by Mary Bubbins

Created on: June 26, 2008

We have the Founding Fathers. Canada has Fathers of the Confederation. We have the Declaration of Independence. Canada has the Constitution Act. We have Independence Day. Canada has Canada Day. We know our history. What is their's?

Canada Day is celebrated on July 1 to commemorate the birth of a new nation. Sound familiar? There are many differences between the birth of our nation and the birth Canada as their own nation. While our battle for freedom from British rule was hard fought with war, the Canadian battle for freedom was less violent. It was a drawn out process however, taking many years for complete independence to be won.

It all started with the Fathers of Confederation. They were a group of men who represented what was known as the British North American colonies. This label was bestowed upon the colonies after the United States had won its freedom from the British in 1776. The colonies in Canada were the only North American colonies who were still under British rule, hence the name.

The Fathers of the Confederation met on three different occasions for the purpose of forming their own provinces that would be free of British rule. They met at the Charlottestown conference in 1864, the Quebec conference in 1864, and finally at the London conference in 1866. It was during the conference in Quebec that the British North American Act was drafted. The British Parliament passed it, making no changes to it, and on March 29, 1867 it was signed by Queen Victoria. It would later come to be known as the Constitution Act, the equivalent of the Declaration of Independence.

The work of the Fathers would come to fruition on July 1, 1867 when the colonies of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick would become the four provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec. They were inititally called the Dominion of Canada and so the day was named. The Candian Confederation often refer to this day as the birth of Canada, and it is celebrated as such.

Although Canada was now considered its own kingdom on that day, the British Parliament still kept limited control over the new country. It took many years, in fact, before the British gave up complete control over the new nation. Like a snake shedding its skin layer by layer, so to was the power of Britain peeled away. It wasn't until 1982 that complete control was relinquished and the British North American Act became known as the Constitution Act.

Governor General Lord Monck set forth a royal proclomation on June 20, 1868,

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