Featured Articles — Colony to Nation Myth
The Third Eye
"Canada Is Back" Beijing Canada Colony to Nation Myth Defence of Canada Delenda Est Carthago External Affairs Foreign Policy Global Affairs Maria Robson Morrow Second World War War War & Weaponry
Autonomous signals intelligence has put Canada at the heart of Five Eyes sharing — writes Maria A. Robson CANADA FOUNDED ITS first intelligence agency, the Communications Branch of the National Research Council, in 1946. The word “Security” was added in 1973 and since 1975 it has been known as the Communications Security Establishment (CSE). In the nationalist mood following the Second World War, some policymakers assumed that the development of autonomous signals intelligence would allow the country to go its own way and assert independence from Great Britain. As it happened, this expectation fit nicely into a colony-to-nation narrative. However, declassified...
1841: The Year of Responsible Government?
Colonial Era Colony to Nation Myth James W.J. Bowden Lord Sydenham Responsible Government
Locating Responsible Government in 1848 divorces it from its proper context. And it ignores contemporary 19th century authorities, like Sir John A. Macdonald, who said that the grant of Responsible Government occurred not in 1848 but in 1841.
1812 & The Fathers of Confederation
Allan Napier MacNab Battle Honours Canada Colony to Nation Myth Confederation Defence of Canada Donald Creighton Fathers of Confederation John Hamilton Gray Joseph Howe Lt. Col. Donald Macpherson Militia Myth Sir Adolphe-Philippe Caron Sir Charles Tupper Sir Étienne-Paschal Taché Sir George-Étienne Cartier Sir Hector-Louis Langevin Sir John A. Macdonald Sir Oliver Mowat Thomas D'Arcy McGee War of 1812
Several Fathers of Confederation had a connection to the War of 1812. Only two generations separated the peace of 1814 from the Charlottetown conference -- the same lapse of time (fifty years) as between 1945 and 1995, when Canadians of all ages celebrated “Victory in Europe."