Free Republic

As this week of both Dominion Day and Independence Day draws to a close, we present an encore broadcast of a special musical programme. Steyn begins in the middle of the St Lawrence River between New York and Ontario and then spends the rest of the show leaping the border from one side to the other. There are American songs, Canadian songs and a surprising number of half-Canadian half-American songs. Plus Hoagy Carmichael, David Bowie, a few leaves from the Frank Sinatra Maple Songbook, and a side-trip to Italy to find out what the hipster Continentals make of the Yanks....

Justin Trudeau has moved on - he's getting an honorary degree from Edinburgh University for being nice to Syrian refugees (like this one) - and his Scottish hosts are even less interested in Canada's sesquicentennial than Canadians turned out to be. Nevertheless, the complete stinkeroo Justin's Liberals made of the anniversary is fascinating, and revealing about the state of civilizational self-loathing that afflicts the west's political class. It is in that sense relevant beyond Canada - not just for the other settler nations of the Anglosphere, and the mother country itself, but for all kinds of other places - Sweden,...

To all my compatriots at home and abroad, a happy 150th birthday! At noon on this day in 1867, the British North America Act came into effect and the Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Canada - that's Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec) - were united into the new Dominion of Canada under a constitutional document that has since been applied, all but unaltered, to newborn nations in almost every corner of the globe. Something to celebrate, you'd think. But, for any Canadians old enough to remember the glorious centennial year of 1967, this is a much...

30 & 31 Victoria, c. 3 (U.K.) An Act for the Union of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and the Government thereof; and for Purposes connected therewith [Assented to 29th March, 1867.] Whereas the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick have expressed their Desire to be federally united into One Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom: And whereas such a Union would conduce to the Welfare of the Provinces and promote the Interests of the British Empire: And...

Whereas the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick have expressed their Desire to be federally united into One Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom: And Whereas such a Union would conduce to the Welfare of the Provinces and promote the interests of the British Empire: ... Be it therefore enacted and declared by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and...

As Canada marks its 140th birthday it will be my 34th Canada Day celebration since I landed a generation ago at what is now Pearson International Airport. My experience is common with most immigrants in Canada. We have been part of Canada's growth, and also its vibrancy as the ethnic profile of Canadians in major urban centres changed during this period. Each of us came with stories as immigrants from previous generations did and each of our stories became part of the Canadian narrative. As a young adult I witnessed civil war, mass killings and refugee exodus. I fled the...

Ah, today is the First of July. It means a day off work. It's the unofficial start of summer. And millions celebrate with barbeques sizzling, hammocks swaying and fireworks blasting. For 24 years, July 1 has been known as Canada Day. But undoubtedly, some "old-timers" (that is to say, those Canadians who have memories stretching back to the early '80s) likely recall the original moniker for July 1: Dominion Day, a holiday officially established by statute in 1879 but now consigned to the scrapheap of political correctness. The sneaky process that resulted in Dominion Day's assassination is certainly a story...