While a variety of theories have been postulated for the name ofCanada, its origin is now accepted as coming from theSt. Lawrence Iroquoian wordkanata, meaning 'village' or 'settlement'.[1] In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-dayQuebec City region used the word to direct French explorerJacques Cartier to the village ofStadacona.[2] Cartier later used the wordCanada to refer not only to that particular village but to the entire area subject toDonnacona (the chief at Stadacona);[2] by 1545, European books and maps had begun referring to this small region along theSaint Lawrence River asCanada.[2]
From the 16th to the early 18th century,Canada referred tothe part of New France that lay along the Saint Lawrence River.[3] In 1791, the area became two British colonies calledUpper Canada andLower Canada. These two colonies were collectively namedthe Canadas until their union as the BritishProvince of Canada in 1841.[4]
UponConfederation in 1867,Canada was adopted as the legal name for the new country at theLondon Conference, and the wordDominion was conferred as the country'stitle.[5] By the 1950s, the term Dominion of Canada was no longer used by the United Kingdom, which considered Canada a "Realm of the Commonwealth".[6][7] The government ofLouis St. Laurent ended the practice of usingDominion in the statutes of Canada in 1951.[8][9]
TheCanada Act 1982, which brought theconstitution of Canada fully under Canadian control, referred only toCanada. Later that year, the name of the national holiday was changed from Dominion Day toCanada Day.[10] The termDominion was used to distinguish the federal government from the provinces, though after theSecond World War the termfederal had replaceddominion.[11]
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The nameCanada is now generally accepted as originating from theSt. Lawrence Iroquoian wordkanata ([kana:taʔ]), meaning 'village' or 'settlement'.[12][13] Related translations include 'land' or 'town', with subsequent terminologies meaning 'cluster of dwellings' or 'collection of huts'.[12][14] This explanation is historically documented inJacques Cartier'sBref récit et succincte narration de la navigation faite en MDXXXV et MDXXXVI.[12]
Although theLaurentian language, which was spoken by the inhabitants ofSt. Lawrence Valley settlements such asStadacona (modern-dayQuebec City) andHochelaga (modern-dayMontreal) in the 16th century, is now extinct, it was closely related to other dialects of theIroquoian languages, such as theOneida andMohawk languages. Relatedcognates meaning 'town' includenekantaa,ganataje, andiennekanandaa in theMohawk,Onondaga, andSeneca languages respectively.[12] Prior to archaeological confirmation that the St. Lawrence Iroquois were a separate people from the Mohawk, most sources specifically linked the name's origin to the Mohawk word instead of the Laurentian one.[15]
A widespread perception inCanadian folklore is that Cartier misunderstood the term "Canada" as the existing proper name of the Iroquois people's entire territory rather than the generic class noun for a town or village. For instance, theHistorica Canada'sHeritage Minute episode devoted to Cartier's landing at Hochelaga is scripted as having Cartier believe that "Kanata" or "Canada" was the established name of the entire country.[16] This is not supported by Cartier's own writings, however—inBref récit, Cartier fully understands the actual meaning of the word ("They call a town Canada").[17][18]
While the Saint-Lawrence Iroquoian origin for the nameCanada is now widely accepted, other theories have been put forth in the past.
The most common alternative theory suggested that the name originated whenPortuguese orSpanish explorers, having explored the northern part of the continent and unable to find gold and silver, wrotecá nada ('nothing here' inPortuguese),acá nada, aqui nada orel cabo de nada ('Cape Nothing' inSpanish) on that part of their maps.[19] An alternative explanation favoured byphilologist Marshall Elliott linked the name to the Spanish wordcañada, meaning 'glen' or 'valley'.[20][21]
The earliest iterations of the Spanish "nothing here" theory stated that the explorers made the declaration upon visiting theBay of Chaleur,[22] while later versions left out any identifying geographic detail.
The known Portuguese presence in modern Canadian territory, meanwhile, was inNewfoundland and Labrador. Neither region is located anywhere near Iroquoian territory, and the nameCanada does not appear on any Spanish or Portuguese maps of the North American coast that predate Cartier's visit.[21] No name for the Bay of Chaleur is attested at all in Spanish sources from that period, while the only name forNewfoundland attested in Portuguese sources isTerra Nova do Bacalhau, after the region's plentifulcod.
In most versions of the Iberian origin theory, the Spanish or Portuguese passed their name on to the Iroquois, who rapidly adopted it in place of their own prior word for a village;[21] however, no historical evidence for any such Iberian-Iroquoian interaction has ever actually been found.[21] Elliott's "valley" theory, conversely, was that the Spanish gave their name for the area directly toJacques Cartier, who then entirely ignored or passed over the virtually identical Iroquoian word.[21] According to Elliott, Cartier never explicitly stated that there was a direct connection betweencanada orkanata as the Iroquoian word for 'village' andCanada as the new name of the entire territory, and never accounted for the spelling difference betweenkanata andCanada—and thus the Spanish etymology had to be favoured because the spellings matched.[21] Notably, Cartier never wrote of having any awareness of any preexisting Spanish or Portuguese name for the region either, meaning that Elliott's allegation that thekanata derivation was not adequately supported by Cartier's own writing on the matter was also true of his own preferred theory.
Franciscan priestAndré Thevet claimed that the word derived fromsegnada Canada, an answer reportedly given by Spaniards in the St. Lawrence Valley area when asked what their purpose was; according to Thevet, the phrase meant that they were seeking land[23] or that they were hunting.[24] These words do not actually exist in Spanish, however.
British philologist B. Davies surmised that by the same process which initially saw theFirst Nations mislabelled asIndians, the country came to be named for theCarnata region ofIndia or that region'sKannada ethnic group;[25] however, this theory has attracted no significant support from other academics.[12]
Additional theories have attributed the name "Canada" to: a word in an unspecified indigenous language for 'mouth of the country' in reference to theGulf of St. Lawrence;[12] aCree word for 'neat or clean';[26] a claimedInnuwar cry of "kan-na-dun, Kunatun";[24] a shared Cree and Innu word,p'konata, which purportedly meant 'without a plan' or 'I don't know';[27] a short-lived French colony purportedly established by a settler whose surname was Cane;[12]Jacques Cartier's description elsewhere in his writings ofLabrador as "the land God gave toCain;" or, to a claim that the early Frenchhabitants demanded a "can a day" ofspruce beer from the localintendant[12] (a claim easily debunked by the fact that thehabitants would have been speakingFrench, not English).
In their 1983 bookThe Anglo Guide to Survival in Québec, humouristsJosh Freed and Jon Kalina tied the Iberian origin theory to the phrasenada mas caca ('nothing but shit'). No historian or linguist has ever analyzed this explanation as anything more than an obvious joke.[28]
Thedemonym "Canadien" or "Canadian" once referred exclusively to theindigenous groups who were native to the territory, traced back to 1664.[21] Its use was extended over time to the French settlers ofNew France by 1746, and later theEnglish settlers ofUpper Canada by 1792.[21]
European explorerJacques Cartier transcribed theSaint-Lawrence Iroquoian word (pronounced[kanata]) as "Canada" and was the first European to use the word to refer not only to the village ofStadacona but also to the neighbouring region and to theSaint Lawrence River, which he calledrivière de Canada during his second voyage in 1535.[29][30] By the mid-1500s, European books and maps began referring to this region as Canada.[31]
Canada soon after became the name of a colony inNew France that stretched along the St. Lawrence River.[31][32] The terms "Canada" and "New France" were often used interchangeably during the colonial period.[31]
After theBritish conquest of New France (including ceding of the French colony, Canada) in 1763, the colony was renamed theProvince of Quebec. Following theAmerican Revolution and the influx ofUnited Empire Loyalists into Quebec, the colony was split on December 26, 1791, intoUpper andLower Canada, sometime being collectively known as "The Canadas", the first time that the name "Canada" was used officially in the British regime.[33]
Some reports from the 1840s suggest that in that era, the word "Canada" was commonly pronounced "Kaugh-na-daugh" rather than its more contemporary pronunciation.[21]
Upper and Lower Canada were merged into one colony, theProvince of Canada, in 1841, based on the recommendations of theDurham Report.[12] The former colonies were then known as Canada East and Canada West, and a single legislature was established with equal representation from each. Underpopulated Canada West opposed demands by Canada East for representation by population, but the roles reversed as Canada West's population surpassed the east's. The single colony remained governed in this way until July 1, 1867, often with coalition governments. A new capital city was being built atOttawa, chosen in 1857 byQueen Victoria, and became a national capital.
At theconferences held in London to determine the form ofconfederation that would unite theProvince of Canada (nowOntario andQuebec), the province ofNew Brunswick, and the province ofNova Scotia, a delegate from either Nova Scotia or New Brunswick proposed the nameCanada in February 1867, and it was unanimously accepted by the other delegates. There appears to have been little discussion,[34] though other names were suggested.
While the provinces' delegates spent little time, if any, in settling onCanada as the name for the new country, others proposed a variety of other names:[35][12]
Walter Bagehot ofThe Economist newspaper in London argued that the new nation should be calledNorthland orAnglia instead of Canada.[37] On these names, the statesmanThomas D'Arcy McGee commented, "Now I would ask any honourable member of the House how he would feel if he woke up some fine morning and found himself, instead of a Canadian, a Tuponian or a Hochelegander?".[38]
Working towards theConfederation of Canada,Canada's founders deliberated on the official title for their new country, primarily between the "Kingdom of Canada" or the "Dominion of Canada".[39][40]
InJ. S. Ewart's two volume work,The Kingdom Papers,[41][42] it is noted that the following names were considered for the union ofBritish North America: "The United Colony of Canada", "the United Provinces of Canada", and "the Federated Provinces of Canada".[43] Ewart was also an ardent advocate for the formation of "theRepublic of Canada", a position which was rarely expressed in those times.[44]
During theCharlottetown Conference of 1864,John A. Macdonald, who later became the firstPrime Minister of Canada, talked of "founding a greatBritish monarchy," in connection with theBritish Empire. He advocated, in the fourth Canadian draft of theBritish North America Act (BNA Act), the name "Kingdom of Canada",[39] in the text is said:
The word 'Parliament' shall mean the Legislature or Parliament of the Kingdom of Canada.
The word 'Kingdom' shall mean and comprehend the United Provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.The words 'Privy Council' shall mean such persons as may from time to time be appointed, by the Governor General, and sworn to aid and advise in the Government of the Kingdom.[45]
Canada's founders, led by Macdonald, wished their new nation to be called theKingdom of Canada in order to "fix the monarchical basis of theconstitution".[46] Thegovernor general at the time,The 4th Viscount Monck, supported the move to designate Canada a kingdom;[47] however, officials at theColonial Office in London opposed this potentially "premature" and "pretentious" reference for a new country. They were also wary of antagonizing the United States, which had emerged from itsCivil War as a formidable military power with unsettled grievances because British interests had sold ships to theConfederacy despite a blockade, and thus opposed the use of terms such askingdom orempire to describe the new country.[48]
Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley,Premier of New Brunswick, suggested the termDominion,[i] inspired byPsalm 72:8 (from theKing James Bible): "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth."[40] This is also echoed in Canada's motto:A Mari Usque Ad Mare (Latin for 'from sea to sea').[49]
The termDominion had been used for centuries to refer to the lands held by a monarch,[50] and had previously been adopted as titles for theDominion of New England and theDominion and Colony of Virginia. It continued to apply as a generic term for the major colonial possessions of theBritish Empire until well into the 20th century;[51] although Tilley and the otherFathers of Confederation broadened the meaning of the worddominion to a "virtual synonym forsovereign state".[52] Its adoption as a title for Canada in 1867 served the purpose of upholding the monarchist principle in Canada; in a letter toQueen Victoria,Lord Carnarvon stated:[53]
The North American delegates are anxious that the United Provinces should be designated as the 'Dominion of Canada.' It is a new title, but intended on their part as a tribute to the Monarchical principle which they earnestly desire to uphold.[53]
Macdonald, however, bemoaned its adoption. In a letter to Lord Knutsford on the topic of the loss of the use of the word kingdom, Macdonald said:
A great opportunity was lost in 1867 when the Dominion was formed out of the several provinces…The declaration of all the B.N.A. provinces that they desired as one dominion to remain a portion of the Empire, showed what wise government and generous treatment would do, and should have been marked as an epoch in the history of England. This would probably have been the case hadLord Carnarvon, who, as colonial minister, had sat at the cradle of the new Dominion, remained in office. His ill-omened resignation was followed by the appointment of the lateDuke of Buckingham, who had as his adviser the then Governor General,Lord Monck - both good men, certainly, but quite unable, from the constitution of their minds, to rise to the occasion. Had a different course been pursued, for instance, had united Canada been declared to be an auxiliary kingdom, as it was in the Canadian draft of the bill, I feel sure almost that the Australian colonies would, ere this, have been applying to be placed in the same rank as The Kingdom of Canada.[54][55]
He added as apostscript that it was adopted on the suggestion of British colonial ministers to avoid offendingrepublican sensibilities in the United States:
P.S. On reading the above over I see that it will convey the impression that the change of title from Kingdom to Dominion was caused by the Duke of Buckingham. This is not so. It was made at the instance ofLord Derby, then foreign minister, who feared the first name would wound the sensibilities of the Yankees. I mentioned this incident in our history to Lord Beaconsfield atHughenden in 1879, who said, 'I was not aware of the circumstance, but it is so like Derby, a very good fellow, but who lives in a region of perpetual funk.'[56]
Use of the termdominion was formalized in 1867 throughCanadian Confederation. In theConstitution of Canada, namely theConstitution Act, 1867 (British North America Acts), the preamble of the act indicates:
Whereas the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick have expressed their Desire to be federally united into One Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom....[57]
Moreover, section 2 indicates that the provinces:
... shall form and be One Dominion under the Name of Canada; and on and after that Day those Three Provinces shall form and be One Dominion under that Name accordingly.[57]
The French translation of the 1867British North America Act) translated "One Dominion under the Name of Canada" as "une seule et même Puissance sous le nom de Canada" usingPuissance ('power') as a translation fordominion. Later, the Englishloanworddominion was also used in French.[58]
TheFathers of Confederation met at theQuebec Conference of 1864 to discuss the terms of this new union. One issue on the agenda was to determine the Union's "feudal rank" (seeResolution 71 of the Quebec Conference, 1864). The candidates for the classification of this new union were:le Royaume du Canada ('the Kingdom or Realm of Canada'),l'Union du Canada ('the Union of Canada'), andle Dominion du Canada ('the Dominion of Canada').
There are numerous references inUnited Kingdom Acts of Parliament to "the Dominion of Canada;" and theBritish North America Act, 1867 referred to the formation of "one Dominion under the name of Canada".[59] Section 4 of the BNA Act also declares that: "Unless it is otherwise expressed or implied, the Name Canada shall be taken to mean Canada as constituted under this Act;" this has been interpreted to mean that thetitle of the country is simplyCanada. The term "Dominion of Canada" appears in theConstitution Act, 1871—the usage of which was "sanctioned"[60]—and both "Canada" and "Dominion of Canada" appear in other texts of the period, as well as on numerousCanadian banknotes before 1935.
Until the 1950s, the termDominion of Canada was commonly used to identify the country. As the country acquiredpolitical authority andautonomy from theUnited Kingdom, thefederal government began using simplyCanada on state documents.Quebec nationalist leaders also objected todominion, arguing that it suggested Ottawa would have control over Quebec.
Under Prime MinisterLouis St-Laurent, compromises were reached that quietly, and without legislation, "Dominion" would be retired in official names and statements, usually replaced by "federal". The St. Laurent government thereby ended the practice of using "Dominion" in theStatutes of Canada in 1951.[61]
The independence of the separateCommonwealth realms was emphasised after the accession ofQueen Elizabeth II in 1952, when she was proclaimed not just asQueen of the United Kingdom, but alsoQueen of Canada,Queen of Australia,Queen of New Zealand,Queen of South Africa, and of all her other "realms and territories".[6] This also reflected the change fromdominion torealm; in the proclamation of Queen Elizabeth II'snew titles in 1953, the phrase "of her other Realms and Territories" replaced "dominion" with another mediaeval French word with the same connotation, "realm" (fromroyaume).[62]
With that said, the national holiday of "Dominion Day" kept that name until 1982, when aprivate member's bill to replace the name withCanada Day that had received first reading in May 1980 was unexpectedly passed in theHouse. In theSenate,Eugene Forsey and theMonarchist League of Canada strongly defended the traditional usage. When aGallup poll showed 70% of all Canadians favoured the change, the Senate approved the bill without arecorded vote.[63]
TheCanada Act 1982 refers only toCanada and does not use the termdominion. No constitutional statute amends this name, nor does any Canadian legal document state that the name of the country is anything other thanCanada.[64] Moreover, official sources of theUnited Nations system,[65][66]international organizations (such as theOrganization of American States),[67] theEuropean Union,[68]theUnited States,[69] and other polities with which Canada has official relations as a state either consistently useCanada as the only official name, affirm that Canada has no long-form name, or affirm that the formal name is simplyCanada. In a dissenting opinion, Forsey and others, in an essay inThe Canadian Encyclopedia argue thatDominion of Canada is still the formal name of the country, albeit rarely used now.[70]
The termsDominion andDominion of Canada, although arcane, continued to be used occasionally[71][72][73] in Government of Canada publications and educational materials, albeit not in legal or official documents.[74][75][76] For instance, in 2008 the Canadian government registered theMaple Leaf Tartan, designed in 1964, with theScottish Tartans Authority. The tartan's alternate name is "Dominion of Canada".[77][78]
These terms are also used in a colonial historical sense, having been used to distinguish contemporary (post-1867) Canada from either the earlierProvince of Canada or from the even earlierThe Canadas and modern history of the current realms.[79] The terms have also been used to distinguish the federal government from the provinces, though in this usage, "federal" has replaced "dominion". For example,The Canadian Almanac stopped using Dominion of Canada in 1964.
in the note of Charlevoix, Nouvelle France, volume the first, page nine, of the quarto edition, and repeated in "Beautés de l'Histoire du Canada" affords the real solution of the difficulty: "Quelqu'uns derivent ce nom du mot Iroquois Kannata qui se prononce Cannada, et signifieun amas de cabanes;"–"Some derive this name from the Iroquois wordKannata, pronounced Cannada, signifying a collection of huts."
Ilz appellent une ville Canada[They call a town Canada]
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{{cite web}}:Missing or empty|title= (help)In 1867, the colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are united in a federal state, the Dominion of Canada.
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