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This thesis examines the work of married women in working-class families in Ottawa in 1871. It demonstrates that home production by women for consumption, sale and/or exchange, together with arrangements of household structures, made a primary and fundamental contribution to the survival of the family unit. Women laboured and their labour was vital. Using the 1871 manuscript census, the study analysed the myriad of ways that married women utilized their available resources to reduce expenditures and to increase the wage-based family income. It was the work of women that provided some protection against the insecurity of inadequate wages, seasonal employment, illness or death.

Border crossings, in both their literal and figurative sense, are central to the experience of migration. This study explores the making of German identities in two localities, Berlin (Ontario) and Buffalo (New York) in the decades between 1850 and 1914. It is interested less in the construction of ethnic boundaries, and, more so, in the social acts of exchange across them. It argues that out of the conversation between 'German', 'Canadian', and 'American' identities a German public emerged. This public was a malleable entity. At times, its boundaries stretched as far as Germany itself. It also spanned Canada and the United States; for German language, culture, and festivity provided common ground for migrants on both sides of the border. Then, again, the German public seemed to splinter in two, with public conversations on German-ness acquiring a distinct Canadian or American tinge. Although the German public bore a remarkable similarity in both Buffalo and Berlin, grounded as it was in a shared festive culture, the national sphere left its indelible print. The discourse of ethnic contributions that loomed so large in the United States never crossed the border into Canada. In Berlin, ethnic leaders instead sought to de-politicize German culture and to reinforce the idea of dual loyalties. In both countries, the idea of race minimized the distance between 'Anglo-Saxons' and 'Teutons'. Yet in reconciling competing national mythologies, German Canadians highlighted the perceived closeness of the German and British Empires, whereas German Americans deftly appropriated the notion of cultural superiority. While its contours were sketched by ethnic leaders, the German public was, by no means, a unified entity. To capture its motion and fluidity, and to minimize a dependence on cultural gatekeepers, this study turns to the colourful history of the singers' festivals (Sangerfeste)---public celebrations of German music, language, and culture---and seeks to unravel the webs of meaning and experience spun around the history of German-language schooling. In so doing, it finds that, by the early twentieth century, the culture of consumption began to rival German festive culture, while the German mother tongue was refashioned into a language of modernity. The German public, in short, had transformed from a means of communication into a symbol of ethnic identity. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This thesis provides a comparative analysis of sentencing patterns in tW0 time periods separated by seventeen years. Research of this type has not been attempted previously, due to the limited availability of historical sentencing data. Using statistics obtained from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Fingerprint System from 1983--1984 and the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics' Adult Criminal Court Survey for 1999--2000, this study examines whether recommendations made by various federal inquiries into sentencing have affected judicial decision-making at the trial court level. At the core of this discussion is an examination of those initiatives aimed at reducing the use of imprisonment as a sanction. Comparisons reveal that sentencing patterns in 1983--1984 differed significantly from those present in 1999--2000. In some cases, it appears as though the changes were in accordance with recommendations of the federal inquiries whereas in others, the patterns that were discovered seemed to indicate that judges ignored or even defied the directives given. With regard to the promotion of community sanctions, there was an overwhelming increase in the use of probation. In contrast, the findings with respect to the use of imprisonment were more ambiguous; while the overall decrease in the rate of incarceration had been a stated objective, the manner in which this reduction was achieved appears to contradict the recommendations of the inquiries. Essentially, this study shows that, despite the wealth of time and research devoted to the reform of the sentencing process in this country, the impact of these efforts on judicial practices has been minimal.

This thesis examines the first fifty years of the University Women's Club of Ottawa, an organization that brought together women graduates of different universities at a time when women were not admitted to post-secondary education in Ottawa. Previous studies of women's voluntary organizations have concentrated on the period prior to 1930. Using the later period of 1910 to 1960, this thesis examines the changing demographics, mandate and related activities of the UWCO during the war, interwar and postwar periods. Drawing almost entirely on internal records, the thesis shows how the club's focus was increasingly externalized, at the same time as it underwent dramatic changes in demography and size. Club members identified first with their status as university graduates, and later in terms of gender. Both world wars served as watersheds in terms of mandate and activities. The thesis provides significant data to allow comparisons with other groups during this period.

The staples theory has dominated the history of the fisheries in Atlantic Canada for the last century. Historians have discussed the economic and social history of the region largely in terms of the impact of international trade and war. These two factors are important; however, they alone do not explain the development of the region. The people who lived there came from diverse backgrounds, chose to settle there for different reasons, and approached the exploitation of the resources of the region based on their own experiences and aspirations. This thesis builds on studies of maritime communities from New England to Newfoundland to explain how people in a fishing-based community in Nova Scotia in the late 18th century lived and worked. It examines the economic strategies found in this Nova Scotian fishing community in comparison with other studies of economic pluralism in rural communities from New England, Quebec, and New Brunswick. Liverpool, Nova Scotia was settled by New England Planters in 1759, after the expulsion of the Acadians. The circumstances of the new settlers were affected by the political climate and the changing conditions of international trade. Thirty years after their arrival, the New England Planters had shaped their economy and society based their environment and on their own traditions and expectations. This study examines the work lives of fishermen and seafarers, the work of women, and the economic role of the family in order to understand the full world of work that shaped this community. It examines the activities of local merchants as well as the role of community institutions to understand how this society functioned. Much as other historians have concluded about rural agricultural communities, this study concludes that this fishing based community had, and depended on, a plurality of economic activities, both commercial and non-commercial in nature, and that this plurality was a source of strength.

This thesis contributes to scholarly debates over the enactment and effect of age, gender, and kin-based property rights during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The thesis focuses on three distinct waves of reform, involving homestead, married women's property, intestacy, and maintenance legislation. Similar 'waves' of legislation have been documented throughout North America. This thesis brings new evidence to the discussion of legislative intentions and regulatory effects. In doing so, it challenges current conceptualizations of regulatory relationships, an issue of some importance to those interested in matters of governance and legislative efficacy. The evidence collected during this investigation raises several questions respecting current theories of legislative formulation. Current theories hold that family property rights were altered during this period for two reasons: as part of a liberal drive to increase individual rights; and as a result of 'the state's' interest in protecting reproduction from economic volatility. The evidence renders each of these interpretations problematic: first, while women's individual rights were expanded, men faced increasingly overt regulation; and second, with respect to 'the state's' interest in reproduction, this thesis challenges the reification of a neutral, transhistorical state. The evidence reveals self-interested legislative factions with overlapping and contradictory regulatory agendas. In response, this investigation tests 'state formation' theory as a means of understanding legislative formulation and regulatory relationships, commenting on both the strengths and weaknesses of the approach. This thesis also brings new evidence to two areas of interest to students of legislative implementation: the nature of judicial construction, and the value of cases for understanding regulatory relationships. Studies of the married women's property acts, both in the United States and Canada, have revealed that the judiciary interpreted the statutes conservatively, inhibiting full realization of the legislation's equal-rights potential. This thesis revisits the issue, scrutinizing legislative intentions and exploring the doctrines of judicial construction, resulting in the reinterpretation of both legislative intent and judicial behaviour. The second debate surrounding legislative implementation revolves around an emerging sense of the inherent limitations of cases as source material. Both social and legal historians have commented on the narrow scope of case files for the exploration of regulatory relationships. What happens outside the courtroom is of great concern, and case files reveal only a 'slice' of human experience. Moreover, within legal history, several commentators have noted that published cases differ significantly from the vast majority of unpublished cases. This thesis contributes to the understanding of regulation both within and outside the courtroom, employing published and unpublished cases, bureaucratic correspondence and quantitative studies.

This study recovers the history of Canada's Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses, or VADs, from their creation as a reserve of emergency auxiliary nursing assistants in 1914 under the aegis of the St. John Ambulance Association, to their demobilization and resettlement into peacetime civilian life to 1930. Canada's VAD plan was modelled on a British scheme initiated in 1909 in anticipation of war in Europe. Intended to supplement the domestic military medical services, the role of the Canadian VADs evolved with the advent of the war into fulltime nursing assistance. The research for the study is based on archival sources, including diaries, letters and pre-recorded narratives of VADs who served in Canada and overseas, official government documents, and those of the St. John Ambulance and Red Cross in Canada and Britain, who were responsible for the VAD organisation. In addition to manuscript sources of individuals involved in the VAD movement, the published records from contemporary books, memoirs, journals and newspapers were examined. This research permitted the identification of 808 Canadian VADs, out of an estimated 2,000 primarily young, single, middle-class Anglo-Protestant women, who served as nursing assistants, but also as ambulance drivers and support personnel. The study demonstrates the evolution of Canadian VADs as an extension of the nineteenth century voluntarist traditions of the women's movement. Through patriotic and maternalist ideology, VAD service was legitimised as a form of voluntary active service for women, equating to masculine military service. Excluded from Canada's military hospitals overseas, VADs served in military convalescent hospitals at home, and British military hospitals abroad. As volunteers, they challenged the professional aspirations of Canada's qualified graduate nurses, motivating them to seek regulation of the qualifications for nursing practice, and elevating the educational standards. Volunteering as a VAD offered Canadian women a singular opportunity for active war service. Previously overshadowed by British VAD experience, the study of Canada's VADs restores a dynamic organisation to the history of women and women's work, as well as contributing to scholarship in Canadian medical and military history.

Ce travail a pour but de démontrer que les quatre seigneuries de l'Ontario (Pointe-à-L'Orignal, Katarakoüï et les arrière-fiefs Toneguignon et Belle-Isle) étaient des rejetons du commerce des fourrures français. Conséquemment, le régime seigneurial, tel qu'il était appliqué dans les Pays-d'en-haut, était tout simplement une méthode de gestion de la terre qui permettait au propriétaire de contrôler les ressources naturelles sur sa propriété. Ainsi, les propriétaires de ces seigneuries formèrent une nouvelle classe de seigneurs/entrepreneurs qui se distinguaient des autres seigneurs de la vallée du St-Laurent. De fait, ils ne manifestaient pas d'attachement à la culture seigneuriale. Ce mode de gestion de la terre n'était pour eux qu'un outil grâce auquel ils pouvaient monopoliser les ressources sur leur terre. Le comportement de ces seigneurs des Pays-d'en-Haut, que l'on peut qualifier de phénomène, ressemble étrangement à celui des seigneurs canadien-sanglais capitalistes du 19e siècle.

Cette étude tente de cerner la place des minorités françaises du Canada dans l'oeuvre du prêtre-historien Lionel Groulx, l'un des principaux maîtres à penser du mouvement nationaliste canadien-français pendant la première moitié du vingtième siècle. Depuis une quarantaine d'années, la territorialisation du discours nationaliste--qui s'est recentré presque exclusivement sur le Québec--se reflète dans la production scientifique de la plupart des historiens du nationalisme canadien-français. À peu d'exceptions près, les chercheurs ont eu tendance à négliger la problématique des minorités françaises dans leurs études de la pensée de Groulx, sombrant ainsi dans une certaine forme d'anachronisme. Pourtant, le nationalisme de Groulx débordait largement le Québec et englobait les Canadiens français des autres provinces, voire les Acadiens et les Franco-Américains de la Nouvelle-Angleterre. Son idéologie était issue, d'une manière générale, de la philosophie traditionaliste qui concevait les nations d'abord et avant tout comme des communautés de langue, de culture, d'histoire et de foi engendrées par la Providence. C'était cette philosophie qui poussait Groulx à conclure que les Canadiens français avaient reçu une mission providentielle, celle d'introduire, en Amérique, le christianisme et la civilisation européenne, mission dont ils s'étaient toujours acquittés fidèlement, selon lui. En vertu de ce raisonnement, Groulx put considérer les minorités comme les «vestiges» de l'ancien Empire colonial français, ce qui leur conférait le droit de se développer conformément à leur «génie» national. La définition organique de la nation à laquelle adhérait Groulx assignait aux Canadiens français du Québec, en tant que gardiens du «foyer» de la nation, des devoirs et des responsabilités vis-à-vis de leurs «frères» des avant-postes. Groulx prit lui-même de nombreuses mesures pour favoriser le rapprochement entre Canadiens français de tout le pays. Au lendemain de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, les jeunes historiens nationalistes, dont plusieurs étaient disciples de Groulx, cherchèrent à «moderniser» la discipline historique, à la rendre plus «scientifique». Ils bannirent donc de leur édifice conceptuel la thèse de l'intervention de la Providence dans l'histoire de la nation canadienne-française. Par conséquent, les néonationalistes croyaient trouver dans le discours sur l'objectivité scientifique la justification conceptuelle nécessaire à l'abandon des minorités françaises qui leur semblaient promises, dès lors, à la disparition. L'affrontement entre la pensée de Groulx et celle des intellectuels néonationalistes sur la question des minorités françaises illustre bien les tiraillements qui ont accompagné la mutation du discours nationaliste au lendemain de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale: d'«organique» qu'il était, celui-ci tendrait de plus en plus vers une forme territoriale.