Battle Royal by David Johnson

Author:David Johnson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dundurn
Published: 2017-12-18T00:00:00+00:00

The Crown vs. Scepticism, Apathy, Ignorance, and Irrelevance

The half century from 1960 to 2010 was a tough time for the monarchy and monarchists in Canada. The 1960s witnessed the end of an age of deference in Canadian society and politics. Citizens, not subjects, increasingly questioned the nature of authority, the role and purpose of governing institutions, the legitimacy of those wielding both private and public power, and the quality of their leadership. The constitutional debates of the 1970s and 1980s also emphasized the renewal of political institutions, including the constitution itself, while highlighting a growing focus on the ideals of individual rights and freedoms, political and social equality, and the improvement of Canadian democracy. Add to this dynamics such as the Quiet Revolution in Quebec and the rise of Québécois nationalism, Canada’s growing multiculturalism due to steady immigration from all parts of the globe, and the promotion of a distinct Canadian identity by successive federal governments. You then have the development of a social environment increasingly challenging, if not outright hostile, to the existence of an institution such as the monarchy.

It does not help the monarchy and its Canadian defenders, moreover, that the royal family is quintessentially aristocratic and English, and by necessity Anglican, and based in the United Kingdom, making only itinerant visits to Canada. Factor in the reality that public school systems across this country have failed for decades to properly educate Canadian students in the very basics of Canadian history and the nature and working of the Canadian political system, including the role of the Crown in this system, such that most Canadians now suffer from “civic illiteracy.”[24] Most Canadian students have trouble identifying our first prime minister, explaining the function of Parliament, or knowing how and why public policies get made, let alone understanding the role of the Queen or the governor general in the Canadian constitution.

These social dynamics combined have generated undercurrents of questions, scepticism, hostility, ignorance, and apathy, which have been corrosive to the reputation and standing of the monarchy in Canada. As John Fraser noted, by the first decade of this new century, “[t]he whole notion of the Crown seemed not so much in jeopardy as in steady, inexorable decline, and for the life of me I couldn’t see how the slide could be stopped.”[25] In a similar vein, the chief executive officer of the Monarchist League of Canada stated in 2010 that “indifference,” and not republicanism, was the single greatest peril facing the future of the monarchy in Canada.[26] As historian Michael Bliss, a committed republican, argued, “It [the monarchy] doesn’t mean anything to most young Canadians. It will die a natural death at the same time as the dwindling band of oldsters who still support it die off too.”[27] So is the monarchy dying in Canada? Is it becoming increasingly irrelevant to most Canadians? Do most Canadians actually wish to see it abolished?

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