George etienne cartier biography samples
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Along with the section on his return to the law and the development of his social connections, the group of biographies devoted to his family, friends, and advisers highlights certain figures close to Cartier (Alexandre-Maurice Delisle, for example). Yet he rapidly distanced himself from it, as documented in a letter he sent in September 1838 to Charles Buller, chief secretary to Lord Durham.
Cartier belonged to the group of players in the political life of United Canada who, between 1841 and 1867, succeeded in instituting reforms in the colony.
Cartier wanted his French Canadian compatriots to thrive. He was one of the Fathers of Confederation, who laid the institutional foundation of a federal system characterized by the sharing of powers between a central government and provincial governments. His father, Jacques Cartier, was a prominent salt and fish merchant, while his grandfather established the town and became wealthy through grain trading.
At the age of 10, Cartier began his education under the guidance of his mother.
He had, however, already made a name for himself through his eloquence and his patriotic songs. Cartier therefore encouraged certain individuals, such as Joseph Dubuc and Marc-Amable Girard, to settle in Manitoba to ensure the presence of young professional francophones in that province, which was created in 1870.
The colonization of territories west of Ontario was inescapably linked to relations with Indigenous people and the Métis.
A key architect and Father of Confederation, Sir George-Étienne Cartier led Québec into Confederation and helped negotiate the entry of the Northwest Territories, Manitoba, and British Columbia into Canada. Henceforth, Cartier was convinced that resorting to violence was not the solution to the colony’s constitutional problems, declaring in 1865: “We must either have a Confederation of British North America or else be absorbed by the American Confederation.” Several other British subjects in North America had been serving the cause, but few did it as well as Cartier and none did it better.
Among Cartier’s clients were the Grand Trunk Railway Company and the Sulpicians, with whom he had studied.
When the troubles of 1837–38 broke out in Lower Canada, Cartier was only 23. A supporter of some form of responsible government, he became the trusted associate of Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine in Montreal in the 1840s.
Entitled Avant tout je suis Canadien, the song would become a source of inspiration for the militant political organization the Fils de la Liberté. He later attended the Collège de Montréal, where he graduated in 1831.
Career as a Lawyer and Politician
After completing his education, Cartier joined the law office of Rodolphe Lafontaine, a noted member of the Parti Patriote.
Sir George-Étienne Cartier
September 06, 1814
Sir George-Étienne Cartier
Birth of Sir George-Étienne Cartier
Sir George-Étienne Cartier was born to a wealthy family of grain exporters and millers in Saint-Antoine, Lower Canada. Cartier was involved in one of the biggest disgraces in Canadian political history: the Pacific Scandal (1872–73) [see John Hillyard Cameron; Lucius Seth Huntington].
Accused by his opponents of being the “liegeman” of the railway entrepreneurs, Cartier became, together with Toussaint Trudeau and Asa Belknap Foster, one of the major players in this industry, which was vital to a country whose territory and population was rapidly increasing.
Cartier and other 19th-century Canadian politicians were involved in controversy and scandal.
As well, Cartier maintained close relations with the authorities of the Roman Catholic Church and, following the example of individuals such as lawyer and member of parliament Gédéon Ouimet, he intervened in the crises that periodically shook the church; the decisions of both parties were sometimes influenced as a result.
Together, they attempted to find solutions to problems which, among other things, affected the Métis’ quality of life and contributed to the deterioration of their relations with new Anglo-Protestant arrivals. He declined ministerial positions until 1848, when he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of United Canada.
Father of Confederation
Cartier played a pivotal role in the Canadian confederation movement.
Cartier himself fought on the side of the Patriotes at the battle of Saint-Denis on 23 Nov. 1837. However, with the Patriotes facing defeat, he was forced to flee and go into hiding for a time. They were motivated in part by the desire to enrich themselves and to back their own supporters, and corruption and favouritism regularly found their way into their strategies, notably during the implementation of large government projects.