Posted by Ian McKechnie on September 15, 2009, 8:02 am, in reply to "Incomplete americanization"
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Republicans carp about the Queen being not a Canadian citizen. While she was born and raised (and most often resides) in the United Kingdom (and thus is "of" the English culture), surely this doesn't mean she is not fit to be a "Canadian" head of state.
Does the Queen think of herself as a British citizen? Wouldn't that mean she was a subject of herself? Is the word "resident" a better term? A good example of an undoubtedly Canadian sovereign is found here:
"...Amidst all the colour and excitement that Their Majesties' presence produced, there are certain events that stand out for their constitutional significance of putting into practice the 1931 Statute, enhancing the relatively new Canadian sovereignty.
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth arrived aboard the Empress of Australia at Wolfe's Cove, Quebec in the morning of May 17, two days late due to dense fog and ice at sea. Prime Minister Mackenzie King and Justice Minister Ernest Lapointe, attired in their gold-braided Windsor uniforms as Privy Councillors, greeted Their Majesties. From the Cove, they motored along flag-lined streets, thronging with thousands of the King's Canadian subjects on their way to the historic Citadel, secondary residence of the Governor-General. There the Prime Minister, in his capacity as Secretary of State for External Affairs, presented His Majesty with the recommendation that he approve the appointment of Daniel C. Roper as "Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America." The King signed the document in the top left-hand corner, executing his first official duty as King of Canada.
Two days later, in the study of Rideau Hall the Governor-General's and the monarch's official Canadian residence, Mr. C. Roper personally presented to the King his credentials that normally would have been delivered to the Governor-General. In the official history, Gustave Lanctot had set the context for this unprecedented ceremony by his dramatic description of the significance of the King's and Queen's arrival: "When Their Majesties walked into their Canadian residence, the Statute of Westminster had assumed full reality: the King of Canada had come home."
Is it possibly because the Queen has a "home base" so to speak, in the UK that Canadians wonder if they are subjects of Britain?
Would it be accurate to say that the Queen is a non-resident, but nevertheless the epitomy of citizenship, the words "resident" and "citizen" meaning two different things?
As I pointed out earlier, Canadian republicans seem to harbour this notion that "Canadians" are some sort of cultural ethnicity that must be glorified ("We want a CANADIAN head of state...") as opposed to being a rather diverse group of citizens residing on Canadian soil.
The question of the Sovereign and his or her relationship to Canadian citizenship vs. Canadian residency represents a serious threat to the Canadian Crown. I must say, the former Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) had it right when he owned and kept a ranch for his own use in Canada. Alas...
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