Charlottetown and Québec Conferences of 1864 National Historic Event

Charlottetown and Québec, Quebec
 © Jules-Isae benoit dit Livernois / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada | Library and Archives Canada / C-016588
Delegates at the Québec conference
© Jules-Isae benoit dit Livernois / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada | Library and Archives Canada / C-016588
 © George P. Roberts / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada | Library and Archives Canada / C-000733 © Jules-Isae benoit dit Livernois / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada | Library and Archives Canada / C-016588
Address : Charlottetown and Québec, Quebec

Recognition Statute: Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date: 2014-07-07
Dates:
  • 1864 to 1864 (Significant)

Event, Person, Organization:
  • Macdonald, Sir John A.  (Person)
  • Archibald, Sir Adams George  (Person)
  • Brown, George  (Person)
  • Campbell, Sir Alexander  (Person)
  • Cartier, Sir George-Etienne  (Person)
  • Chandler, Edward Barron  (Person)
  • Coles, George  (Person)
  • Dickey, Robert Barry  (Person)
  • Galt, Sir Alexander Tilloch  (Person)
  • Gray, Colonel John Hamilton  (Person)
  • Gray, John Hamilton  (Person)
  • Henry, William Alexander  (Person)
  • Johnson, John Mercer  (Person)
  • Langevin, Sir Hector-Louis  (Person)
  • McCully, Jonathan  (Person)
  • McDougall, William  (Person)
  • McGee, Thomas D'Arcy  (Person)
  • Palmer, Edward  (Person)
  • Pope, William Henry  (Person)
  • Steeves, Hon. William Henry  (Person)
  • Tilley, Sir Samuel Leonard  (Person)
  • Tupper, Sir Charles  (Person)
  • Fathers of Confederation  (People, group)
Other Name(s):
  • Charlottetown and Québec Conferences of 1864  (Designation Name)
Research Report Number: 2013-03

Importance: Two conferences held during the fall of 1864 were fundamental to the creation of the Dominion of Canada

Plaque(s)


Existing plaque:  165 Richmond Street, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

These pivotal meetings laid the groundwork for Canadian Confederation. Here in September 1864, the Charlottetown Conference brought together leaders from the colonies of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Province of Canada (Ontario and Quebec). The delegates built relationships and agreed in principle to a federal union, leading to the Québec Conference the following month. There, the Fathers of Confederation drafted the 72 Resolutions, which laid the foundation of the British North America Act. Signed into law by Queen Victoria, this constitutional act created the Dominion of Canada on July 1st 1867.

Existing plaque:  Montmorency Park, Québec, Quebec

These meetings laid the groundwork for Canadian Confederation. In October 1864, a month after an agreement in principle was reached at Charlottetown, 33 delegates from the British North American colonies met at the Province of Canada’s Parliament, then located here. They drafted the 72 Resolutions, which established the structure of the federal union. After heated debates among supporters and critics of confederation, the resolutions were given Royal Assent as the British North America Act. On July 1st 1867 this act, uniting the Province of Canada (Quebec and Ontario), Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, created the Dominion of Canada.