Monarchy of Canada

The monarchy of Canada is Canada's form of government embodied by the Canadian sovereign and head of state. It is one of the key components of Canadian sovereignty and sits at the core of Canada's constitutional federal structure and Westminster-style parliamentary democracy. The monarchy is the foundation of the executive (King-in-Council), legislative (King-in-Parliament), and judicial (King-on-the-Bench) branches of both federal and provincial jurisdictions. The current monarch is King Charles III, who has reigned since 8 September 2022.

Although the sovereign is shared with 14 other independent countries within the Commonwealth of Nations, each country's monarchy is separate and legally distinct. As a result, the current monarch is officially titled King of Canada and, in this capacity, he and other members of the royal family undertake public and private functions domestically and abroad as representatives of Canada. However, the monarch is the only member of the royal family with any constitutional role.

The monarch lives in the United Kingdom, and almost all of the royal governmental and ceremonial duties in Canada are carried out by the monarch's representative, the governor general of Canada (the main exception being the appointment of the governor general themself, and the extraordinary appointment of extra senators). In each of Canada's provinces, the monarchy is represented by a lieutenant governor. As territories fall under the federal jurisdiction, they each have a commissioner, rather than a lieutenant governor, who represents the federal Crown-in-Council directly.

All executive authority is vested in the sovereign, so the monarch's consent is necessary for letters patent and orders-in-council to have legal effect. As well, the monarch is part of the Parliament of Canada, so royal assent is required to allow for bills to become law. While the power for these acts stems from the Canadian people through the constitutional conventions of democracy, executive authority remains vested in the Crown and is only entrusted by the sovereign to the government on behalf of the people. This underlines the Crown's role in safeguarding the rights, freedoms, and democratic system of government of Canadians, reinforcing the fact that "governments are the servants of the people and not the reverse". Thus, within Canada's constitutional monarchy the sovereign's direct participation in any of these areas of governance is normally limited, with the sovereign typically exercising executive authority only with the advice and consent of the Cabinet of Canada, and the sovereign's legislative and judicial responsibilities largely carried out through the Parliament of Canada as well as judges and justices of the peace. In these respects, the sovereign and his viceroys are custodians of the Crown's reserve powers and represent the "power of the people above government and political parties". Put another way, the Crown functions as the guarantor of Canada's continuous and stable governance and as a nonpartisan safeguard against the abuse of power.

Canada has been described as "one of the oldest continuing monarchies in the world" of today. Parts of what is now Canada have been under a monarchy since as early as the 15th century as a result of colonial settlement and often competing claims made on territory in the name of the English (and later British) and French crowns. Monarchical government has developed as the result of colonization by the French colonial empire and British Empire competing for territory in North America and a corresponding succession of French and British sovereigns reigning over New France and British America, respectively. As a result of the conquest of New France, claims by French monarchs were extinguished and what became British North America came under the hegemony of the British monarchy which ultimately evolved into the Canadian monarchy of today. With the exception of Newfoundland from 1649 to 1660, no part of what is now Canada has been a republic or part of a republic; though, there have been isolated calls for the country to become one. The Crown, however, is considered to be "entrenched" into the governmental framework. The institution that is Canada's system of constitutional monarchy is sometimes colloquially referred to as the Maple Crown or Crown of Maples, Canada having developed a "recognizably Canadian brand of monarchy".

International and domestic aspects

thumb| <hr/> The 15 realms of which King Charles III is the reigning sovereign

The monarch is shared in a personal union with 14 other Commonwealth realms within the 56-member Commonwealth of Nations. As he resides in the United Kingdom, viceroys (the governor general of Canada in the federal sphere and a lieutenant governor in each province) represent the sovereign in Canada and are able to carry out most of the royal governmental duties, even when the monarch is in the country Nevertheless, the monarch can carry out Canadian constitutional and ceremonial duties abroad.

The evolution of the role of the governor general from being both a representative of the sovereign and an "agent of the British government" who " in matters deemed to be of 'imperial' concern... acted on the instructions of the British Colonial Office" to being solely a representative of the monarch developed with a rise in Canadian nationalism following the end of the First World War culminating in the passage of the Statute of Westminster in 1931. Since then, the Crown has had both a shared and a separate character: the sovereign's role as monarch of Canada has been distinct from their position as monarch of any other realm, including the United Kingdom. Only Canadian federal ministers of the Crown may advise the sovereign on any and all matters of the Canadian state, of which the sovereign, when not in Canada, is kept abreast by weekly communications with the federal viceroy. The monarchy thus ceased to be an exclusively British institution and, in Canada, became a Canadian, or "domesticated", establishment, though it is still often denoted as "British" in both legal and common language, when he and other members of the royal family are acting in public specifically as representatives of Canada, they use, where possible, Canadian symbols, including the country's national flag, unique royal symbols, armed forces uniforms, and the like, as well as Canadian Forces aircraft or other Canadian-owned vehicles for travel. Once in Canadian airspace, or arrived at a Canadian event taking place abroad, the Canadian secretary to the King, officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and other Canadian officials will take over from whichever of their other realms' counterparts were previously escorting the King or other member of the royal family.

The sovereign similarly only draws from Canadian funds for support in the performance of his duties when in Canada or acting as King of Canada abroad; Canadians do not pay any money to the King or any other member of the royal family, either towards personal income or to support royal residences outside of Canada.

There are five aspects to the monarchy of Canada: constitutional (such as the use of the royal prerogative in summoning and dissolving parliament, granting royal assent), national (delivering the Speech from the Throne and the Royal Christmas Message, distributing honours, decorations, and medals, and partaking in Remembrance Day ceremonies), international (the monarch being head of state in other Commonwealth realms, and being the head of the Commonwealth), religious (the words by the grace of God in the monarch's title, the Act of Settlement, 1701, requiring the sovereign to be Anglican, and the monarch encouraging people "to tolerate, accept, and understand cultures, beliefs, and faiths different from our own"), and the welfare and service monarchy (seen in members of the royal family founding charities and supporting others, fundraising for charity, and giving royal patronage to civil and military organizations).

Succession and regency

As in the other Commonwealth realms, the current heir apparent to the Canadian throne is William, Prince of Wales, who is followed in the line of succession by his eldest child, Prince George.

Demise of the Crown and accession

Upon the death of the monarch, there is an immediate and automatic succession by the late sovereign's heir; hence the phrase, "the King is dead. Long live the King". No confirmation or further ceremony is necessary. The federal cabinet and civil service follow the Manual of Official Procedure of the Government of Canada in carrying out various formalities around the transition.

By custom, the accession of a new monarch is publicly proclaimed by the governor general-in-council, who meet at Rideau Hall immediately upon the previous monarch's death. The prime minister will then move to adjourn Parliament. Such ceremonies may also be held for other recently deceased members of the royal family. The day of the sovereign's funeral is likely to be a federal holiday.

The new monarch is crowned in the United Kingdom in an ancient ritual but one not necessary for a sovereign to reign. Under the federal Interpretation Act, In some provinces, though, those holding Crown offices must swear the Oath to the new sovereign. All references in federal legislation to previous monarchs, whether in the masculine (e.g. His Majesty) or feminine (e.g. The Queen), continue to mean the reigning sovereign of Canada, regardless of their gender. This is because, in common law, the Crown never dies. After an individual accedes to the throne, he or she usually continues to reign until death.

Legal aspects of succession

thumb|A copy of the Act of Settlement, 1701

The relationship between the Commonwealth realms is such that any change to the rules of succession to their respective crowns requires the unanimous consent of all the realms. Succession is governed by statutes, such as the Bill of Rights, 1689, the Act of Settlement, 1701, and the Acts of Union, 1707.

thumb|Prime Minister of Canada [[William Lyon Mackenzie King|Mackenzie King (left) and Edward VIII (right; when Prince of Wales) in Ottawa, 1924. In 1936, Edward abdicated the Canadian throne and he and any of his descendants were removed from the line of succession by Order-in-Council PC 3144 and the Succession to the Throne Act, 1937.]]

Edward VIII abdicated in 1936, and any possible future descendants of his were excluded from the line of succession. The British government at the time, wishing for speed so as to avoid embarrassing debate in Dominion parliaments, suggested that the governments of the Dominions of the British Commonwealth—then Australia, New Zealand, the Irish Free State, the Union of South Africa, and Canada—regard whoever was monarch of the UK to automatically be monarch of their respective Dominion. As with the other Dominion governments, the Canadian Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, refused to accept the idea and stressed that the laws of succession were part of Canadian law and, as the Statute of Westminster 1931 disallowed the UK from legislating for Canada, including in relation to succession, altering them required Canada's request and consent to the British legislation (His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act, 1936) becoming part of Canadian law. Sir Maurice Gwyer, first parliamentary counsel in the UK, reflected this position, stating the Act of Settlement was a part of the law in each Dominion. was issued, expressing the Cabinet's request and consent for His Majesty's Declaration of Abdication Act, 1936, to become part of the laws of Canada and the Succession to the Throne Act, 1937, gave parliamentary ratification to that action, together bringing the Act of Settlement and Royal Marriages Act, 1772, into Canadian law. The latter was deemed by the Cabinet in 1947 to be part of Canadian law.

[[Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, speaks with members of the Monarchist League of Canada at a League reception held at the Spoke Club in Toronto|thumb]]

Canada has two special-interest groups representing the debate, who occasionally argue the issue in the media: the Monarchist League of Canada (MLC) and Citizens for a Canadian Republic. There are also other organizations that support and advocate the monarchy, such as the Institute for the Study of the Crown in Canada, the Canadian Royal Heritage Trust, the Friends of the Canadian Crown, Canadian Friends of the Royal Family, the , the Orange Order in Canada, and the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada.

Out of Canada's four most prominent political parties, neither the Liberal Party nor the Conservative Party are officially in favour of abolishing the monarchy (the Conservative Party cite support for constitutional monarchy as a founding principle in its policy declaration) and the New Democratic Party has no official position on the role of the Crown. Only some individual members of Parliament belonging to these parties and the leaders of the Bloc Québécois party have made any statements suggesting abolition of the monarchy.

Opinion polls on the Canadian monarchy have been regularly conducted since the 1990s. An analysis of these polls in 2008 highlighted an increased disaffection with the monarchy, albeit with internal contradictions in specific polling results, with some criticizing the polling questions for using "inconsistent and sometimes ambiguous wording." Questions often describe the monarch or monarchy as "British", terminology at odds with the contemporary situation in Canada, wherein the monarchy is a Canadian institution, and it, the Crown, and royal family are referred to as Canadian. Both monarchists and republicans agree the populace's general lack of understanding about the monarchy affects opinions.

The idea of a uniquely Canadian monarch, either one descended from the House of Windsor or coming from a First Nations royal house, has been proffered as an alternative. However, there has been no popular or official support for such a change.

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

External links

Government of Canada: Monarchy and the Crown
The Canadian Encyclopedia: Constitutional monarchy
The Canadian Encyclopedia: Crown
The Canadian Encyclopedia: Sovereign
Institute for the Study of the Crown in Canada
Monarchist League of Canada: Our Monarchy