Commentary
The first thing to know about the July 1 holiday is that it does not celebrate Canada’s independence. The first of July is the anniversary of Confederation in 1867, the refounding of the Province of Canada and two older provinces as a federal union of four provinces—a Dominion that would expand from sea to sea.
The name of “Dominion” to describe the very first self-governing member state within the British Empire reflected a status unique to Canada initially. Then followed Australia, New Zealand, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, and the Union of South Africa, as well as India, Pakistan, and Ceylon in due course. Canada had blazed the trail. Accordingly, Canadians celebrated “Dominion Day” from the 1870s until the holiday was hijacked by ideologues in a certain shady episode in Parliament in 1982….