Why did the British government send Lord Durham to Canada?

Discover Canada introduces this figure with one direct sentence: Lord Durham, an English reformer sent to report on the rebellions, recommended that Upper and Lower Canada be merged and given responsible government. The reason for his mission, in the guide's own words, is that he was sent "to report on the rebellions." So the answer the test wants is the option that matches that phrasing: to investigate and report on the causes of the rebellions.

The rebellions in question are the ones Discover Canada describes a few sentences earlier — the failed armed uprisings of 1837–38. The guide says that "in the 1830s, reformers in Upper and Lower Canada believed that progress toward full democracy was too slow," and that "when armed rebellions occurred in 1837–38 in the area outside Montreal and in Toronto, the rebels did not have enough public support to succeed. They were defeated by British troops and Canadian volunteers." Lord Durham was the British government's response to those events: a reform-minded official sent to find out what went wrong and to recommend a way forward.

The conclusions of his report shaped the next constitutional reform. Discover Canada says he "recommended that Upper and Lower Canada be merged and given responsible government," a recommendation the guide describes as the foundation of modern Canadian democracy. "This meant that the ministers of" the Crown would be drawn from the elected legislature — the principle that became the cornerstone of responsible government in 1840's Act of Union and after.

The question is testing whether new citizens recognise the trigger that sent Lord Durham to Canada. Discover Canada uses an exact phrase — "sent to report on the rebellions" — and the test answer is the choice that matches it.

The wrong answer choices each describe missions that Discover Canada assigns to other figures or earlier eras. Trade treaties, exploring new territories, and setting up British colonies all belong elsewhere in the guide's narrative. None of them is what Durham was tasked with. His one task in Discover Canada is investigating and reporting on the rebellions of 1837–38.