1.
Dominion
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Dominions were semi-independent polities under the British Crown, constituting the British Empire, beginning with Canadian Confederation in 1867. They included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State, and then from the late 1940s also India, Pakistan, and Ceylon. The Balfour Declaration of 1926 recognised the Dominions as autonomous Communities within the British Empire, earlier usage of dominion to refer to a particular territory dates to the 16th century and was used to describe Wales from 1535 to 1801 and New England between 1686 and 1689. At the outset, a distinction must be made between a British dominion and British Dominions, all territories forming part of the British Empire were British dominions but only some were British Dominions. At the time of the adoption of the Statute of Westminster, there were six British Dominions, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Newfoundland, at the same time there were many other jurisdictions that were British dominions, for example Cyprus. The Order in Council annexing the island of Cyprus in 1914 declared that, from 5 November, Dominion, as an official title, was conferred on the Colony of Virginia about 1660 and on the Dominion of New England in 1686. These dominions never had full self-governing status, the creation of the short-lived Dominion of New England was designed—contrary to the purpose of later dominions—to increase royal control and to reduce the colonys self-government. Under the British North America Act 1867, what is now eastern Canada received the status of Dominion upon the Confederation of several British possessions in North America. However, it was at the Colonial Conference of 1907 when the colonies of Canada. Two other self-governing colonies—New Zealand and Newfoundland—were granted the status of Dominion in the same year and these were followed by the Union of South Africa in 1910 and the Irish Free State in 1922. The Statute of Westminster 1931 converted this status into legal reality, following the Second World War, the decline of British colonialism led to Dominions generally being referred to as Commonwealth realms and the use of the word dominion gradually diminished. Nonetheless, though disused, it remains Canadas legal title and the phrase Her Majestys Dominions is still used occasionally in legal documents in the United Kingdom. The phrase His/Her Majestys dominions is a legal and constitutional phrase that refers to all the realms and territories of the Sovereign, thus, for example, the British Ireland Act,1949, recognised that the Republic of Ireland had ceased to be part of His Majestys dominions. The later sense of Dominion was capitalised to distinguish it from the general sense of dominion. The word dominions originally referred to the possessions of the Kingdom of England, oliver Cromwells full title in the 1650s was Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, and the dominions thereto belonging. In 1660, King Charles II gave the Colony of Virginia the title of dominion in gratitude for Virginias loyalty to the Crown during the English Civil War, the Commonwealth of Virginia, a State of the United States, still has the Old Dominion as one of its nicknames. Dominion also occurred in the name of the short-lived Dominion of New England, in all of these cases, the word dominion implied no more than being subject to the English Crown. The foundation of Dominion status followed the achievement of internal self-rule in British Colonies, Colonial responsible government began to emerge during the mid-19th century
2.
Canada Day
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Canada Day is the national day of Canada. Originally called Dominion Day, the holiday was renamed in 1982, Canada Day celebrations take place throughout the country, as well as in various locations around the world, attended by Canadians living abroad. Although Canada existed prior to 1867, within both the French and British empires, Canada Day is frequently referred to as Canadas birthday, Canada became a kingdom within the British Empire in its own right on that date, named the Dominion of Canada. Canada gradually gained increasing independence over the years until finally becoming independent in 1982. Under the federal Holidays Act, Canada Day is observed on July 1, unless that falls on a Sunday. Celebratory events will still take place on July 1, even though it is not the legal holiday. If it falls on a Saturday, any businesses normally closed that day will usually dedicate the following Monday as a day off, there doesnt seem to be a central recipe for how to celebrate it—chalk it up to the nature of the federation. Smaller events are mounted in parks around the city and in Gatineau. Given the federal nature of the anniversary, celebrating Canada Day can be a cause of friction in the province of Quebec and you could wave a different flag, and choose another face paint, and nothing would be lost. Canada Day also coincides with Quebecs Moving Day, when many fixed-lease apartment rental terms expire, Canadian expatriates will often organize Canada Day activities in their local area on or near the date of the holiday. In China, Canada Day celebrations are held at the Bund Beach by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, the holiday was initially not dominant in the national calendar, any celebrations were mounted by local communities and the governor general hosted a party at Rideau Hall. No larger celebrations were held until 1917 and then again for a further decade—the golden and diamond anniversaries of Confederation. In 1946, Philéas Côté, a Quebec member of the House of Commons, beginning in 1958, the Canadian government began to orchestrate Dominion Day celebrations. That year, then Prime Minister John Diefenbaker requested that Secretary of State Ellen Fairclough put together appropriate events, Parliament was traditionally in session on July 1, but Fairclough persuaded Diefenbaker and the rest of the federal Cabinet to attend. Official celebrations thereafter consisted usually of Trooping the Colour ceremonies on Parliament Hill in the afternoon and evening, followed by a band concert. Fairclough, who became Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, later expanded the bills to include performing folk, the day also became more casual and family oriented. Into the late 1960s, nationally televised, multi-cultural concerts held in Ottawa were added, after 1980, the Canadian government began to promote celebrating Dominion Day beyond the national capital, giving grants and aid to cities across the country to help fund local activities. Others claimed Dominion was widely misunderstood and conservatively inclined commenters saw the change as part of a larger attempt by Liberals to re-brand or re-define Canadian history
3.
Dominion of Newfoundland
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Newfoundland was a British dominion from 1907 to 1949. The dominion was situated in northeastern North America along the Atlantic coast and comprised the island of Newfoundland, before attaining dominion status, Newfoundland was a British colony, self-governing from 1855. Newfoundland was one of the dominions within the meaning of the Statute of Westminster of 1931. In 1934, Newfoundland became the only dominion to give up its self-governing status and this episode was precipitated by a crisis in Newfoundlands public finances in 1932. Newfoundland had accumulated a significant amount of debt by building a railroad across the island, in November of that year, the government warned that Newfoundland would default on payments on the public debt. The United Kingdom government quickly established the Newfoundland Royal Commission to inquire, the Commissions report was published in October 1933. It recommended that Newfoundland give up its system of self-government temporarily, the dominion was never to be self-governing again. The system of a six-member Commission of Government continued to govern Newfoundland until it joined Canada in 1949 to become Canadas tenth province, the official name of the dominion was “Newfoundland” and not, as is sometimes reported, “Dominion of Newfoundland”. In 1854 the British government established Newfoundlands responsible government, in 1855, Philip Francis Little, a native of Prince Edward Island, won a parliamentary majority over Sir Hugh Hoyles and the Conservatives. Little formed the first administration from 1855 to 1858, Newfoundland rejected confederation with Canada in the 1869 general election. Prime Minister of Canada Sir John Thompson came very close to negotiating Newfoundlands entry into confederation in 1892 and it remained a colony until acquiring dominion status in 1907 after the 1907 Imperial Conference decided to confer dominion status on all self-governing colonies. The annual holiday of Dominion Day was celebrated each 26 September to commemorate the occasion, Newfoundlands own regiment, the 1st Newfoundland Regiment, fought in the First World War. On 1 July 1916, the German Army wiped out most of that regiment at Beaumont Hamel on the first day on the Somme, yet the regiment went on to serve with distinction in several subsequent battles, earning the prefix Royal. In the 1920s, political scandals wracked the dominion, in 1923, the attorney general arrested Newfoundlands prime minister Sir Richard Squires on charges of corruption. Despite his release soon after on bail, the British-led Hollis Walker commission reviewed the scandal, soon after, the Squires government fell. Squires returned to power in 1928 because of the unpopularity of his successors, Alderdice, but found himself governing a country suffering from the Great Depression. Prior to 1867, the Quebec North Shore portion of the Labrador coast had shuttled back, maps up to 1927 showed the coastal region as part of Newfoundland, with an undefined boundary. Quebec has long rejected the outcome, and Quebecs provincially issued maps do not mark the boundary in the way as boundaries with Ontario
4.
Parliament Hill
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Parliament Hill, colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildings is the home of the Parliament of Canada and has elements of national symbolic importance. Parliament Hill attracts approximately 3 million visitors each year, law enforcement on parliament hill and in the parliamentary precinct is the responsibility of the Parliamentary Protective Service. Since 2002, an extensive $1 billion renovation and rehabilitation project has been underway throughout all of the precincts buildings, Parliament Hill is a limestone outcrop with a gently sloping top that was originally covered in primeval forest of beech and hemlock. After Ottawa—then called Bytown—was founded, the builders of the Rideau Canal used the hill as a location for a military base, a large fortress was planned for the site, but was never built, and by the mid 19th century the hill had lost its strategic importance. On 7 May, the Department of Public Works issued a call for proposals for the new parliament buildings to be erected on Barrack Hill. After the entries were narrowed down to three, Governor General Sir Edmund Walker Head was approached to break the stalemate, and the winners were announced on 29 August 1859. The team of Thomas Stent and Augustus Laver, under the pseudonym of Stat nomen in umbra, won the prize for the second category, $300,000 was allocated for the main building, and $120,000 for each of the departmental buildings. Ground was broken on 20 December 1859, and the first stones laid on 16 April of the following year, the construction of Parliament Hill became the largest project undertaken in North America to that date. By early 1861, Public Works reported that $1,424,882, two years later, the unfinished site hosted a celebration of Queen Victorias birthday, further cementing the areas position as the central place for national outpouring. The site was still incomplete when three of the British North American colonies entered Confederation in 1867, with Ottawa remaining the capital of the new country, thus, the offices of parliament spread to buildings beyond Parliament Hill even at that early date. The British military gave a nine-pound naval cannon to the British army garrison stationed in Ottawa in 1854 and it was purchased by the Canadian government in 1869 and fired on Parliament Hill for many years as the Noonday Gun. By 1876, the structures of Parliament Hill were finished, along with the surrounding fence, fire destroyed the Centre Block on 3 February 1916. Eleven years later, the new tower was completed and dedicated as the Peace Tower, the Queen was back on Parliament Hill on 17 April 1982, to issue a royal proclamation of the enactment of the Constitution Act that year. In April 1989, a Greyhound Lines bus with 11 passengers on board travelling to New York City from Montreal was hijacked by an armed man, a standoff with police ensued and lasted eight hours, though three shots were fired, there were no injuries. The following year, Queen Elizabeth IIs Golden Jubilee was marked on 13 October, on 22 October 2014, several shooting incidents occurred around Parliament Hill. A gunman, after shooting a Canadian Army soldier mounting the ceremonial guard at the National War Memorial. There, he was killed in a shootout with RCMP officers, the gunman also injured one House of Commons constable, who was shot in the foot
5.
New Zealand
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New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu
6.
Independence of New Zealand
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The independence of New Zealand is a matter of continued academic and social debate. New Zealand has no fixed date of independence, instead, independence came about as a result of New Zealands evolving constitutional status, New Zealand evolved as one of the British Dominions, colonies within the British Empire which gradually established progressively greater degrees of self-rule. They were always anomalous in terms, and the attempt to define a date of independence in the sense that one can be given for most ex-colonies is not really meaningful. However, a consideration of possible dates can help understanding of the processes of change, the principles behind the independence of New Zealand began before New Zealand even became a British colony in 1840. The principles of government within the Empire were laid down in the Durham Report. Canada, New Zealand, and the Australian colonies very soon followed suit, the British Parliament passed the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 to grant the colonys settlers the right to self-governance, only 12 years after the founding of the colony. New Zealand was therefore to all intents and purposes independent in domestic matters from its earliest days as a British colony, the first major step towards nationhood on the international stage came in 1919 when New Zealand was given a seat in the newly founded League of Nations. However, Australia, New Zealand, and Newfoundland were hostile towards this development, irrespective of any legal developments, some New Zealanders still perceived themselves as a distinctive outlying branch of the United Kingdom until at least the 1970s. Thus, New Zealand has no date of official independence. The concept of a national Independence Day does not exist in New Zealand, the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840 marked the beginning of organised British colonisation of New Zealand. New Zealand was originally a sub-colony of the Colony of New South Wales, Waitangi Day is thus celebrated as New Zealands national day. Others dispute this, pointing to the use of the term kawanatanga in the Treaty deducts from rangatiratanga, New Zealand became a self-governing colony in 1853 following the passage of the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, which established responsible government in the colony. New Zealand participated in the 1891 National Australian Convention in Sydney to consider the Federation of the Australian, the Convention agreed to four principles including the creation of a Federated army and navy. Interest in the proposed Australian Federation faded and New Zealand did not send a delegation to the 1897 National Australian Convention, in 1901 New Zealand did not ratify the Australian Constitution, and did not partake in the Federation of Australia. Prime Minister Joseph Ward determined that New Zealand should become a dominion, on 26 September 1907 the United Kingdom granted New Zealand Dominion status within the British Empire. New Zealand became known as the Dominion of New Zealand, the date was declared Dominion Day, but never reached any popularity as a day of independence. As a potential national day, Dominion Day never possessed any emotional appeal, the Dominion newspaper began on Dominion Day,1907. To regard it as an independence day is incorrect, the change to dominion status was seen as purely cosmetic
7.
Dominion of New Zealand
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The Dominion of New Zealand was the historical successor to the Colony of New Zealand. It was a monarchy with a high level of self-government within the British Empire. New Zealand became a separate British Crown colony in 1841 and received responsible government with the Constitution Act in 1852. New Zealand chose not to part in Australian Federation and became the Dominion of New Zealand on 26 September 1907, Dominion Day. Dominion status was a mark of the political independence that had evolved over half a century through responsible government. Just under one million lived in New Zealand in 1907 and cities such as Auckland. The Dominion of New Zealand allowed the British government to shape its foreign policy, the 1923 and 1926 Imperial Conferences decided that New Zealand should be allowed to negotiate their own political treaties and the first commercial treaty was ratified in 1928 with Japan. When the Second World War broke out in 1939 the New Zealand government made its own decision to enter the war, in the post-war period, the term ‘Dominion’ has fallen into disuse. Full independence was granted with the Statute of Westminster in 1931, after much debate over lexicon, the term ‘Dominion’ was decided upon. Dominion status was anticipated to be a house between colonial status and full independence. The adoption of the designation of ‘Dominion’ would, raise the status of New Zealand stated Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward, Ward also had regional imperial ambitions. He hoped the new designation would remind the world that New Zealand was not part of Australia and it would dignify New Zealand, a country he thought was the natural centre for the government of the South Pacific. A royal proclamation granting New Zealand the designation of ‘Dominion’ was issued on 9 September 1907, on 26 September the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, read the proclamation from the steps of Parliament, Edward R. & I. And We hereby give Our Commands to all Public Departments accordingly, given at Our Court at Buckingham Palace, this ninth day of September, in the year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seven, and in the seventh year of Our Reign. God save the King Letters patent were issued to confirm New Zealands change in status, declaring that, there shall be a Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over Our Dominion of New Zealand. Control over defence, constitutional amendments, and foreign affairs remained with the British government until the Statute of Westminster was adopted in 1947, Ward had thought that New Zealanders would be much gratified with the new title. However, Dominion status was received with limited enthusiasm and indifference from the general public, the shift from colony to Dominion was viewed as a change of name only. The general public were unable to discern any practical difference, Dominion status was symbolic and recognised the countrys shift to self-governance, but this change had been accomplished with the first responsible government in the 1850s
8.
Waitangi Day
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Waitangi Day, named after Waitangi where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed, commemorates a significant day in the history of New Zealand. Ceremonies take place each year on 6 February to celebrate the signing of the treaty, New Zealands founding document, the day is a public holiday, unless it falls on a Saturday or Sunday, when the Monday that immediately follows becomes the public holiday. During the next seven months, copies of the treaty were carried around the country to other chiefs the opportunity to sign. The signing had the effect of securing British sovereignty over the islands of New Zealand, from the British perspective the proclamation was the key legal document, what the treaty said was less important. In 1932, Governor-General Lord Bledisloe and his wife purchased and presented to the nation the run-down house of James Busby and they subsequently donated 500 pounds to restore the building. The Treaty House and grounds were made a reserve, which was dedicated on 6 February 1934. This event is considered to be the first Waitangi Day, in 1940, another event was held at the grounds, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the treaty signing. The event was a success and helped raise the profile of the treaty, annual commemorations of the treaty signing began in 1947. The 1947 event was a Royal New Zealand Navy ceremony centring on a flagpole which the Navy had paid to erect in the grounds, the ceremony was brief and featured no Māori. The following year, a Māori speaker was added to the line-up, from 1952, the Governor-General attended, and from 1958 the Prime Minister also attended, although not every year. From the mid-1950s, a Māori cultural performance was given as part of the ceremony. Many of these early features remain a part of Waitangi Day ceremonies, including a naval salute, the Māori cultural performance, the Labour Party stated in its 1957 election manifesto that it would make Waitangi Day a public holiday. After winning that election, the party said that the country could not afford another public holiday. The Waitangi Day Act of 1960 allowed localities to transfer the holiday from their existing regional public holiday to Waitangi Day. In 1963, after a change of government, the passing of the Waitangi Day Amendment Act transferred the holiday observed in Northland on Auckland Anniversary Day to Waitangi Day,6 February. Waitangi Day became a public holiday on its observance in 1974 by first undergoing a name change. In 1971 the Labour shadow minister of Māori Affairs, Matiu Rata, introduced a members bill to make Waitangi Day a national holiday. This was not passed into law, after the 1972 election of the third Labour government under Prime Minister Norman Kirk, it was announced that from 1974, Waitangi Day would be a national holiday known as New Zealand Day
