When people come to Canada, the have to swear allegiance to the Crown, they have to accept being subjects of the Crown. Those of us born in Canada do not have a choice in this and born being subjects of the Crown.
In day to day issues of life this has very little meaning and makes no real difference to anything. But......... There is something medieval about the people not being sovereign, but instead are subjects of the sovereign. This just feels wrong, it feels like I am limited in a way that feels like it is contrary basic human rights.
In the past the large majority of the public accepted a hierarchy over top that had the right to decide what you could and should do - "For King and Country". We are becoming less accepting of being told what we can do, what we should do, what we should accept. We want more control over our lives.
Canada is an egalitarian nation, we do not accept the idea that a Canadian can be the member of the nobility. We do not accept that someone has an inherited right of status. Yet we still accept the Queen as having a status above all of us.
I was born a subject of the Crown and Prince Charles was born destined to be King. Neither one of us did anything to find ourselves in our situations other than be born. Charles at least can choose to renounce his position, though this only means his son moves up the ladder. I can not renounce being a Crown subject without finding another country to accept me. I can only stop being a subject of the Crown by leaving Canada behind and becoming a foreigner.
As a human I have a right to self determination, to make choices over my life without interference if it does not effect others. I have a right to cooperate with others to figure out how we should govern our society.
The Queen is symbolic, but she is a symbol of an era that is long gone and that is at odds with modern thinking. Should we not liberate ourselves on all levels, even the symbolic?
2 comments:
You've "consented" by choosing to remain a Canadian citizen. Some Brits got fed up awhile ago and left -- now we have the USA.
But that's silly of me. I see your point and agree.
I could change citizenships, but then I could not remain living and working where I grew up.
It is an odd thing, we have to consent to get any other citizenship than our birth one, but the one(s) of our birth we have no choice or consent and must actively disavow.
Only one of the many weird things that the rise of nation states has done to the rights of people around the world.
Post a Comment