BRING BACK KNIGHTHOODS
After their restoration in Australia and New Zealand, Canada is the last of the Queen’s realms to still bar its citizens from accepting these honours. Only an obscure backbencher’s resolution stands in the way of their revival here
Iam a monarchist — one who believes in the value Canadians derive from their relationship with the Crown. So upon hearing that the recent federal budget included an increase in the annual allocation to the National Honours System — one of the most direct and tangible connections between the Queen and her people — it seemed a great chance to update and expand the system in advance of Canada’s 150th birthday.
But after comments by both the government and Governor General last week, I fear this opportunity will be missed.
The perception among most Canadian conservatives seems to be that only artsy fartsy liberals get recognized, especially in terms of the Order of Canada, our highest civilian (and exclusively Canadian) honour. They see a system atop which sits the Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin — she of the Court which continues to reject their legislative attempts to “stand up for victims” — handing out honours to Henry Morgentaler and Margaret Atwood rather than hardworking Canadians who actually deserve recognition, like Don Cherry.
Rubbish. Professional athletes, scions of industry, philanthropists, scientists and a host of amazing volunteers from across the country are inducted into the Order’s three grades every year. In the last year alone examples include Mark Carney, Sheldon Kennedy, Chris Hadfield and Jim Irving, not to mention those recognized through a myriad of other orders and honours.
That’s not to say that the Governor General’s plans to increase the number of nominees to the Meritorious Service Decorations, as well as elevating the Caring Canadian Award to a full honour, aren’t laudable — they are. But there is a far bolder step that should be considered.
In the first 50 years of confederation, many Canadians were rewarded for their service to Crown and country with knighthoods, baronetcies (a type of hereditary knighthood) and peerages. Sir John A. Macdonald, Sir Charles Tupper, Sir George-Étienne Cartier, Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Sir Robert Borden were all knighted. Upon his death, Sir John A.’s wife Agnes was elevated to Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe — the only Canadian woman to ever receive a peerage in her own right.
Since the First World War, however, the official Canadian policy on honours that come with a title, such as a knighthood, has been based on an obscure motion adopted by the House of Commons. The Nickle Resolution was introduced by MP William Nickle in 1917 and adopted by the Commons.
Neither a law nor a regulation, the Nickle Resolution was only ever adopted by one of Parliament’s Houses and has certainly not been universally enforced (Prime Minister-cum-Viscount Bennett, Sir Terry Matthews, Lord Thomson of Fleet, Lord Beaverbrook and Baron Molson are all titles created after 1917). Regardless, it has remained the basis of Canadian policy ever since. And given that the reason for its introduction in the first place seems to have been the MP’s failure to secure a knighthood for his father-inlaw, this hardly seems like a mature basis on which to build a system for recognizing our greatest citizens.
Moreover, the system to which Nickle objected in 1917 was the British Imperial system of honours — a foreign system. Since that time much has changed in Canada’s relationship with the U.K., the development of a uniquely Canadian relationship with the Crown and the evolution of Canada’s constitution: the end of the First World War, the King-Byng affair, the Statute of Westminster, the Second World War, the birth of NATO, the Cold War, the Bill of Rights, the flag, the Charter and repatriation of the Constitution, the rise of Quebec nationalism, the Clarity Act and countless hockey victories.
Each of these milestones contributed to us becoming the country we are today. Canada has rightly moved away from its parental relationship with the U.K., like any child leaving the Imperial nest. And as we have matured as a country, so has our relationship with our Sovereign. The Queen has played a pivotal role in our national life over her 62 years on the throne, providing both symbolic and actual leadership as well as the tie that binds our modern, diverse country to a tradition and history dating back almost a thousand years. At the risk of paraphrasing a beer commercial, she is Canadian.
So why does our honours system still pretend otherwise? Why should the Queen be arbitrarily prohibited from creating knights and dames — the sort of titled honours available in her other realms — of her Canadian subjects?
This practice has led to a number of anachronisms regarding what the Queen can and cannot do to recognize her Canadian subjects: in addition to the exceptions noted above, there is the famous spat between former prime minister Jean Chretien and Conrad Black, who ultimately renounced his Canadian citizenship to become Baron Black of Crossharbour.
Like us, Australia and New Zealand have seen their relationship with the Crown ebb and flow over the years. Yet in 2009 New Zealand restored knighthoods and damehoods after a nine-year hiatus, allowing recipients of the country’s top honours under the New Zealand Order of Merit to convert these into titles. Last year, Australia’s Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, moved to do the same, enduring a significant attack on his leadership in the process. He survived, and recipients of the senior rank of the Order of Australia are now also entitled to the prenominal Sir or Dame.
So bring on the debate on refurbishing Canada’s honours system. But let’s make sure that debate doesn’t preclude awarding titles with Canada’s most senior honours — the Companion of Order of Canada and the Companion of Order of Military Merit, for example — as well as allowing Canadians access to other titled grades within honours already in our system, such as the Royal Victorian Order and the Order of St. John.
If we’re going to spend the time and money to update and expand the National Honours System, we shouldn’t miss the chance to further strengthen and renew the ties between Crown and country, while providing an even greater distinction to our most deserving citizens.
The Queen is Canadian. So why does our honours system pretend otherwise?