| |||||||
| Anthem | "Canada for Us" | ||||||
| Capital | Quebec | ||||||
| Largest city | Montreal | ||||||
| Language official |
French | ||||||
| others | English, First Nations languages | ||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||||
| Government | Single Party State | ||||||
| Supreme leader | Jean Vigneault (1932-1943), Marc Saint-Pierre (1943-1944) | ||||||
| Population | 4.5 million (1943) | ||||||
| Established | 1932 | ||||||
| Currency | Canadian Dollar | ||||||
The Imperial State of Canada was the official name of Lower Canada under the leadership of the Nationalist Party of Lower Canada from 1932 to 1944. Although it did not include the word "fascism" in its constitution, the ISC had many authoritarian and corporatist characteristics similar to Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
History[]
The ISC was created in 1932 when the Nationalist Party of Lower Canada, led by Jean Vigneault, overthrew the country's democratic government in a bloodless coup d'état. Upon coming to power, Vigneault became the country's supreme leader, the head of state and head of government. Opposition parties were banned and only local elections were allowed to take place between candidates appointed by the Nationalist Party. The government immediately began censoring the media and silencing critics. Some opposition leaders were imprisoned as well and a secret police force, "la garde vert" meaning "the green guard", was established. Vigneault stated that his goal was to create a francophone single party state in all of North America. Military expenditures in the country tripled, and its first military operation came in 1933, when Vigneault ordered an invasion of southern Nunavut. The territory was annexed to Lower Canada that year. In 1935, the government began a campaign of mass deportation, known as "Opération pays propre" meaning "Operation Clean Nation". Thousands of First Nations people, along with other ethnic and visible minorities were deported to remote villages in the country's Northern parts and were given access to limited supplies. When a rebellion ensued in these villages in 1936, the government blocked off all shipments to the entire region, resulting in approximately 15,000 deaths due to hypothermia, diseases and malnutrition. To this day, some consider this an act of genocide by the ISC government.
World War 2[]
When World War 2 broke out in 1939, Lower Canada was initially neutral, with Jean Vigneault saying that he did not want to get involved in European affairs. Despite this, ISC sent millions of dollars worth of weapons and financial support to both Germany and Italy. When Upper Canada and the United States entered the war in 1941, Vigneault felt increasingly pressured to join the axis powers. The ISC officially entered the war on 24 January, 1942 and began an invasion of Newfoundland immediately. Newfoundland's far inferior military force and limited support from the United Kingdom led to its surrender in March. Vigneault told German leader Adolf Hitler that the ISC would likely have control of the entire North American continent by 1944 at the latest. The country's next target was Acadia, which it invaded in July 1942 with limited German air support. Acadia gave a fair amount of initial resistance, holding off the axis advance in the North until September, however when the ISC began a ground offensive in Cape Breton Island, Acadian defences in the North weakened, and the ISC took control of the Halifax, the Acadian capital, in December, resulting in their surrender. Both Newfoundland and Acadia were annexed to Lower Canada in January 1943. At this time, the ISC began to mobilize its army for what it described as a "massive invasion" of Upper Canada. Before the invasion, the ISC began conscripting males as young as 16 to its military, saying "anybody capable of fighting must fight". The invasion began in April 1943 and forces in the South reached the city of Kingston later that month, however forces farther north were stopped by Upper Canada in the border city of Ottawa. Ottawa was finally captured by the ISC in July and the axis advance reached Toronto, the capital and largest city of Upper Canada, that month. An intense battle ensued for four months from until November, when Lower Canadian forces were forced to retreat from the city. Allied forces, led by the United States and Upper Canada, began a counter-offensive against the ISC in December. That month, ISC Supreme Leader Jean Vigneault died unexpectedly and Marc Saint-Pierre, the deputy Supreme Leader, took his position. Allied forces also began an offensive in Acadia and the entire region was liberated by May 1944. Allied forces entered the ISC capital of Quebec from the South, East and West in October and the ISC surrendered, resulting in allied occupation of the entire country.