Canadian Flag In Canada

A century ago, Canada was under control by the British Empire. The battles we fought the treaties we signed and the disputes we solved all helped us gain independence from our mother country “Britain”. Canadians fought a long battle protecting others, and from these battles we gained our peaceful reputation and our independence from Britain. Canada became a nation on July, 1st 1867. Although we were an independent country, our affairs and treaties were all still signed by Britain.

Therefore, Canada was granted the seat despite the disapproval of the American President, Woodrow Wilson. The Prime Minister demanded “ With the conclusion of the First World War, I demand that Canada may be seated on its own during the conference. This shall be as a sign of respect for those sixty thousand soldiers who sacrificed their lives trying to save our world from tyranny”. Through the Prime Minister’s words, it was evident that Canada contributed greatly to the allied forces in the Battle of Vimy Ridge. The approval of Canada’s seat was important to both the significance of the Battle of Vimy Ridge and the eligibility to participate on the world stage because it was one of the first steps Canada took towards its independence from Great Britain.

In my opinion, the heart of the Canadian matrix lies in the nationalist view that Canada is a ‘Cultural Mosaic’. The term Cultural Mosaic stems from the idea that Canada, as a country is made stronger with each immigrant. This is due to the fact that they generate a culturally diverse society that which Canadians can learn from. As a country we have coined this term because we feel as though we are so ‘different’ from the United States in the sense that we do not instill a “melting pot” environment— where immigrants, no matter their past, are American and should believe in said American values (i.e. The American Dream) once they get here.

Canada, being a colony of Britain since the defeat of the French empire in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, tried to gain more and more freedom from its mother country, Great Britain, and to gain its own constitution and laws and be able to decide its own future. Although Canada wanted independence from Britain, it also did not want to become too dependent on the United States. Also the co-operation between the Canadian people, either English or French or any other group, have defined the Canadian values that we see today. One of the core values of Canada is diversity. Canada has very diverse cultures that have been living together on its soil for many years.

John A. MacDonald outlined the goals of Canada in the National Policy and these goals were accomplished in the period of the Laurier Boom. The first goal of MacDonald's National Policy was the establishment of protective tariffs on goods. Although formerly a supporter of free trade, MacDonald decided that the current circumstances were favorable to protectionism (Stevenson, 194). His advocacy for protective tariffs had great impact on Canadians, so much that the nation voted MacDonald into office in 1878. For the next eighteen years after the establishment of the National Policy, the Liberals held to a rigid free trade philosophy and “directed its main attack upon the tariff system and the anti-protectionist case came to enjoy wide acceptance” (194).

His dream as Prime Minister was to help change Canada for the better and this was one way he did so. In 1963, Pearson pitched his own ideas for a new flag in a speech. Many boos echoed throughout the crowd, which came to a huge surprise to him. The reason so was because Canada was still largely populated with British citizens who believed Canada should stay loyal to their mother country. Diefenbaker, the le... ... middle of paper ... ...e Laurendeau and Davidson Dunton went across Canada to see how to Canada could preserve the French and English relations.

An example that significantly proves this was Canada’s contributions in World War I and its aftermath. As a colony of Britain, Canada entered the first World War under the nationalism for Britain and its citizens. Their loyalty and motivation to fight was still tied to their mother country. However, as fights occurred, nationalism for Britain started to transition to nationalism for Canada and Canadians. The Battle of Vimy Ridge was a victory that marked Canadian nationalism.

Canadian electoral system is currently based on the federal constituencies each of which is entitled to elect their parliamentary representatives (Lavoie and Lemieux, 3). In this system, candidates who meet the Canadian electoral criteria are free to participate in the process and only the individual who won the biggest number of votes becomes the elected representative. Generally, Canadian electoral system has been subjected to periodic reforms and frequent minor amendments in an attempt to improve some aspects of Canadian voting processes and conduction of elections. An important challenge in this regard is that new challenges always accompany the electoral changes and therefore the system should be continually reformed to meet new challenges and circumstances (Boyer, 13). There are however a number of alter... ... middle of paper ... ...re necessary to ensure a more proportional representation and regain the confidence of the voters in the electoral system.

(Munroe, S) After this battle, Canadians carried their reputation of a courageous and combative force into the Battle of Vimy... ... middle of paper ... ...reducing its influence over Canada and signifying that Canada wanted to confirm its autonomy. Although it is difficult to ascribe a single date or period of time that describes the arising of Canada’s autonomy, it can be grouped into several phases that helped Canada to evolve and become autonomous. Canada evolved through the first phase, as it fought in WW1, becoming an equal to Britain, emerging from the war with tremendous Canadian pride. In the second phase, Canada participated in many events between 1920 and 1931, which provided Canada with full control over its foreign policy. Having almost full control of its country, Canada verified its autonomy in the final phase of its evolution from a British colony to a fully independent, self governing country.

The article makes different point for each of the main five themes that are played throughout. The first theme is Identification of British, it focuses on Canadian editorials and newspapers that indicated strong loyalty to Great Britain, and helps define Canadian identity as British. However, before Confederation, Canada was politically, diplomatically, military and interactions with the United States depended on Great Britain. The U.S., British, and Canadian relations was trapped by Canadian foreign affairs and focused on Great Britain reaction to the American crisis that separated Canadian concerns. Great Britain recognized that the Confederate states and Army right to trade over open seas, several news editorials noted that the relation between the United States and Great Britain were tense on their past.