We should be celebrating Dominion Day

David Menzies, National Post  Published: Friday, June 30, 2006

Ah, today 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.