Canadian republicanism is the advocacy of constitutional change in Canada leading to the abolition of constitutional monarchy and the creation of a republic. A constitutional monarchy is a form of government established under a constitutional system which acknowledges a hereditary or elected monarch as head of state. ... In a broad definition a republic is a state or country that is led by people who do not base their political power on any principle beyond the control of the people living in that state or country. ...

History

William Lyon Mackenzie advocated the creation of a Canadian republic during the 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion and, after the defeat of his uprising in Toronto, established a provisional government for the Republic of Canada on Navy Island. The Patriotes Rebellion in Lower Canada is also thought to have been republican in nature. (see also Rebellions of 1837). The British government's Durham Report in the aftermath of the rebellions led to the introduction of responsible government thus quelling republican sentiment by giving settlers in what became the United Province of Canada more rights while retaining British rule and eventually leading to Canadian confederation. William Lyon Mackenzie William Lyon Mackenzie (March 12, 1795 – August 28, 1861) was a Canadian journalist and rebel. ... 1837 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... The Republic of Canadas flag - the two stars represent Upper and Lower Canada. ... }|135px|City of Toronto, Ontario Official Flag]]|Coat Image=[[Image:{{{Coat Image}}}|135px|City of Toronto, Ontario Coat of Arms]]}} {{Canadian City/Disable Field={{{Disable Motto Link}}}}} Motto: Diversity Our Strength {{Canadian City/Location Image is:{{{Location Image Type}}}|[[Image:{{{Location Image}}}|thumbnail|250px|City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada Location. ... A provisional government is an emergency or interim government set up when a political void has been created by the collapse of a previous administration or regime. ... Categories: Canada-related stubs | Canadian history ... Navy Island is a small island in the Niagara River in the province of Ontario, Canada. ... Flag used by the Patriotes between 1832 and 1838 The Lower Canada Rebellion is the name given to the armed conflict between the rebels of Lower Canada (now Quebec) and the British colonial power of that province. ... Lower Canada was a British colony in North America, at the downstream end of the Saint Lawrence River in the southern portion of the modern-day province of Quebec. ... The Rebellions of 1837 were a pair of Canadian armed uprisings that occurred in 1837 in response to frustrations in political reform and ethnic conflict. ... The Report on the Affairs of British North America, commonly known as Lord Durhams Report, is an important document in the history of Canada and the British Empire. ... Responsible government is a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. ... Note: for information about Canadas present-day provinces, see Provinces of Canada. ... Canadian Confederation, or the Confederation of Canada, was the process that ultimately brought together a union among the provinces, colonies and territories of British North America to form the Dominion of Canada, a Dominion of the British Empire, which today is a federal nation state simply known as Canada. ...

Latent republican sentiment remained a factor in Quebec where Henri Bourassa and other nationalists opposed British imperialism and advocated Canadian independence from the British Empire in response to the Boer War and, later, the Conscription Crisis of 1917 during the First World War. Republican sentiment became more prominent with the rise of the Quebec nationalist movement in the 1960s with the demands for an independent republic of Quebec put forward by both the Front de libération du Québec which advocated violent methods and the parliamentary Quebec indépendentistes who formed the Parti Québécois. Queen Elizabeth's royal visit to Quebec City in 1964 provoked a militant anti-monarchist and Quebec nationalist demonstration which was put down by police with 36 arrests and scores of injuries in what is remembered as samedi de la matraque (truncheon Saturday). Support for the monarchy remains weakest in Quebec to this day. During the 1960s, a terrorist group known as the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) launched a decade of bombings, robberies and attacks on government offices. ... Henri Bourassa Joseph-Napoléon-Henri Bourassa (September 1, 1868- August 30, 1952) was a French Canadian political leader and publisher. ... A cartoon portraying the British Empire as an octopus, reaching into foreign lands Imperialism is a policy of extending the control or authority over foreign entities as a means of acquisition and/or maintenance of empires, either through direct territorial or through indirect methods of exerting control on the politics... The British Empire in 1897, marked in pink, the traditional colour for Imperial British dominions on maps. ... Boer guerrillas during the Second Boer War There were two Boer wars, one from December 16, 1880-March 23, 1881 and the second from October 11, 1899-May 31, 1902 both between the British and the settlers of Dutch, French and German origin (called Boers, Afrikaners or Voortrekkers) in South... The Conscription Crisis of 1917 was a political and military crisis in Canada during World War I. Background At the outbreak of war in 1914, over 30 000 volunteers joined the army, far more than expected. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Quebec nationalism is the subject of many international studies together with the contemporary nationalism of Scotland, Catalonia and other non-sovereign regions of the world. ... The 1960s, or The Sixties, in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... The Front de Libération du Québec (Quebec Liberation Front), commonly known as the FLQ, was a Nationalist terrorist group founded in the 1960s that was part of the Quebec sovereignty movement. ... The Parti Québécois or PQ is a political party that advocates national sovereignty for Quebec from Canada. ... Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor), styled HM The Queen (born 21 April 1926) is the Queen regnant and head of state of Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent... Motto: Don de Dieu feray valoir (Gift of God shall make prosper) Area: 547. ... 1964 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Simultaneously, the idea of a Canadian republic where the Queen would be replaced by an elected head of state gathered strength in English Canada among those who saw the abandonment of what was seen as the vestiges of colonialism as both a means of stengthening national unity between English and French-Canadians and as a means of asserting Canadian sovereignty and nationhood. The Toronto Star, English Canada's largest circulation daily newspaper first endorsed the creation of a Canadian republic during the Canadian centennial year of 1967. Canada is a constitutional monarchy and a Commonwealth Realm with Queen Elizabeth II as its reigning monarch and head of state. ... English Canada is a term used to describe either: the anglophone residents of Canada or the Canadian provinces other than Quebec and, sometimes, New Brunswick, in which French is an official language of the provincial governments. ... World map of colonialism circa 1945. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Toronto Star is a major metropolitan newspaper produced in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ... The Expo 67 site on le Sainte-H ne and le Notre-Dame The Canadian Centennial was a year long celebration held in 1967 when Canada celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation. ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Constitutional implications

While the idea of a republic was a minor issue during the Canadian Constitutional negotiations of the 1970s, when a new Constitution was agreed to in 1982 it included a provision requiring unanimous consent of the federal government and all ten provincial governemnts before any change could be implemented to the status of the monarchy. This was agreed to by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau as a concession to his two closest allies among the provincial premiers, William Davis and Richard Hatfield, both of whom were fervent monarchists. As a result it is constitutionally more difficult to remove the monarchy in Canada than it is in any other Commonwealth realm including the United Kingdom. However, retired political science Professor Edward McWhinney, a constitutional expert and former Member of Parliament, argues in his book The Governor General and the Prime Ministers that Canada could become a republic "quietly and without fanfare by simply failing legally to proclaim any successor to the Queen in relation to Canada." [1]. The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law in Canada. ... This article provides extensive lists of events and significant personalities of the 1970s. ... 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Prime Minister of Canada, the head of the Canadian government, is usually the leader of the political party with the most seats in the Canadian House of Commons. ... The Right Honourable Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau PC, CC, CH, QC, MA, LL.L, LL.D, FRSC (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was the fifteenth Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 3, 1979, and from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984. ... Canada consists of ten provinces and three territories. ... A premier is an executive official of government. ... William (Bill) Grenville Davis (born July 30, 1929 in Brampton, Ontario) was the Progressive Conservative Premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. ... Richard Bennett Hatfield (April 9, 1931-April 26, 1991) was a New Brunswick politician and long time Premier of the province (1970-1987). ... A Commonwealth Realm is any one of the 16 sovereign states of the Commonwealth that recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their Queen and head of state. ... Edward (Ted) McWhinney is a Canadian academic specializing in constitutional and international law. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. ...

Current opinion

In recent years senior Canadian Cabinet ministers such as John Manley and Brian Tobin have expressed their republican views while serving in the government of Jean Chrétien, and the influential Globe and Mail newspaper adopting a pro-republican editorial position in the 1990s. The Cabinet of Canada plays an important role in the Canadian government in accordance with the Westminster System. ... John Manley can refer to several different people: John Manley, British archaeologist John Manley, Canadian politician John Manley, American nuclear physicist This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Hon. ... The Right Honourable Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien, PC (born January 11, 1934) was the twentieth Prime Minister of Canada, serving from November 4, 1993, to December 12, 2003. ... The Globe and Mail is a large Canadian English language national newspaper based in Toronto. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Public opinion polls in Canada show that sentiments concerning the monarchy tend to be apathy and indifference. Some polls have shown a slight majority of Canadians to favour the creation of a republic, while others show support for the Monarchy, but most polls suggest that the issue is a low priority among Canadians. Monarchists, traditionally, are more passionate about their advocacy for the monarchy than republicans have been in their opposition. While the Monarchist League of Canada was formed in 1970 to fight what it saw as "creeping republicanism" in the gradual removal of references to royalty and the dominion by federal institutions, it was only in 2002 that republicans formed their own lobby group, Citizens for a Canadian Republic. The Coat of Arms of the Monarchist League of Canada, granted with permission of Her Majesty in 2000. ... 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ... This is a page about Dominions of the British Empire/Commonwealth. ... 2002 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Citizens for a Canadian Republic (CCR) is a non-partisan, not-for-profit Canadian organization founded in 2002 that advocates the abolition of the monarchy in Canada and its replacement with a president who would either be chosen through a general election or elected by Parliament. ...

See also

• Monarchy in Canada - republicanism debate
• Republicanism
• Constitutional Monarchy