Editing Canada (section)

===Modern times===
[[File:Alexander-NFLD.jpg|thumb|At [[Rideau Hall]], [[Governor General of Canada|Governor General]] [[Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis|the Viscount Alexander of Tunis]] (centre) receives the bill finalizing the union of [[Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland]] and Canada, March 31, 1949.]]

[[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]] (now [[Newfoundland and Labrador]]) joined Canada in 1949.<ref>{{cite web|author=Summers, WF |title=Newfoundland and Labrador |work= Canadian Encyclopedia |publisher=Historica-Dominion|url= http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=a1ARTA0005714#SEC925203|accessdate=2011-05-23}}</ref>
Canada's post-war economic growth, combined with the policies of successive Liberal governments, led to the emergence of a new [[Canadian identity]], marked by the adoption of the current [[Flag of Canada|Maple Leaf Flag]] in 1965,<ref>{{cite book|last=Mackey|first=Eva|title=The house of difference: cultural politics and national identity in Canada|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2002|isbn=0802084818|page=57}}</ref> the implementation of [[official bilingualism]] ([[English language|English]] and [[French language|French]]) in 1969,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Landry|first=Rodrigue|coauthors=Forgues, Éric|title=Official language minorities in Canada: an introduction|journal=International Journal of the Sociology of Language|date=May 2007|issue=185|pages=1–9|doi=10.1515/IJSL.2007.022}}</ref> and [[Multiculturalism#Origins in Canada|official multiculturalism]] in 1971.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Esses|first=Victoria M|coauthors= Gardner, RC|date=July 1996|title=Multiculturalism in Canada: Context and current status|journal=Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science|volume=28|issue=3|pages=145–152}}</ref>
There was also the founding of [[Social democracy|socially democratic]] programmes, such as [[Medicare (Canada)|Medicare]], the [[Canada Pension Plan]], and [[Student loans in Canada|Canada Student Loans]], though provincial governments, particularly Quebec and Alberta, opposed many of these as incursions into their jurisdictions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.escwa.un.org/information/publications/edit/upload/sd-01-09.pdf|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5nDiozOLF|archivedate=2010-02-01|title=Social Policies in Canada: A Model for Development|last=Sarrouh|first=Elissar|date=January 22, 2002|work=Social Policy Series, No. 1|publisher=United Nations|pages=14–16, 22–37|accessdate=2011-05-23}}</ref>
Finally, another series of constitutional conferences resulted in the 1982 [[patriation]] of Canada's constitution from the United Kingdom, concurrent with the creation of the [[Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms|Charter of Rights and Freedoms]].<ref name=bickerton>{{cite book| editor=Bickerton, James; Gagnon, Alain| title=Canadian Politics| publisher=Broadview Press| edition=4th| isbn=1551115956| year=2004|pages=250–254, 344–347}}</ref> In 1999, [[Nunavut]] became Canada's third territory after a series of negotiations with the federal government.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Légaré|first=André|year=2008|title=Canada's Experiment with Aboriginal Self-Determination in Nunavut: From Vision to Illusion |journal=International Journal on Minority and Group Rights|volume=15|issue=2–3|pages=335–367|doi=10.1163/157181108X332659}}</ref>

At the same time, Quebec underwent profound social and economic changes through the [[Quiet Revolution]] of the 1960s, giving birth to a modern [[Quebec nationalism|nationalist]] movement. The radical [[Front de libération du Québec]] (FLQ) ignited the [[October Crisis]] in 1970.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Munroe|first=HD|title=The October Crisis Revisited: Counterterrorism as Strategic Choice, Political Result, and Organizational Practice|journal=Terrorism and Political Violence|year=2009|volume=21|issue=2|pages=288–305|doi=10.1080/09546550902765623}}</ref> The [[Quebec sovereignty movement|sovereignist]] [[Parti Québécois]] was elected in 1976 and organized an unsuccessful [[referendum]] on sovereignty-association in 1980. Attempts to accommodate Quebec nationalism constitutionally through the [[Meech Lake Accord]] failed in 1990.<ref name=sorens>{{cite journal|last=Sorens|first=J|title=Globalization, secessionism, and autonomy|journal=Electoral Studies|date=December 2004|volume=23|issue=4|pages=727–752|doi=10.1016/j.electstud.2003.10.003}}</ref> This led to the formation of the [[Bloc Québécois]] in Quebec and invigoration of the [[Reform Party of Canada]] in the [[Western Canada|West]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/a-brief-history-of-the-bloc-qubcois/article1672831/|title=A brief history of the Bloc Québécois |newspaper= The Globe and Mail|first=Daniel |last=Leblanc|date=August 13, 2010 |accessdate=2010-11-25}}
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{{cite book|title=The new politics of the Right: neo-Populist parties and movements in ...|first1=Hans-Georg |last1=Betz|first2= Stefan|last2= Immerfall|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=H9cGkDJgW7wC&pg=PA173|page=173|publisher=St. Martinʼs Press|year=1998|isbn=0312211341}}</ref>
A [[Quebec referendum, 1995|second referendum]] followed in 1995, in which sovereignty was rejected by a slimmer margin of just 50.6 to 49.4 percent. In 1997, the [[Supreme Court of Canada|Supreme Court]] ruled that [[Reference re Secession of Quebec|unilateral secession]] by a province would be unconstitutional, and the [[Clarity Act]] was passed by parliament, outlining the terms of a negotiated departure from Confederation.<ref name=sorens/>

In addition to the issues of Quebec sovereignty, a number of crises shook Canadian society in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These included the explosion of [[Air India Flight 182]] in 1985, the largest mass murder in Canadian history;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.majorcomm.ca/en/termsofreference/|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20080622063429/http://www.majorcomm.ca/en/termsofreference/|archivedate=2008-06-22|title=Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182|publisher=Government of Canada |accessdate=2011-05-23}}</ref> the [[École Polytechnique massacre]] in 1989, a university shooting targeting female students;<ref>{{cite web|last= Sourour|first=Teresa K|url=http://www.diarmani.com/Montreal_Coroners_Report.pdf|year=1991 |format=PDF|title=Report of Coroner's Investigation|accessdate=2011-05-23}}</ref> and the [[Oka Crisis]] in 1990,<ref>{{cite news|title=The Oka Crisis|url=http://archives.cbc.ca/politics/civil_unrest/topics/99/|format=Digital Archives |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)|year=2000|accessdate=2011-05-23}}</ref> the first of a number of violent confrontations between the government and Aboriginal groups.<ref>{{cite book|last=Roach|first=Kent|title=September 11: consequences for Canada|publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press|year=2003|pages=15, 59–61, 194|isbn=077352584X}}</ref> Canada also joined the [[Gulf War]] in 1990 as part of a US-led coalition force, and was active in several peacekeeping missions in the late 1990s.<ref>{{cite web
|title=Canada and Multilateral Operations in Support of Peace and Stability
|url=http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/news-nouvelles/news-nouvelles-eng.asp?cat=00&id=914
|publisher=National Defence and the Canadian Forces
|year=2010
|accessdate=2011-05-23}}</ref>
It sent troops to Afghanistan in 2001, but declined to send forces to Iraq when the US invaded in 2003.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Jockel|first=Joseph T|coauthors=Sokolsky, Joel B|year=2008|title=Canada and the war in Afghanistan: NATO's odd man out steps forward|journal=Journal of Transatlantic Studies|volume=6|issue=1|pages=100–115|doi=10.1080/14794010801917212}}</ref>