was the dominant motivation for the intellectual elite to employ social control through literature by the 1850s. The fight against social change provided common ground for the convergence of the interests of the intellectual and clerical elites in their effort to guarantee national survival through the preservation of the traditional rural lifestyle of the habitant. French-Canadian poetry in this period both reflected the mindset of the community and contributed to popular social control by discouraging emigration and promoting colonization. Ultimately, this analysis of the fundamental conceptual change in how the writers viewed the aim of poetry in this period, will permit a better understanding of how the elite manipulated popular culture to reinforce traditional values and to ensure the survivance of the French-Canadian nation.