Canada's celebration of Dominion Day this year marks the seventieth anniversary of the passing of "The British North America Act". which on July 1, 1867 brought the senior Dominion of the British Empire unto existence. Over a hundred years before then, Canada, by the Peace of Paris 1763, passed into the British company. The partnership has had its vicissitudes, its triumphs and disappointments; it has held firm and with very real pride and affection do the Mother Country and the Sister Dominions congratulate the eldest of the family to-day. Canada, no less than her fellows in the British Commonwealth, has an individuality of her own. She is by no means expected to view all world problems within her immediate notice entirely through the eyes of London. Fortunately that freedom of thought is amply provided for in the loose-knit Constitution of the Empire. As was abundantly proved during the discussions which led to his present Majesty's Accession—discussions for which Canada was better primed, perhaps, than any other Dominion—this right to differ) merely strengthens the solidarity of agreement on fundamental issues.
Leaving' out of account India whose Dominion status, although on the anvil, is not yet completely forged, Canada has a more complex racial composition than any other member of the Commonwealth. When, in 1763, 60,000
French settlers in New France came under the British flag it was expected that they would eventually be merged in the nationality newly assumed by them. To-day, of Canada's 11 millions, no less than 3,000,000, 75 per cent. of whom live in the Province of Quebec, are French-speaking descendants of the sturdy inhabitants of the former French colonies. Secured in the exercise of their own religion, their own language, they still have in Quebec a civil code derived from the pre-revolutionary Coutume de Paris. Not for nothing, in the process of transfer from French to British rule, did the voyagers give a new meaning to the old chanson:
A Ta claire fontaine M'en allant promener J'ai trouvé l'eau si belle Que jo m'y suis baigné Oni, il y a longtemps que jo t'aime Jamais jo ne t'oublierci.
So ithas proved. Beside Canadians of French origin, there are 4% per cent. of German. descent—relics in the main of Great Britain's former association with Hanover—and, of the 52 per cent. classified as British in origin, a good proportion do not regard the present United Kingdom as their Mother Country in the strict sense of the term, their antecedents making them look rather to the United States of America or the South of Ireland. Proud as they may be of their British citizenship these Canadians are conscious and no less proud oí their different national background Canadian nationalism—a plant of steady if slow growth—has therefore peculiar characteristics which cannot be appreciated unless these racial origins are taken into account The oldest, largest and, most populous Dominion has, in fact, in its own ability to govern itself a confidence derived from long-standing traditions of cultural political and strategic dependence It furnishes an almv.i paradoxical portent in the closeness of Canadian friendship with the "good neigh-hour" across the long southern, arbitrarily delimitated and undefended border—to the significance of which Dr. Alfred Sze has -just paid a notable tribute—for those relations are fully compatible with a strong fidelity to the ties of the British Commonwealth. The beneficent role played by Canada in maintaining Anglo-American understanding has been vividly illustrated during the past year by the cordial interchange of visits between the President of the United States of America and the brilliant statesman and author, Lord Tweeds-muir, who represents King George VI at Ottawa. Canada's accepted right to develop her own policy has therefore a special importance in British imperial philosophy. It raises issues of some complexity, for it is inevitable that in a world which at the moment is wont to take its metaphysical controversies seriously, the Canadian view may differ even more sharply than that of any other Dominion from the trends discernible in British thought. This is not necessarily inimical to the interests of the Commonwealth as a whole for it helps to ensure the tolerance. and breadth of vision on which, in the last resort, the cohesion of that Commonwealth must rest. Yet it would be unfair both to Canada and to the Empire as a whole if the resultant dif-culties were underestimated or glossed over. Fortunately statesmanship on both sides of the Atlantic has shown itself alert in sensing the dangers of such a situation and—what is equally as important—in turning to good account the opportunities, thus given for broadening the conceptions of British policy, As an influence for peace, for mitigating the evils of economic nationalism, Canada has pulled her full weight. On this her day it is appropriate to salute that imperial service and: to wish well to the vigorous and progressive people whose genius has rendered it.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.