Queen Victoria who was born May 24, 1819 was 48 years old when she signed the Constitution Act of 1867, called then the British North America Act, which united three separate colonies of Britain; Canada — made up of Québec (Lower Canada) and Ontario (Upper Canada), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It became known as the Dominion of Canada under the British Empire. Thereafter, Canadians celebrated Dominion Day on July 1st. In 1982 the government renamed the holiday “Canada Day.” Queen Victoria was considered “Mother of Confederation.” She had learned a lot about Canada and the other British colonies in North America from her father King George 111, who had actually lived in Canada for 10 years and he had been in favour of the unification of these colonies. So, it is really “Confederation” that we are celebrating as being 150 years old, for Canada dates back to the French explorer Jacques Cartier’s arrival to our eastern shores 483 years ago.
More stories of Canada’s history will be publish in the History Corner in June and July.
Contact Terri Lefebvre Prince,
Heritage Researcher,
City of Yorkton Archives,
Box 400, 37 Third Avenue North
Yorkton, Sask. S3N 2W3
306-786-1722
[email protected]
