Goodbye to our Queen

Now that the Queen has left Canada, I think it is time for us to think about the future. Our current Queen is now quite elderly. Even though her mother lived to be very old, we only probably have a maximum of 15 years before a new monarch takes the throne. As the old Beatles song says "Her majesty is a pretty nice girl" but I am wondering if that is enough to maintain an outdated form of governmental authority in a country with such a bright and democratic future. Most people in Canada do not truly understand that the Queen is our head of state, the head of our governing body.

While some people consider the crowd that met the Queen as evidence of support for the monarchy, I would have to wonder how many people did not go to see her and in counter balancing math that says more. Canadians love a spectacle- any spectacle and would have gone out to see many events in the public arena.

Canada is a country based on the idea that all persons are created equal. I think that a hereditary monarchy flies in the face of that basic assumption. Our country is a country of basically three original groups (Aboriginal, French and English), two of which had no natural inclination to recognize the English monarchy and we have included persons from around the world since then as citizens. The monarchy was never a part of their heritage. Still, we have every immigrant swear allegiance to a crown that is largely irrelevant to them except to illustrate the domination of a colonizing force. When I was a little girl, we sang 'God save the Queen' every morning at school and the Union Jack was our flag. I love the way that we have grown and changed since then and I think that the evolution should continue.

In a time when people in Quebec are still considering forming their own country, would it not be a healing hand extended to our French speaking province to admit that the time of the monarchy has passed? For our immigrants from various parts of the world who suffered under the hand of British colonial rule for so long would it not better to embrace a more egalitarian way of governance by eliminating a figure head hereditary crown?

The Queen is a lovely anachronism. I cannot imagine bending my knee to 'King Charles' even though I believe him to man who has been the victim of the monarchical system and the press. Thus, I think we should realize that when the Queen dies it will be automatic to crown a new King. Even though many people fantasize that it will pass to Diana's son- it simply does not work that way. No one chooses the successor to the throne- it is simply the 'right' of the first born son to assume the throne. This illustrates a mode of thinking that Canada has left behind. It says that some people are born superior to others in rights and that men are superior to women. I do not think that we can afford to let those assumptions stand and a natural point at which to leave it behind would be at the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign.

When I look at the history of Canada, I see that holding on to a monarchy is not healthy. Canada was a nation exploited by English colonialism for resources. In negotiations England's default position was to keep Canada. That exploitation includes our soldiers in the world wars that were fed as fodder to enemy cannons in the most dangerous battles. That includes their practice of abandoning their unwanted poor to Canada as they sent my orphan grandmother here in bonded servitude at the age of 13 without resources or aid. Those same people, if they survived, created a life and a country with a bright and hopeful future. That future should belong to the people who worked to make it hopeful and bright and our form of government should reflect that democratic view.