Canadian Confederation

This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (June 2020)

This article is part of a series on
Canadian Confederation
Conferences
Charlottetown, 1864 Quebec, 1864 London, 1866
People
Fathers of Confederation Laurentian elite
Related
Anti-Confederation Party British North America Acts Chesapeake Affair Constitutional history Great Coalition Quebec Resolutions Territorial evolution of Canada Trent Affair 1867 Canadian federal election
Canada Portal
v t e

Canadian Confederation (French: Confédération canadienne) was the process by which three British North American provinces—the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick—were united into one federation, called the Dominion of Canada, on July 1, 1867.^[1][2] This process occurred in accordance with the rising tide of Canadian nationalism that was then beginning to swell within these provinces and others. Upon Confederation, Canada consisted of four provinces: Ontario and Quebec, which had been split out from the Province of Canada, and the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick; the province of Prince Edward Island, which had been invited to the initial Quebec Conference of 1864, declined to further pursue integration until its admission in 1873.^[3] Over the years since Confederation, Canada has seen numerous territorial changes and expansions, resulting in the current number of ten provinces and three territories.