Reader “The Patriot” steered me to a column appearing in the National Post this morning, by David Menzies, about what is now called Canada Day, which of course is tomorrow. I asked Mr. Menzies if we could publish it here at ProudToBeCanadian, and he obliged us.
It’s in our columnist section but I’ll post it here too since tomorrow is Canada Day and I don’t want you to miss the article.
We should be celebrating Dominion Day
Ah, tomorrow is the First of July. It means a day off work. It’s the unofficial start of summer. And millions celebrate with barbeques sizzling, hammocks swaying and fireworks blasting. For 24 years, July 1 has been known as Canada Day. But undoubtedly, some “old-timers” (that is to say, those Canadians who have memories stretching back to the early ‘80s) likely recall the original moniker for July 1: Dominion Day, a holiday officially established by statute in 1879 but now consigned to the scrapheap of political correctness.
The sneaky process that resulted in Dominion Day’s assassination is certainly a story worth retelling. The deed took place in Parliament on July 9, 1982, back when the Trudeau regime was calling the shots. Purging Dominion Day from the Canadian lexicon occurred on an otherwise laidback Friday afternoon, the last day of Parliament before the summer recess. A mere 13 members were present, seven short of an official quorum.
Alas, so much for formalities: a private member’s bill seeking to officially expunge “Dominion Day” and replace it with “Canada Day” was quickly rubberstamped. Faster than you could say, “fuddle duddle” more than a century of history disappeared.
The move was “consistent with what Liberal governments have been doing since [Lester] Pearson took over, which is trying to ‘re-brand’ Canada,” notes Stephen Clarkson, a University of Toronto history professor who specializes in Canadian politics and Pierre Trudeau. “I think for people like me, I’m sort of the last vestige of the British Empire, so [Dominion Day] has nostalgic qualities.”
While it’s hard to determine precisely how many Canadians are or were upset over the “re-branding”, Clarkson does note that those most likely to take umbrage—“white Anglo-Saxon protestants”—were already the “minority in Canada by the early ‘80s.”
Even so, according to the Monarchist League of Canada, “dominion” is a very proud and powerful term. After all, the preamble to the Canadian constitution—that document so beloved by Liberals then and now—states there shall be “one Dominion.” And Monarchists note that the D-word is misunderstood: Dominion is synonymous with independence, freedom and free association—not subservience or colonization.
Alas, a contributing factor to Dominion Day’s exclusion from the Canadian holiday vocabulary is that dominion does not translate very well into French. Given that pandering to Quebec sensibilities is practically Canada’s national pastime, Dominion Day was perhaps doomed for this reason alone.
How sad. After all, the genesis of Dominion Day had much to do with that very positive Canadian attribute of compromise. As noted in The Canadian Encyclopedia, Dominion “refers to Dominion of Canada (British North America Act preamble), to the federal government or Parliament, and to Canada’s status in relation to the Imperial government. The fathers of confederation wanted to call the new nation the Kingdom of Canada, but the British Government, fearing the sensitivity of Americans to references to the Crown and anxious not to antagonize them after the American Civil War, insisted the Fathers find another title. Leonard Tilley suggested ‘dominion’: (Psalm 72). ‘He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.’ The Fathers said it was intended to give dignity to the federation, and as a tribute to the monarchial principle. Under the Constitution Act, 1982, ‘Dominion’ remains Canada’s official title.”
On sober second thought, no wonder Dominion Day was given the axe. After all, it’s all so “B&B” (biblical and British)—neither of which jives that well with Liberals.
Ideological agendas aside, perhaps re-branding wouldn’t have been so offensive if only the replacement for the regal-sounding Dominion Day wasn’t the appallingly bland Canada Day—a “McHoliday” if ever there was one. Can anyone imagine Independence Day being replaced by USA Day? The most important American holiday would end up sounding like the name of a national newspaper—just as our most important national holiday now sounds like a brand of ginger ale.
Even so, wouldn’t it be a fitting birthday gift if the Harper Conservatives were to undo this particular example of Liberal vandalism, restoring Dominion Day to its rightful place? While changing the name (again) of our most important holiday is not high on the priority list, it would certainly be something worth celebrating. At least for those Canadians who still care about such things.
—David Menzies
– Pro-Dominion Day/anti-Canada Day buttons are now available for $10/pair; email orders to [email protected]
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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