I think it's too bad that we've moved away from the style "Dominion Day."
The fact of the matter is that the 1st of July is the anniversary of when we did -- properly so -- become an oversees Dominion of the British Empire. We certainly were not fully independent at the time, but it was one of the major steps along the way to where we are now. We are fooling ourselves and whitewashing our British history by changing the style to "Canada Day," and this is unfortunate both for youth and for newer Canadians. To understand where we want to go, we need to understand where we've been -- and that's certainly not the case at this time. Just look at how many Canadians incorrectly answer the "head of State question" with the prime minister.
Celebrating Dominion Day wouldn't surrender any of the autonomy that we have now achieved. In my view, rather, a celebration of Dominion Day would be a recognition of the peaceful way in which Canada has evolved from a dependent colony of the United Kingdom, to a self-sufficient dominion, and now to an independent kingdom in its own right. Our constitutional roadmap has a number of checkpoints marking this transition -- and our Confederation as a Dominion, on the first of July, 1867, is one of the most prominent of these.