Project Alberta

July 4, 2007
Calling July 1 'Dominion Day' is almost as wrong as calling it 'Canada Day'
By Link Byfield

Another Canada Day has come and gone, allowing conservatives to lament for the thousandth time the eradication of the older term "Dominion Day."

Old-timers like me still wistfully recall when July 1 was "Dominion Day," named for what was known to us then (and is still called in the Constitution) the Dominion of Canada.

There is, after all, something silly about "Canada Day."

The English don’t have "England Day," nor the Americans "United States Day," nor the Danes Denmark Day. So why Canada Day?

At the risk of offending conservatives, I’m going to offer a whole new thought.

Maybe "Dominion Day" was wrong too. Maybe they’re both wrong.

Maybe July 1 should have been called Confederation Day all along.

After all, that’s what actually occurred on July 1, 1867. Three British colonies confederated into one nation of four provinces. Six others followed later.

The truth is, the term "dominion" itself was something of a humbug.

Canada became the first of the British "dominions," followed by Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Newfoundland and even, briefly, pre-republican Ireland. The term meant "self-governing under the British Crown." No word for such a thing having been coined, one had to be invented. "Republic" didn’t suit, because it means "no king."

Some ultra-Tory Canadians in 1867 favoured "Kingdom of Canada," but to most this seemed inappropriate in the New World.

Leonard Tilley, the premier of New Brunswick, suggested "dominion," a synonym for "realm" that sounded less monarchical than "kingdom." So that word was written into the second sentence of the Canadian Constitution, and a year or so later we got "Dominion Day."

By the 1960s, people of fashionable political tastes thought it anachronistic to go on referring to the "Dominion Government," and, like true liberals everywhere, they decided to erase the past by substituting something emotively vague and intellectually meaningless. The holiday officially became Canada Day in 1982.

A nothing name, to be sure. But I’d argue the real mistake was made long before – in 1879, when "Dominion Day" was enshrined in statute.

After all, if Dominion meant "owing allegiance to the British Crown," it was as true of us before 1867 as it was after. Confederation changed nothing in that regard.

What did change on July 1, 1867, was that we confederated.

An event is a fact, and facts endure. They don’t change with times and tastes.

That’s why Americans don’t have "Republic Day" (or "America Day") on July 4. They have "Independence Day;" just as the French have "Bastille Day." These refer to key historical events.

Our key event was Confederation.

We can only guess why the Liberals didn’t do the obvious and change the name of our holiday to Confederation Day.

Perhaps they considered it an unwelcome reminder that the provinces, not Ottawa, created Canada as we know it. The provinces invented Ottawa.

A "Confederation Day" would remind us that we are in fact a federal system of divided sovereignty, in which numerous important rights, powers and responsibilities remain entirely with the provinces, always did, always will, and always should.

Far better, to the Liberal mindset, to persuade people that Ottawa’s in charge of everything and the provinces are just glorified municipalities.

If we hope ever to restore responsible government and constitutional federalism, we should name our national holiday Confederation Day.

- Link Byfield
LinkByfield@ccfd.ca

From my email;

But there is Australia Day. I've never quite figured out why some people have a problem with Canada Day. Every nation has a national festival this is ours and has been for a quarter century.

Because the change from Dominion day to Canada Day was done in a sneaky underhanded typically Liberal way.... at a time of parliamentary recess where there were less people in the house to make a quarrum....it was rushed through at the last minute with no forewarning ( like the flag act)..... (snip)