Whither Dominion Day?

Somewhere in a dresser drawer, I have a tee shirt with the statement or demand, Bring Back Dominion Day. It has a diagram of a moose and a very large Sir John A Macdonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister. This was an appeal years ago by a journalist of the Globe and Mail newspaper to cancel the name change for our national holiday celebrated today from Dominion Day to Canada Day.  Some name changes such as these are well meaning.  However, they can sometimes be ill founded and based on a misunderstanding about the meaning of the existing name.

June 20, 1868: Governor General Lord Monck signs a proclamation that requests all Her Majesty Queen Victoria's subjects across Canada to celebrate July 1. 1879: A federal law makes July 1 a statutory holiday as the "anniversary of Confederation," which is later called "Dominion Day." Today, Dominion of Canada is the country’s formal title, though it is rarely used. It was first applied to Canada at Confederation in 1867.

Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, Premier of New Brunswick, suggested the term Dominion, inspired by Psalm 72:8 (from the King James Bible): "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." This is also echoed in Canada's motto: A Mari Usque Ad Mare (Latin for 'from sea to sea').

The change for Dominion Day to Canada Day was inspired (but not inspirational) in an effort to eliminate archaic language and make it more meaningful and proper to the times. Unfortunately, in my humble opinion, it is part of a movement to make the language we use void of anything that might be poetic and catch the imagination of people.  To my ear, Canada Day sounds lifeless and sterile compared to Dominion Day.  The excuse in changing language to make it clearer and easier to understand often kills what language should be used for – to enrich and bring meaning to something.  This kind of language is appropriate for legal documents, but it is tragic when it is used for symbols that should resonate on a deeper level. There are things which should use poetry and not prose to express the importance and meaning of the thing itself and what it represents.  It is the difference between a sign which points to one thing and a symbol which cannot be described by itself.  Canada is one of those things which should be described in a symbol and not a sign.

I could talk further on this and bring in the changes in the prayer books of the Anglican Church of Canada from the poetry of the traditional Book of Common Prayer to the less than inspired language of the modern Book of Alternative Services - the names say it all.  However, I will leave that for perhaps another time. 

May all Canadians have a wonderful Day celebrating the wonderful country of Canada and may you all be blessed celebrating this day that the Lord has made.