Whats the story with Dominion Day?
A. Dominion Day (July 1) was a federal holiday, created in 1879 to celebrate yearly anniversary of ratification of the British North America Act in 1867, Canada’s constitution. The holiday was fairly low-key for much of early Canadian history. Only in the latter half of the 20th Century did it begin to become a fairly mainstream observance. The lavish celebrations of Canada’s centennial on July 1, 1967 were a major turning-point in this regard. Though the holiday was officially called “Dominion Day,” this term was never entirely popular, and fell out of use quite quickly. Instead, Canadians began referring to the holiday as “Canada Day” and the name stuck. As the years progressed and celebration of the date became more widespread there were increasing demands from politicians, newspaper editorials, and private citizens for parliament to formally change the name of Dominion Day to “Canada Day,” and thus bring the law in tune with widespread convention. “[O]ne could very easily argue the
