When: July 1
Canada Day marks the anniversary of Canadian Confederation on July 1, 1867, when the British North America Act united the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia into the Dominion of Canada. It is Canada's national holiday — celebrated with fireworks, barbecues, and a quietly understated national pride that is itself very Canadian.
Canada became a country on July 1, 1867 — and the event was so undramatic that the founding fathers went home for dinner.
Canada's first Prime Minister, John A. Macdonald, was drunk at significant portions of the Confederation negotiations. This is not slander — it's documented in contemporary accounts, letters, and the observations of other delegates. Macdonald was also brilliant, strategic, and largely responsible for holding together the coalition that made Canada possible in 1867. Both things are true. The country that resulted has always been comfortable with contradictions. The British North America Act came into force on July 1, 1867, creating the Dominion of Canada from the union of what is now Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. The word "Dominion" was chosen carefully — Canada was not a republic, not a fully independent nation, but a self-governing territory within the British Empire. The founding fathers negotiated at conferences in Charlottetown, Quebec City, and London with no single dramatic moment, no declaration, no revolution. Canada came into existence through paperwork,...