Long Ditch the Queen

Anti and pro monarchist movements spark debate

With Canada’s 139th birthday this year, some may wonder about the history of our nation, what it took to get where it is today, and more importantly, who has helped create the democracy we have now.

Enter Canadian organizations that have developed to root for or against our relations with the British monarchy and Queen Elizabeth. Forget about Quebec wanting to become its own republic. What about Canada being independent, with our own head, our own government and essentially our “own” country?

Her Royal Highness the Queen of England has once said she wanted “the Crown in Canada to represent everything that is best and most admired in the Canadian ideal.”

Unfortunately, not everyone share the same ideal.

Countries like Australia have also protested allegiance to the Queen, stating they have the stability to be independent nations. Such Republicans still count down the days to when Canada is “free”, analysing and scrutinizing every move of the monarchy and indicating how an independent government can do it better.

Canada has followed suit, with the development of Citizens of a Canadian Republic (CCR), a not-for-profit organization created in 2002 advocating the “Canadianization” of the head of state.

Most recently, CCR organized an anti-monarchist rally on Victoria Day where about 20 protestors showed up at Queen’s Park. Ashok Charles, CCR Toronto chapter president, led the group while recanting the Oath of Citizenship that declared the allegiance to the Queen and her heirs and successors.

Tom Freda, CCR’s national director, said the rally was supposed to point out things that no longer involve Canada and to allow the public to be aware of these things.

“We’ve found out that the more Canadians know about the monarchy, the less they want to keep it,” he said. “There are just so many aspects of the institution that just no longer reflect Canadian values.”

The CCR has protested everything from the way the Governor General is elected to how the national flag is represented. In March, the CCR called on the Department of Canadian Heritage to update their protocol when flying the Royal Union Flag on Commonwealth Day (March 13), stating that the Canadian flag should be flown next to it on all Canadian government buildings.

CCR officials have gone as far as to say the Commonwealth flag, one that shows more of Canadian heritage, should be flown in lieu of the Royal Union flag, a symbol of British Parliament. Neither the government nor the monarchy responded.

All protests aside, pro-monarchist movements are just as prominent as anti-monarchist movements. Gavin Guthrie is a spokesperson for the Toronto-based Monarchist League, which advocates the exact opposite of CCR’s mandates.

Although Guthrie agrees that education is important for Canadians when it comes to having an informed opinion regarding the monarchy, there are some things anti-monarchists should understand about the country before making statements.

“They’ll say that we’re not independent because we still have the Crown, that we’re not an independent country because we’re this colony of the UK, which is completely untrue,” he says.

“Canada is now a completely sovereign nation and it just happens to share its head of state with 15 other countries.”

The League was made to protect the monarchy in the 1960s, when Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was still in office. Recently, the League posted a tribute to Queen Elizabeth on her birthday on its website, providing methods for Canadians to send celebratory messages to Her Royal Highness. It also held a massive celebration in Montreal this past April in the presence of Lieutenant Governor Lise Thibault.

According to Guthrie, the League is meant to keep the monarchy in the forefront of people’s minds and consider how the nation would operate structurally if the Queen was not present.

“If Republicans came into play, it would affect the balance of power,” he said. “How would you select the President? How will power be protected where it won’t be abused? All these sort of details need to be worked out and I’ve never heard a proposal from anyone on how they would do it.”

The League, like CCR, have no Canada Day events planned this year, but annual festivities will be held at Toronto’s Nathan Philips Square to celebrate our nation -- independent or not.

For more information on Citizens for a Canadian Republic, please visit www.canadian-republic.ca. For more information on the Monarchist League, please visit www.monarchist.ca

Illustration: Sean Ward

Source: Scene and Heard.ca (www.sceneandheard.ca), Canada Day issue