Canadian titles debate
Encyclopedia
The Canadian titles debate has been ongoing since the adoption of the Nickle Resolution in 1919. This resolution marked the earliest attempt to establish a Canadian
government policy requesting the Sovereign not to grant knight
hoods, baronet
cies, and peerage
s to Canadians, and set the precedent for later policies restricting Canadians from accepting titles from foreign countries. Dissatisfaction with the British honours system
led to the creation of the Order of Canada
in 1967.
in the Canadian House of Commons. Nickle was chairman of a special committee of the House of Commons that had been formed to look at the question of honours. There had been controversy during World War I
about the large number of Canadians being recommended for knighthoods and the qualifications of recipients. Nickle alleged that the practice was inconsistent with democratic values and successfully moved a resolution through the House to end the practice of appointing Canadians to knighthoods and peerages. As a result of the committee's deliberations, Nickle moved that an address be made to King George V
, requesting that His Majesty no longer grant "any title of honour or titular distinction... save such appellations as are of a professional or vocational character or which appertain to an office", and that all hereditary titles held by Canadians become extinct upon the death of the incumbent. The motion was carried by the House of Commons
.
Nickle's detractors charged him with being motivated more by spite and chagrin over his failed attempt to obtain a knighthood for his father-in-law, Daniel Gordon
, the principal of Queen's University
in Kingston, Ontario.
"Canadians" in the above context refers to British subject
s "domiciled or ordinarily resident" in Canada. A complete legal definition of Canadian citizenship did not exist until the Canadian Citizenship Act
came into effect in 1947.
Although the Nickle Resolution was adopted by the House of Commons, the address to the King was never sent. Nor was it advanced to the Senate, where it was expected to be defeated, as it touched on a constitutional matter outside the competence of the House of Commons. As a resolution rather than an Act of Parliament
or Order in Council, the Nickle Resolution would not have been legally binding on the government anyway. However, it established a policy precedent which has had a varying degree of enforcement.
The Nickle Resolution was passed in a nation that was deeply divided due, in part, to the Conscription Crisis of 1917
. The end of the war saw a burgeoning working class
movement that resulted in actions such as the Winnipeg General Strike. The conferring of knighthoods and peerages, with their connotations of aristocracy
, were inconsistent with demands for class equality. The sacrifices of World War I were seen by some as the crucible in which a national Canadian identity was created, distinct from the "Britishness" that had previously predominated in English Canada.
The Nickle Resolution came about in answer to a controversy about the sale of honours, particularly those that involve the use of a title, because of their greater day-to-day public visibility. At the time, the Canadian public was disturbed by the revelation that third parties were using their influence to obtain prime ministerial recommendation for titles, for a fee. This practice did not only affect Canadian subjects of the King; it potentially affected all British subject
s. The outright sale of honours was distasteful to most Canadians. The buying of honours was one way in which war profiteers sought to gain respectability and recognition within society.
Enforcement of the restrictions on the inheritance of titles seems never to have been attempted. Canadian citizens may inherit and use British titular honours, as is reflected in the Canadian Almanac and Directory . One surviving Canadian titular honour, that of le baron de Longueuil
, dating from 1700, was recognized by the British in the Treaty of Paris, 1763
. This treaty provision was later exercised in 1880 when the title was confirmed by Queen Victoria (see Burke's Peerage and Baronetage under "Old Canadian Title"). The title survives today in the person of Dr Michael Grant, 12th Baron de Longueuil
(b. 1947), a descendant of the 1st Baron. On 10 May 2004, the city of Longueuil, Quebec
was granted arms by the Canadian Heraldic Authority based on the arms granted by King Louis XIV
in 1668 to the father of the 1st Baron de Longueuil
.
forces in Canada's political life grew in strength through the 1920s. The governments led by William Lyon Mackenzie King
insisted on an end to imperial practices such as the British government appointing dominion
Governors-General, and demanded recognition in practice of Britain's equality to the dominions — seen in such agreements as the Balfour Declaration of 1926 that recognized the autonomy of the dominions.
The Nickle Resolution was recognized as policy during King's tenure as Prime Minister and was entrenched in government practice by the time King retired in 1948. Successive Canadian governments pursued an unwritten policy, reflective of the Nickle Resolution, whereby they did not recommend more than a handful of non-titular honours.
In February 1929 a debate was held on the question of titular honours in the House of Commons, specifically to put to the House the question of whether the Nickle Resolution ought to be reconsidered. This motion was defeated by the Liberal majority on 14 February 1929.
"If we are to have no titles, titular distinctions or honours in Canada, let us hold to the principle and have none, let us abolish them altogether; but if the sovereigns or heads of other countries are to be permitted to bestow honours on Canadians, for my part I think we owe it to our own sovereign to give him that prerogative before all others." Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, House of Commons, 12 Feb 1929.
said, when speaking about the Nickle Resolution and the shelf-life of Canadian parliamentary resolutions (Canadian Hansard
):
Moreover, as a matter touching the royal prerogative
, R. B. Bennett had already reported to the House of Commons the previous year, on 17 May 1933 (Hansard, p. 5126) that the Nickle Resolution was of no force or of null effect, stating:
On 30 January 1934, in speaking about his responsibility as Prime Minister to advise the King as the King's first minister, and about his own advice to the King that as prime minister he wished to continue the custom of advising His Majesty to bestow royal honours on His Majesty's Canadian subjects (which Conservative and Liberal administrations had chosen not to exercise for almost 15 years), Prime Minister Bennett said:
To these official statements of Prime Minister R.B. Bennett can be added what he wrote in a 1934 letter to J.R. MacNicol, MP
when he stated his view that:
Moreover, as Bennett stated to Parliament about the Nickle Resolution (see Hansard):
R.B. Bennett's government submitted honours lists to the King every year from 1933 onward, recommending that various prominent Canadians receive knighthoods, including the Chief Justice of Canada
, Sir Lyman Poore Duff
, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
(RCMP) Commissioner Sir James Howden MacBrien
, Sir Frederick Banting
, the discoverer of insulin
, and Sir Ernest MacMillan
, composer and conductor.
When a vote was called on 14 March 1934, on a private member's (Humphrey Mitchell, Labour, East Hamilton) resolution to require the prime minister to cease making recommendations to the King for titles, this renewed Nickle-like Resolution was defeated 113 to 94. The Canadian House of Commons
, by this vote, refused to reaffirm or reinstate the Nickle Resolution or its attempts to prevent the Prime Minister's involvement in the exercise of the Royal Prerogative
of granting titles to Canadians. This is the last time that the lower house of Parliament ever voted on the issue.
returned to power in 1935, he ignored the precedent set by Bennett's government, and resumed the former policy. The no-honours policy of successive Canadian governments has been in effect ever since. However, no attempt was made to forbid the use of the titular honours by those who had been granted them by the King at Bennett's recommendation.
In 1941, Bennett was elevated to the British House of Lords
, as "1st Viscount Bennett, of Mickleham
in the county of Surrey
, Hopewell
in the province of New Brunswick
, and Calgary
in the province of Alberta
". This was a reflection of British policy at the time of conferring viscount
cies on retired dominion prime ministers, if recommended. Retiring British prime ministers were normally offered earl
doms.
Lester B. Pearson
's government published "Regulations respecting the acceptance and wearing by Canadians of Commonwealth
and foreign orders, decorations and medals".
These policies were again affirmed in 1988 when the government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
published "Policy Respecting the Awarding of an Order, Decoration or Medal by a Commonwealth or Foreign Government".
used it to prevent Canadian publishing mogul Conrad Black
from becoming a British life peer
. Chrétien held that, in spite of the fact that the British government was honouring Black as a British citizen, and that Black then held dual citizenship of Canada and Britain (allowed since 1977), he as prime minister of Canada had the right to keep Black from becoming a British life peer
because he was also a Canadian citizen.
The prime minister at the time of the resolution, Sir Robert Laird Borden, GCMG
had been knighted in 1914, five years before the adoption of the resolution.
Canadian steel magnate, Sir James Hamet Dunn
was created a baronet
by King George V
on 13 January 1921, and his son Sir Philip Dunn
, 2nd Baronet, inherited his father's baronet
cy. At the time, the same parliament that had adopted the Nickle Resolution was still in session. It follows that such a resolution, had it had any binding nature, would have been in effect at least until the dissolution of the 13th parliament on 14 October 1921.
The Government of Canada made no objection when, near the end of the Second World War, British prime minister, Winston Churchill
, recommended that the King bestow a knighthood on Sir William Stephenson
. Churchill described the honour he sought from the King for Stephenson as "one dear to my heart", such was Churchill's sense of gratitude for Stephenson's wartime intelligence work. Years later, Sir William was given Canada's highest honour in being made a Companion of the Order of Canada
in 1979.
Also honoured with knighthood following the Nickle Resolution was Sir Frederick Banting, the Canadian medical doctor who co-won the Nobel Prize for Medicine for the discovery of insulin
. This knighthood was awarded by King George V in 1934.
Another significant example of government indecision over the matter of titular honours involves former Canadian governor general Vincent Massey
. While on a visit to Canada in August 1954, Prince Philip told Massey the Queen wished to make him a Knight of the Garter. The most senior of the Realm's orders of chivalry, Massey would have been the first non-Briton to receive the Garter. Then-prime minister Louis St. Laurent was cool to the proposal, but agreed to take the matter under advisement. Shortly after coming to power in 1957, John Diefenbaker was initially receptive, but ultimately changed his mind and so informed the Queen in 1960. Just weeks later, Her Majesty honoured Massey with the more rare [but non-titular] Royal Victorian Chain.
A different example was that of Sir Edwin Leather
, KCMG
, KCVO
, LLD, the Toronto
-born Governor of Bermuda
. He arrived in Britain with the Canadian Army in 1940, and stayed on after World War II to become a Conservative Member of Parliament. After the murder of Sir Richard Sharples
, the Bermudian
viceroy
, Sir Edwin was appointed to the vacant colonial governor
ship at the recommendation of the government of British Prime Minister Edward Heath
. When Sir Edwin was knighted in 1962, since he had not lived in Canada since 1940, he was not made to renounce his citizenship in his native country.
In addition to this extraterritorial anomaly, even today the Governor General of Canada is actively involved in the creation of knights and dames via one of the recognized orders (see Order of Merit
) within the Canadian honours system
. His or Her Excellency presides over the Canadian branch of the Order of St John
and confers knighthoods and damehoods on some of its members in ceremonies at which the Governor General performs the act of investing new recipients with their honour. Persons so honoured are, however, officially prohibited from publicly employing the usual knightly accolade of "Sir" or "Dame" followed by their personal and family names, and the claim is made that the honour of knighthood or damehood is conferred without the Queen or Her Governor General's concession of any appellative accolade, thus avoiding the bestowal of any titular honour.
During the premiership of Tony Blair
at least two persons holding dual Canadian and British citizenship were granted titular honours by the Crown before the Black peerage issue, which brought the matter to the Canadian prime minister's attention.
In February 2004, the Department of International Trade announced the impending visit to Sydney of Sir Terry Matthews, with a press release that included the following passage: "Sir Terry is the Chairman of Mitel Networks.... In 1994, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and was awarded a knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours, 2001."
On 2 November 1999, Canadian Senator
Anne Cools
brought to the Senate of Canada's notice the discrepancy in policy on Orders for English Canadians, and Orders for French Canadians:
In addition, on 4 November 1999, she brought to the Senate's notice the fact that in the first decade alone after the Nickle Resolution was debated, there were:
Statistics are not available on the total numbers of titular and non-titular honours conferred on Canadians throughout their country's history.
Some Canadian title holders do not employ their British- or French-derived titles in Canada. One such example being Kenneth Thomson who from his father's death in 1976 until his own death in 2006 held the hereditary peerage Baron Thomson of Fleet
. Thomson once stated in an interview "In London I'm Lord Thomson, in Toronto I'm Ken. I have two sets of Christmas cards and two sets of stationery. You might say I'm having my cake and eating it too
. I'm honouring a promise to my father by being Lord Thomson, and at the same time I can just be Ken,"
It is noteworthy that not employing his title in Canada was his personal choice, rather than the result of any government legislation.
is another Commonwealth Realm
that at present does not confer titular honours on its citizens, except where those honours are conferred personally by the Sovereign, though this occurred after the creation of the Order of Australia
, which initially included grades that awarded knighthoods and damehoods. Additionally, even once the Commonwealth of Australia government had ceased making recommendations for the Australian quota of the British honours list, the governments of the various states of the Australian federation were free to do so, and notably in the case of the State of Queensland
, continued to do so for some years.
Commonwealth countries such as the United Kingdom
, Jamaica
and Papua New Guinea
still confer titular honours, however in recent years the latter two have generally opted to bestow National orders of similar standing offering Order of the National Hero of Jamaica and Order of the Logohu as new alternatives which come with their own styles of "Right Excellent" and "Chief" or "Grand Chief" respectively. There have been reports in the British press of the sale of honours to Britons making large financial contributions to Tony Blair
's Labour Party
coffers, thus raising the hackles of egalitarians in his own party. Peerage watchers and historians note that such a scandal about the sale of honours occurred in the 1930s in the famous Maundy Gregory
affair.
The New Zealand
government bestows titular honours on its citizens in the New Zealand Order of Merit
. However between 2000-2008 the Knighting of individuals was temporarily discontinued under Helen Clark
with the two higher grades of the Order were replaced with postnominals to indicate membership, to make this Order more like the one-grade Order of New Zealand
. However in March 2009 John Key
requested to Elizabeth II that the Order be resumed at the pre-2000 grades and granting of Knighthoods was continued. As in Australia, Her Majesty continues to make titular awards in the Royal Victorian Order, the Order of the Thistle and the Order of the Garter, since these Orders are within the Sovereign's prerogative. New Zealanders who received New Zealand's former titular honours prior to 2000 may continue to employ them and those New Zealanders who received the equivocal postnominals between 2000-2008 were allowed to exchange them for the restored titles if they so chose. .
Antigua and Barbuda
created its own honours system in 1998 with its two highest orders, the Order of the National Hero and the Order of the Nation
bestowing titular honours.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
government policy requesting the Sovereign not to grant knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
hoods, baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
cies, and peerage
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
s to Canadians, and set the precedent for later policies restricting Canadians from accepting titles from foreign countries. Dissatisfaction with the British honours system
British honours system
The British honours system is a means of rewarding individuals' personal bravery, achievement, or service to the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories...
led to the creation of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
in 1967.
The Nickle Resolution
The Nickle Resolution was a motion brought forward by William Folger NickleWilliam Folger Nickle
William Folger Nickle KC was a Canadian politician who served both as a member of the Canadian House of Commons and in the Ontario legislature where he rose to the position of Attorney-General of Ontario...
in the Canadian House of Commons. Nickle was chairman of a special committee of the House of Commons that had been formed to look at the question of honours. There had been controversy during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
about the large number of Canadians being recommended for knighthoods and the qualifications of recipients. Nickle alleged that the practice was inconsistent with democratic values and successfully moved a resolution through the House to end the practice of appointing Canadians to knighthoods and peerages. As a result of the committee's deliberations, Nickle moved that an address be made to King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
, requesting that His Majesty no longer grant "any title of honour or titular distinction... save such appellations as are of a professional or vocational character or which appertain to an office", and that all hereditary titles held by Canadians become extinct upon the death of the incumbent. The motion was carried by the House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
.
Nickle's detractors charged him with being motivated more by spite and chagrin over his failed attempt to obtain a knighthood for his father-in-law, Daniel Gordon
Daniel Gordon (politician)
Daniel Gordon was a businessman, ship owner and politician in Prince Edward Island. He represented 2nd Kings from 1866 to 1873 and 5th Kings from 1876 to 1904 in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island as a Conservative memberHe was born in Brudenell River, Prince Edward Island, the son...
, the principal of Queen's University
Queen's University
Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...
in Kingston, Ontario.
"Canadians" in the above context refers to British subject
British subject
In British nationality law, the term British subject has at different times had different meanings. The current definition of the term British subject is contained in the British Nationality Act 1981.- Prior to 1949 :...
s "domiciled or ordinarily resident" in Canada. A complete legal definition of Canadian citizenship did not exist until the Canadian Citizenship Act
Canadian Citizenship Act 1946
The Canadian Citizenship Act is an Act of the Parliament of Canada, which was enacted June 27, 1946, and came into effect on January 1, 1947, recognizing the definition of a Canadian, including reference to them being British subjects....
came into effect in 1947.
Although the Nickle Resolution was adopted by the House of Commons, the address to the King was never sent. Nor was it advanced to the Senate, where it was expected to be defeated, as it touched on a constitutional matter outside the competence of the House of Commons. As a resolution rather than an Act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
or Order in Council, the Nickle Resolution would not have been legally binding on the government anyway. However, it established a policy precedent which has had a varying degree of enforcement.
The Nickle Resolution was passed in a nation that was deeply divided due, in part, to the Conscription Crisis of 1917
Conscription Crisis of 1917
The Conscription Crisis of 1917 was a political and military crisis in Canada during World War I.-Background:...
. The end of the war saw a burgeoning working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
movement that resulted in actions such as the Winnipeg General Strike. The conferring of knighthoods and peerages, with their connotations of aristocracy
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
, were inconsistent with demands for class equality. The sacrifices of World War I were seen by some as the crucible in which a national Canadian identity was created, distinct from the "Britishness" that had previously predominated in English Canada.
The Nickle Resolution came about in answer to a controversy about the sale of honours, particularly those that involve the use of a title, because of their greater day-to-day public visibility. At the time, the Canadian public was disturbed by the revelation that third parties were using their influence to obtain prime ministerial recommendation for titles, for a fee. This practice did not only affect Canadian subjects of the King; it potentially affected all British subject
British subject
In British nationality law, the term British subject has at different times had different meanings. The current definition of the term British subject is contained in the British Nationality Act 1981.- Prior to 1949 :...
s. The outright sale of honours was distasteful to most Canadians. The buying of honours was one way in which war profiteers sought to gain respectability and recognition within society.
Enforcement of the restrictions on the inheritance of titles seems never to have been attempted. Canadian citizens may inherit and use British titular honours, as is reflected in the Canadian Almanac and Directory . One surviving Canadian titular honour, that of le baron de Longueuil
Baron de Longueuil
The title Baron de Longueuil is the only currently-extant French colonial title that is recognized by Queen Elizabeth II as Queen of Canada. The title was granted originally by King Louis XIV of France to a Norman military officer, Charles le Moyne de Longueuil, and its continuing recognition since...
, dating from 1700, was recognized by the British in the Treaty of Paris, 1763
Treaty of Paris (1763)
The Treaty of Paris, often called the Peace of Paris, or the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763, by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement. It ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War...
. This treaty provision was later exercised in 1880 when the title was confirmed by Queen Victoria (see Burke's Peerage and Baronetage under "Old Canadian Title"). The title survives today in the person of Dr Michael Grant, 12th Baron de Longueuil
Michael Grant, 12th Baron de Longueuil
Michael Charles Grant, 12th Baron de Longueuil is a nobleman possessing the only French colonial title recognized by the King or Queen of Canada.-Assumption of title and royal connection:...
(b. 1947), a descendant of the 1st Baron. On 10 May 2004, the city of Longueuil, Quebec
Longueuil, Quebec
Longueuil is a city in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of the Montérégie administrative region and sits on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River directly across from Montreal. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census totaled 229,330, making it the third largest city in...
was granted arms by the Canadian Heraldic Authority based on the arms granted by King Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
in 1668 to the father of the 1st Baron de Longueuil
Charles le Moyne de Longueuil, Baron de Longueuil
Charles le Moyne de Longueuil, Baron de Longueuil was the first native-born Canadian to be made Baron in New France....
.
After the resolution
Continentalist and nationalistCanadian nationalism
Canadian nationalism is a term which has been applied to ideologies of several different types which highlight and promote specifically Canadian interests over those of other countries, notably the United States...
forces in Canada's political life grew in strength through the 1920s. The governments led by William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...
insisted on an end to imperial practices such as the British government appointing dominion
Dominion
A dominion, often Dominion, refers to one of a group of autonomous polities that were nominally under British sovereignty, constituting the British Empire and British Commonwealth, beginning in the latter part of the 19th century. They have included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland,...
Governors-General, and demanded recognition in practice of Britain's equality to the dominions — seen in such agreements as the Balfour Declaration of 1926 that recognized the autonomy of the dominions.
The Nickle Resolution was recognized as policy during King's tenure as Prime Minister and was entrenched in government practice by the time King retired in 1948. Successive Canadian governments pursued an unwritten policy, reflective of the Nickle Resolution, whereby they did not recommend more than a handful of non-titular honours.
In February 1929 a debate was held on the question of titular honours in the House of Commons, specifically to put to the House the question of whether the Nickle Resolution ought to be reconsidered. This motion was defeated by the Liberal majority on 14 February 1929.
"If we are to have no titles, titular distinctions or honours in Canada, let us hold to the principle and have none, let us abolish them altogether; but if the sovereigns or heads of other countries are to be permitted to bestow honours on Canadians, for my part I think we owe it to our own sovereign to give him that prerogative before all others." Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, House of Commons, 12 Feb 1929.
Granting of honours resumed
On 30 January 1934, Prime Minister BennettR. B. Bennett
Richard Bedford Bennett, 1st Viscount Bennett, PC, KC was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He served as the 11th Prime Minister of Canada from August 7, 1930, to October 23, 1935, during the worst of the Great Depression years...
said, when speaking about the Nickle Resolution and the shelf-life of Canadian parliamentary resolutions (Canadian Hansard
Hansard
Hansard is the name of the printed transcripts of parliamentary debates in the Westminster system of government. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard, an early printer and publisher of these transcripts.-Origins:...
):
- "It has been a matter of passing comment, as pointed out by an eminent lawyer not long ago, that a resolution of a House of Commons which has long since ceased to be, could not bind future parliaments and future Houses of Commons."
- "The power of a mere resolution by this house, if acceded to, would create such a condition that no principle which secures life or liberty would be safe. That is what Judge Coleridge pointed out."
Moreover, as a matter touching the royal prerogative
Royal Prerogative
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the sovereign alone. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government, possessed by and...
, R. B. Bennett had already reported to the House of Commons the previous year, on 17 May 1933 (Hansard, p. 5126) that the Nickle Resolution was of no force or of null effect, stating:
- "... it being the considered view of His Majesty's government in Canada that the motion, with respect to honours, adopted on the 22nd day of May, 1919, by a majority vote of the members of the Commons House only of the thirteenth parliament (which was dissolved on the 4th day of October, 1921) is not binding upon His Majesty or His Majesty's government in Canada or the seventeenth parliament of Canada."
On 30 January 1934, in speaking about his responsibility as Prime Minister to advise the King as the King's first minister, and about his own advice to the King that as prime minister he wished to continue the custom of advising His Majesty to bestow royal honours on His Majesty's Canadian subjects (which Conservative and Liberal administrations had chosen not to exercise for almost 15 years), Prime Minister Bennett said:
- "The action [of recommending (or choosing not to recommend) people for titular honours] is that of the Prime Minister; he must assume the responsibility, and the responsibility too for advising the Crown that the resolution passed by the House of Commons was without validity, force, or effect, with respect to the Sovereign's prerogative. That seems to me to be reasonably clear."
To these official statements of Prime Minister R.B. Bennett can be added what he wrote in a 1934 letter to J.R. MacNicol, MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
when he stated his view that:
- "So long as I remain a citizen of the British Empire and a loyal subject of the King, I do not propose to do otherwise than assume the prerogative rights of the Sovereign to recognize the services of his subjects."
Moreover, as Bennett stated to Parliament about the Nickle Resolution (see Hansard):
- "That was as ineffective in law as it is possible for any group of words to be. It was not only ineffective, but I am sorry to say, it was an affront to the Sovereign himself. Every constitutional lawyer, or anyone who has taken the trouble to study this matter realizes that that is what was done."
R.B. Bennett's government submitted honours lists to the King every year from 1933 onward, recommending that various prominent Canadians receive knighthoods, including the Chief Justice of Canada
Chief Justice of Canada
The Chief Justice of Canada, like the eight puisne Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, is appointed by the Governor-in-Council . All nine are chosen from either sitting judges or barristers who have at least ten years' standing at the bar of a province or territory...
, Sir Lyman Poore Duff
Lyman Poore Duff
Sir Lyman Poore Duff, GCMG, PC, QC was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and briefly served as Acting Governor General of Canada in 1931 and 1940....
, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
(RCMP) Commissioner Sir James Howden MacBrien
James Howden MacBrien
Major-General Sir James Howden MacBrien, KCB, CMG, DSO, CStJ was a Canadian soldier and Chief of the General Staff, the head of the Canadian Militia from 1920 until 1927....
, Sir Frederick Banting
Frederick Banting
Sir Frederick Grant Banting, KBE, MC, FRS, FRSC was a Canadian medical scientist, doctor and Nobel laureate noted as one of the main discoverers of insulin....
, the discoverer of insulin
Insulin
Insulin is a hormone central to regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism in the body. Insulin causes cells in the liver, muscle, and fat tissue to take up glucose from the blood, storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle....
, and Sir Ernest MacMillan
Ernest MacMillan
Sir Ernest Alexander Campbell MacMillan, CC was an internationally renowned Canadian orchestral conductor and composer, and Canada's only "Musical Knight". He is widely regarded as being Canada's pre-eminent musician, from the 1920s through the 1950s...
, composer and conductor.
When a vote was called on 14 March 1934, on a private member's (Humphrey Mitchell, Labour, East Hamilton) resolution to require the prime minister to cease making recommendations to the King for titles, this renewed Nickle-like Resolution was defeated 113 to 94. The Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
, by this vote, refused to reaffirm or reinstate the Nickle Resolution or its attempts to prevent the Prime Minister's involvement in the exercise of the Royal Prerogative
Royal Prerogative
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the sovereign alone. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government, possessed by and...
of granting titles to Canadians. This is the last time that the lower house of Parliament ever voted on the issue.
Mackenzie King reaffirms ban
When William Lyon Mackenzie KingWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King
William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...
returned to power in 1935, he ignored the precedent set by Bennett's government, and resumed the former policy. The no-honours policy of successive Canadian governments has been in effect ever since. However, no attempt was made to forbid the use of the titular honours by those who had been granted them by the King at Bennett's recommendation.
In 1941, Bennett was elevated to the British House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
, as "1st Viscount Bennett, of Mickleham
Mickleham, Surrey
Mickleham is a village and civil parish between the towns of Dorking and Leatherhead in Surrey, England covering . The parish includes the hamlet of Fredley.-History:Mickleham lies near to the old Roman road known as Stane Street...
in the county of Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, Hopewell
Hopewell Hill, New Brunswick
Hopewell Hill is a Canadian rural community in Albert County, New Brunswick.It is most famous for being the birthplace of the Right Honourable Richard Bedford Bennett, 1st Viscount Bennett, PC , KC , LL.B , who was the eleventh Prime Minister of Canada from August 7, 1930 to October 23,...
in the province of New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
, and Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
in the province of Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
". This was a reflection of British policy at the time of conferring viscount
Viscount
A viscount or viscountess is a member of the European nobility whose comital title ranks usually, as in the British peerage, above a baron, below an earl or a count .-Etymology:...
cies on retired dominion prime ministers, if recommended. Retiring British prime ministers were normally offered earl
Earl
An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...
doms.
Modern policy
In 1968, Prime MinisterPrime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Lester B. Pearson
Lester B. Pearson
Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...
's government published "Regulations respecting the acceptance and wearing by Canadians of Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
and foreign orders, decorations and medals".
These policies were again affirmed in 1988 when the government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...
published "Policy Respecting the Awarding of an Order, Decoration or Medal by a Commonwealth or Foreign Government".
Conrad Black vs Jean Chrétien
The best-known modern application of the Nickle Resolution occurred when Prime Minister Jean ChrétienJean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....
used it to prevent Canadian publishing mogul Conrad Black
Conrad Black
Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour, OC, KCSG, PC is a Canadian-born member of the British House of Lords, and a historian, columnist and publisher, who was for a time the third largest newspaper magnate in the world. Lord Black controlled Hollinger International, Inc...
from becoming a British life peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
. Chrétien held that, in spite of the fact that the British government was honouring Black as a British citizen, and that Black then held dual citizenship of Canada and Britain (allowed since 1977), he as prime minister of Canada had the right to keep Black from becoming a British life peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
because he was also a Canadian citizen.
Exceptions and anomalies
Even in the immediate aftermath of the Nickle Resolution adoption in 1921, titular honours were granted to subjects of the King who remained residents of Canada, and such honours were passed on to their legal inheritors. The Nickle Resolution was not an effective instrument to establish Canada's desire to end the granting of titular honours to Canadians. It would take later Prime Ministers to do that.The prime minister at the time of the resolution, Sir Robert Laird Borden, GCMG
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
had been knighted in 1914, five years before the adoption of the resolution.
Canadian steel magnate, Sir James Hamet Dunn
James Hamet Dunn
Sir James Hamet Dunn, 1st Baronet was a major Canadian financier and industrialist during the first half of the 20th century.-Early life:...
was created a baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
by King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
on 13 January 1921, and his son Sir Philip Dunn
Dunn Baronets
There have been three creations of baronetcies on families bearing the surname Dunn; all three were in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. The first was settled on William Dunn of Lakenheath, Suffolk, for whom the Sir William Dunn Professor of Biochemistry and the Sir William Dunn School of...
, 2nd Baronet, inherited his father's baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
cy. At the time, the same parliament that had adopted the Nickle Resolution was still in session. It follows that such a resolution, had it had any binding nature, would have been in effect at least until the dissolution of the 13th parliament on 14 October 1921.
The Government of Canada made no objection when, near the end of the Second World War, British prime minister, Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, recommended that the King bestow a knighthood on Sir William Stephenson
William Stephenson
Sir William Samuel Stephenson, CC, MC, DFC was a Canadian soldier, airman, businessman, inventor, spymaster, and the senior representative of British intelligence for the entire western hemisphere during World War II. He is best known by his wartime intelligence codename Intrepid...
. Churchill described the honour he sought from the King for Stephenson as "one dear to my heart", such was Churchill's sense of gratitude for Stephenson's wartime intelligence work. Years later, Sir William was given Canada's highest honour in being made a Companion of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
in 1979.
Also honoured with knighthood following the Nickle Resolution was Sir Frederick Banting, the Canadian medical doctor who co-won the Nobel Prize for Medicine for the discovery of insulin
Insulin
Insulin is a hormone central to regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism in the body. Insulin causes cells in the liver, muscle, and fat tissue to take up glucose from the blood, storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle....
. This knighthood was awarded by King George V in 1934.
Another significant example of government indecision over the matter of titular honours involves former Canadian governor general Vincent Massey
Vincent Massey
Charles Vincent Massey was a Canadian lawyer and diplomat who served as Governor General of Canada, the 18th since Canadian Confederation....
. While on a visit to Canada in August 1954, Prince Philip told Massey the Queen wished to make him a Knight of the Garter. The most senior of the Realm's orders of chivalry, Massey would have been the first non-Briton to receive the Garter. Then-prime minister Louis St. Laurent was cool to the proposal, but agreed to take the matter under advisement. Shortly after coming to power in 1957, John Diefenbaker was initially receptive, but ultimately changed his mind and so informed the Queen in 1960. Just weeks later, Her Majesty honoured Massey with the more rare [but non-titular] Royal Victorian Chain.
A different example was that of Sir Edwin Leather
Edwin Leather
Sir Edwin Hartley Cameron "Ted" Leather, KCMG, KCVO was a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom, and Governor of Bermuda.-Education:...
, KCMG
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
, KCVO
Royal Victorian Order
The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
, LLD, the Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
-born Governor of Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
. He arrived in Britain with the Canadian Army in 1940, and stayed on after World War II to become a Conservative Member of Parliament. After the murder of Sir Richard Sharples
Richard Sharples
Major Sir Richard Christopher Sharples KCMG OBE MC , St. George, Bermuda) was a British politician and Governor of Bermuda from late 1972 to 10 March 1973 when he was shot dead by assassins linked to the militant Black Beret Cadre, a small Bermudian Black Power group.-Career:Sharples passed out...
, the Bermudian
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
viceroy
Viceroy
A viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...
, Sir Edwin was appointed to the vacant colonial governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
ship at the recommendation of the government of British Prime Minister Edward Heath
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....
. When Sir Edwin was knighted in 1962, since he had not lived in Canada since 1940, he was not made to renounce his citizenship in his native country.
In addition to this extraterritorial anomaly, even today the Governor General of Canada is actively involved in the creation of knights and dames via one of the recognized orders (see Order of Merit
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit is a British dynastic order recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture...
) within the Canadian honours system
Canadian honours system
The orders, decorations, and medals of Canada comprise a complex system by which Canadians are honoured by the country's sovereign for actions or deeds that benefit their community or the country at large...
. His or Her Excellency presides over the Canadian branch of the Order of St John
Venerable Order of Saint John
The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem , is a royal order of chivalry established in 1831 and found today throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United States of America, with the world-wide mission "to prevent and relieve sickness and...
and confers knighthoods and damehoods on some of its members in ceremonies at which the Governor General performs the act of investing new recipients with their honour. Persons so honoured are, however, officially prohibited from publicly employing the usual knightly accolade of "Sir" or "Dame" followed by their personal and family names, and the claim is made that the honour of knighthood or damehood is conferred without the Queen or Her Governor General's concession of any appellative accolade, thus avoiding the bestowal of any titular honour.
During the premiership of Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
at least two persons holding dual Canadian and British citizenship were granted titular honours by the Crown before the Black peerage issue, which brought the matter to the Canadian prime minister's attention.
In February 2004, the Department of International Trade announced the impending visit to Sydney of Sir Terry Matthews, with a press release that included the following passage: "Sir Terry is the Chairman of Mitel Networks.... In 1994, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and was awarded a knighthood in the Queen's Birthday Honours, 2001."
On 2 November 1999, Canadian Senator
Canadian Senate
The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...
Anne Cools
Anne Cools
Anne Clare Cools is a member of the Canadian Senate. Born in Barbados, with her appointment, she became the first Black Canadian to be appointed to Canada's upper house...
brought to the Senate of Canada's notice the discrepancy in policy on Orders for English Canadians, and Orders for French Canadians:
- "Honourable senators, the sovereign of France, the President, conferred the Ordre Royale de la Légion d'Honneur on Quebecer Robert Gagnon just two weeks ago, and on Premier René Lévesque in 1977, while he was Premier of Quebec. No doubt Premier Lévesque would have frowned on any anglophone premier being knighted "Sir" by the Queen of Canada."
In addition, on 4 November 1999, she brought to the Senate's notice the fact that in the first decade alone after the Nickle Resolution was debated, there were:
- "many distinguished Canadians who have received 646 orders and distinctions from foreign non-British, non-Canadian sovereigns between 1919 and February 1929."
Statistics are not available on the total numbers of titular and non-titular honours conferred on Canadians throughout their country's history.
Some Canadian title holders do not employ their British- or French-derived titles in Canada. One such example being Kenneth Thomson who from his father's death in 1976 until his own death in 2006 held the hereditary peerage Baron Thomson of Fleet
Baron Thomson of Fleet
Baron Thomson of Fleet, of Northbridge in the City of Edinburgh, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1964 for the newspaper magnate Roy Thomson...
. Thomson once stated in an interview "In London I'm Lord Thomson, in Toronto I'm Ken. I have two sets of Christmas cards and two sets of stationery. You might say I'm having my cake and eating it too
Have one's cake and eat it too
To have one's cake and eat it too is a popular English idiomatic proverb or figure of speech, sometimes stated as eat one's cake and have it too or simply have one's cake and eat it. This is most often used negatively, to connote the idea of consuming a thing whilst managing to preserve it...
. I'm honouring a promise to my father by being Lord Thomson, and at the same time I can just be Ken,"
It is noteworthy that not employing his title in Canada was his personal choice, rather than the result of any government legislation.
Other Commonwealth countries
AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
is another Commonwealth Realm
Commonwealth Realm
A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state within the Commonwealth of Nations that has Elizabeth II as its monarch and head of state. The sixteen current realms have a combined land area of 18.8 million km² , and a population of 134 million, of which all, except about two million, live in the six...
that at present does not confer titular honours on its citizens, except where those honours are conferred personally by the Sovereign, though this occurred after the creation of the Order of Australia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
, which initially included grades that awarded knighthoods and damehoods. Additionally, even once the Commonwealth of Australia government had ceased making recommendations for the Australian quota of the British honours list, the governments of the various states of the Australian federation were free to do so, and notably in the case of the State of Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
, continued to do so for some years.
Commonwealth countries such as the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
and Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
still confer titular honours, however in recent years the latter two have generally opted to bestow National orders of similar standing offering Order of the National Hero of Jamaica and Order of the Logohu as new alternatives which come with their own styles of "Right Excellent" and "Chief" or "Grand Chief" respectively. There have been reports in the British press of the sale of honours to Britons making large financial contributions to Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
's Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
coffers, thus raising the hackles of egalitarians in his own party. Peerage watchers and historians note that such a scandal about the sale of honours occurred in the 1930s in the famous Maundy Gregory
Maundy Gregory
Arthur Maundy Gregory was a British theatre producer and political fixer who is best remembered for selling honours for Prime Minister David Lloyd George. He may also have been involved with the Zinoviev Letter, the disappearance of Victor Grayson, and the suspicious death of his platonic...
affair.
The New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
government bestows titular honours on its citizens in the New Zealand Order of Merit
New Zealand Order of Merit
The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order established in 1996 "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions or other merits."The order includes five...
. However between 2000-2008 the Knighting of individuals was temporarily discontinued under Helen Clark
Helen Clark
Helen Elizabeth Clark, ONZ is a New Zealand political figure who was the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2008...
with the two higher grades of the Order were replaced with postnominals to indicate membership, to make this Order more like the one-grade Order of New Zealand
Order of New Zealand
The Order of New Zealand is the highest honour in New Zealand's honours system, created "to recognise outstanding service to the Crown and people of New Zealand in a civil or military capacity"...
. However in March 2009 John Key
John Key
John Phillip Key is the 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand, in office since 2008. He has led the New Zealand National Party since 2006....
requested to Elizabeth II that the Order be resumed at the pre-2000 grades and granting of Knighthoods was continued. As in Australia, Her Majesty continues to make titular awards in the Royal Victorian Order, the Order of the Thistle and the Order of the Garter, since these Orders are within the Sovereign's prerogative. New Zealanders who received New Zealand's former titular honours prior to 2000 may continue to employ them and those New Zealanders who received the equivocal postnominals between 2000-2008 were allowed to exchange them for the restored titles if they so chose. .
Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda is a twin-island nation lying between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of two major inhabited islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and a number of smaller islands...
created its own honours system in 1998 with its two highest orders, the Order of the National Hero and the Order of the Nation
Order of the Nation (Antigua and Barbuda)
The Order of the Nation is a National order instituted by Antigua and Barbuda in 1998. As Antigua and Barbuda is a Commonwealth Realm Elizabeth II is the sovereign of the order in her capacity as Queen of Antigua and Barbuda. The order recognizes service to Antigua and Barbuda, the Caricom...
bestowing titular honours.
See also
- Baronetcies conferred on the recommendation of Canadian governments
- Political culture of CanadaPolitical culture of CanadaCanadian political culture is in some ways part of a greater North American and European political culture, which emphasizes constitutional law, freedom of religion, personal liberty, and regional autonomy; these ideas stemming in various degrees from the British common law and French civil law...
- Monarchy of Canada
- Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925The Honours Act 1925 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that makes the sale of peerages or any other honours illegal...
- Orders, decorations, and medals of Canada
- Canadian order of precedence (decorations and medals)Canadian order of precedence (Decorations and Medals)The following is the Canadian order of precedence for decorations and medals. Where applicable, post-nominal letters are indicated.-Awards of valour:-National orders:-Provincial orders:-National decorations:-National medals:...