November 22 – A Canadian Revolutionary War?

nPostednon November 22, 2015

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nQuick,nwho’s the Head of State of Canada?

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nIfnyou’re scratching your head, trying to decide if you have ever evennheard the name of Canada’s Prime Minister, don’t bother – becausenhe’s not the official Head of State. (The current PM is JustinnTrudeau, by the way. He just took over from former Prime MinisternStephen Harper.)

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nIfnyou are thinking that the title “Governor General of Canada”nsounds like a Head-of-State kind of job – especially since thenGovernor General is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Canadiannmilitary! – and you’re wondering who has that title right now,ndon’t bother, because he is not the official Head of State, either.n(The current Governor General is David Lloyd Johnston.)

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nSo,nwho is the Head of State of Canada?

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Goodnold Queen Elizabeth II, who also of course serves as Queen and Headnof State of the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, andntwelve other, smaller nations, and who is Head of the Commonwealth.

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nBut…

nDidnyou know that, on this date in 1837, a Scottish-born journalist namednWilliam Lyon Mackenzie published an article calling for a rebellionnagainst the British?

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nSoonnthe planned rebellion broke out – but it didn’t turn out the samenway as the earlier, similar rebellion of 13 colonies against thenBritish. The latter resulted in the American Revolutionary War andnthe wholly independent nation of the United States of America. n

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nCanada’snrebellion resulted in defeat for the rebels. And the result of that defeat was continued union with Britain and hernother colonies.

nOf course, Canada is independent now – mostly. Itnis still one of the Commonwealth Realms, and the Governor Generalnstill represents the Queen in the Canadian government, and (as I said) Queen Elizabeth II is still considered the reigning monarch and thenofficial Head of State.

Note that the blue nations are Commonwealth Realms, and the red nations are FORMER Commonwealth Realms. You can see from this that, despite the fact that Canada is now an independent nation, it’s still not quite as independent as India, the Republic of Ireland, and several other nations are…

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nWhynrebel?

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nThenUpper Canada Rebellion that Mackenzie fomented was partly a rebellion against an oligarchy.nThe word oligarchy means “command by the few.” ThenCanadian colonies were being ruled by a small groupnof men called the Family Compact. They dominated the government ANDnthe financial institutions of “Upper Canada” (which is nownOntario) AND the religious institutions of the region. And, yes, this sort of domination was as corrupt as it sounds — apparently the Family Compact rulednthe government so that they themselves became richer. n

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nOfncourse, there were other reasons that Mackenzie and othernrevolutionary leaders wanted to break away. Certainly part of it wasnthe revolutionary fever sweeping the world – with the U.S., France,nHaiti, Ireland, and the colonies of “Spanish America” (Mexico andnArgentina and all nations in between) all breaking ties with their colonizers, or kicking outntheir kings and queens in favor of people-power and republicanism!

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nInwonder…

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nWhatndo you suppose would be different in the world if Canadiannnationalists had succeeded in their 1937 rebellion?

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nAlsonon this date:

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