The First Lord Dorchester, Guy Carleton and His Involvement with Quebec and the Canadas

Previously published in Examiner

Part 1 of the new series on Lord Dorchester

To learn more about Canadian or Quebec politics, both McGill University and Concordia University in Montreal offer wonderful political science degrees, that you may want to look into.

For further reading, Montreal's Concordia University has a wonderful women's studies program at the Simone do Beauvoir Institute

We now are setting the tone for the three female Governor Generals of Canada, two of which were from Montreal Quebec.

A history of the evolution of Canada is important to the understanding of the role of a governor general. We will look at four male governors at four different periods of Quebec and Canadian history. They mark the stage for governor generals. These men made decisions primarily on behalf of men. Women's issues were really not considered with any semblance of respect before the 20th century. The actions of these governors affected the lives of women and that is why they are chosen as a preamble before our women governor generals will be discussed.

Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester: First Governor General of the Canadas

Governors-in-Chief/Governors General of The Canadas, 1786-1840

During this period of time, which is still pre-confederation, the title Governor General changed solely from Governor General of Quebec, to Governor in chief of the Canadas. The territory to be known as Canada was divided into upper and lower Canada. Upper Canada was British populated and lower Canada was mainly French Canada or Quebec. Just as Samuel de Champlain was the first governor of New France, and Jeffrey Amherst was the first Governor General of Quebec, Lord Dorchester formerly Guy Carleton, before he was raised to peerage, was the first Governor General of the Canadas.

Guy Carleton was the first Baron of Dorchester and the first Governor in chief of the Canadas. He served as governor of Quebec two times, making him the 23rd governor, of New France, which later became known as Quebec from the period of 1786 '" 1796. Lord Dorchester was also the Governor General of British North America, the antecedent to the modern day governor general of Canada.

The duties of a governor general is to represent the ruling British Monarch in Canada. The governor general carries out administrative duties and also celebratory or festive activities. However, prior to confederation this title meant ruling Upper and Lower Canada from Britain since we were still a British colony at that time.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Carleton,_1st_Baron_Dorchester