Posted
on November 22, 2015
Quick,
who's the Head of State of Canada?
If
you're scratching your head, trying to decide if you have ever even
heard the name of Canada's Prime Minister, don't bother – because
he's not the official Head of State. (The current PM is Justin
Trudeau, by the way. He just took over from former Prime Minister
Stephen Harper.)
If
you are thinking that the title “Governor General of Canada”
sounds like a Head-of-State kind of job – especially since the
Governor General is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian
military! – and you're wondering who has that title right now,
don't bother, because he is not the official Head of State, either.
(The current Governor General is David Lloyd Johnston.)
So,
who is the Head of State of Canada?
Good
old Queen Elizabeth II, who also of course serves as Queen and Head
of State of the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and
twelve other, smaller nations, and who is Head of the Commonwealth.
But...
Did
you know that, on this date in 1837, a Scottish-born journalist named
William Lyon Mackenzie published an article calling for a rebellion
against the British?
Soon
the planned rebellion broke out – but it didn't turn out the same
way as the earlier, similar rebellion of 13 colonies against the
British. The latter resulted in the American Revolutionary War and
the wholly independent nation of the United States of America.
Canada's
rebellion resulted in defeat for the rebels. And the result of that defeat was continued union with Britain and her
other colonies.
Of course, Canada is independent now – mostly. It
is still one of the Commonwealth Realms, and the Governor General
still represents the Queen in the Canadian government, and (as I said) Queen Elizabeth II is still considered the reigning monarch and the
official 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... |
Why
rebel?
The
Upper Canada Rebellion that Mackenzie fomented was partly a rebellion against an oligarchy.
The word oligarchy means “command by the few.” The
Canadian colonies were being ruled by a small group
of men called the Family Compact. They dominated the government AND
the financial institutions of “Upper Canada” (which is now
Ontario) AND the religious institutions of the region. And, yes, this sort of domination was as corrupt as it sounds -- apparently the Family Compact ruled
the government so that they themselves became richer.
Of
course, there were other reasons that Mackenzie and other
revolutionary leaders wanted to break away. Certainly part of it was
the revolutionary fever sweeping the world – with the U.S., France,
Haiti, Ireland, and the colonies of “Spanish America” (Mexico and
Argentina and all nations in between) all breaking ties with their colonizers, or kicking out
their kings and queens in favor of people-power and republicanism!
I
wonder...
What
do you suppose would be different in the world if Canadian
nationalists had succeeded in their 1937 rebellion?
Also
on this date:
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ahead:
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