Charlottetown Conference

Charlottetown Conference

The Charlottetown Conference was held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island for representatives from the colonies of British North America to discuss Canadian Confederation. The conference took place between 1–9 September 1864.

The conference was originally planned as a meeting between representatives from the Maritime colonies only: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Newfoundland agreed with the movement, but was not notified in time to take part in the proceedings. Britain encouraged a Maritime Union between these colonies, hoping that they would then become less economically and politically dependent on the Crown, as well as provide for greater economic and military power for the region in light of the ongoing American Civil War. However another colony, the Province of Canada (modern Ontario and Quebec), heard news of the planned conference and asked that the agenda be expanded to discuss a union that would also include them. Newfoundland also requested to be able to attend the conference in August 1864, but by then it was too late to change the plans.

Coincidentally there was a circus in Charlottetown at the same time, which was much more interesting to the majority of the population. There was no one working at the public wharf at the foot of Great George Street when the Canadian delegates arrived on the steamship SS Victoria, so Prince Edward Island representative William Henry Pope had to handle receptions by himself, including rowing out to greet the new arrivals. The Canadian delegates stayed each night on board the SS Queen Victoria as the circus and the Maritime delegates had taken up most of the accommodations in town.