Rebellion Losses Bill

The Rebellion Losses Bill was a controversial law enacted by the legislature of the Province of Canada in 1849. Its passage and subsequent assent by the Governor General, Lord Elgin makes the bill a landmark piece of legislation in Canadian political history. The bill was enacted to compensate Lower Canadians who lost property during the Rebellions of 1837 and was modeled on similar measures which provided compensation in Upper Canada. Those who had participated in the Rebellion were to be compensated with taxpayer's money except for those who had been tried and convicted of sedition. These provisions angered some of Montreal's citizens and provoked two days of violent disturbances known as the Montreal Riots.

The rebellions of 1837-38 and the subsequent reprisals by forces loyal to the British crown had devastated much of Lower Canada. The British responded by sending Lord Durham to British North America to appraise the situation and in 1839, Durham submitted a report titled Report on the Affairs of British North America (1839) calling for the union of the Canadas, responsible government for the British North American colonies, and measures to encourage the assimilation of French-Canadians.

Upper and Lower Canada were united in 1840 and by 1848, a governor general was in place who would - in theory - ensure a system of responsible government where the governor would yield to the will of the legislature and cabinet.

In 1846 a report was approved in principle that estimated Lower Canada's rebellion losses at £100,000 (in the currency of the day). In February 1849 Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, co-leader with Robert Baldwin of Canada's Reform government, introduced a bill in the legislature, then sitting in Montreal, that would compensate those who could prove their losses and had not been convicted of sedition. Lafontaine felt that compensation would help to heal the rift that had been opened in the aftermath of the rebellion, thus containing the influence of more radical French-Canadian nationalists such as Louis-Joseph Papineau.

The Tories' opposition to the bill was fierce. Since some rebels (at least those who had escaped conviction or exile) would be able to claim compensation for losses, the Tories claimed the bill was in fact a reward to traitors. They were also upset at the perceived loss of political power to French-Canadians. The fact that the bill was introduced during a severe economic depression certainly did not help to ease the tensions.

Despite the Tories' opposition, the bill was passed by the Reform-dominated legislature and submitted to Lord Elgin for assent. Responsible government still being a new concept in Canada, some of the outraged English-Canadians demanded that Elgin refuse assent. The governor had his own serious misgivings about the bill and therefore many Tory supporters were confident that the governor would reject the "advice" of the legislature and cabinet.

However, Elgin's commitment to responsible government outweighed his objections to the bill, and the Rebellion Losses Bill was signed into law on April 25, 1849. Montreal's English population was incensed. Elgin's carriage was pelted with stones and rotten eggs, and by the evening a riot had developed which would last for two days and involve thousands of people. By the time the rioting had ended, mobs had caused thousands of dollars in damage and razed the Montreal Parliament building.

The controversy around the bill also contributed to the rise of an American annexationist movement, who published the Montreal Annexation Manifesto on October 11, 1849.

Despite the violent opposition, Lord Elgin's actions were supported by a majority of Canadians and by the Liberal government in London. Responsible government had survived its first major test and would go on to be entrenched into Canada's political infrastructure.