I apologize ahead if there is already a thread of this topic. But I´ve read several articles about Canada´s history like it became the Dominion of Canada in 1867 and recently celebrated 144 years of existence but it was not a self ruled until 1931 and it didn´t have a Flag to call its own until 1965 the Maple Leaf flag which is pretty cool. Another about Westminster in 1982.

   

Depends on how you define it. For some, some time after WW1, for others Never.

   

We've been covertly ruled by the US since WWII. Didn't they tell you?

   

While the maple leaf is cool, I tend to agree with John G Diefenbaker that the Red Ensign was a much grander flag.

I know Quebec didn't like it, but to me that doesn't seem like much of a concern (They don't like the Maple Leaf much either).

   

Canada has a truly interesting history. In 1867 Canada wasn't nearly the nation that it is now, no more than the United States was the nation it is in 1776. We both grew. Hell..Think about it..Newfoundland did not become a province until 1949. Canada is a group of strange bedfellows that have grown to get along. We are a country and gained our final independence from Great Britain when we repatriated our Constitution in the Trudeau era.


We have our problem child, Quebec, who was dropped several times as a child and refuses to play nice with the rest of the family but we tend to ignore it and hope it, at times either grows up or goes away.

   

I like the current flag, but I miss Maple Leaf Forever as the anthem.

   

There are no self-ruled countries nowadays. In any case every country depends from another and doesn't matter how strong it is. Even US and China depend from other part of world.

   

I knew in 1776 we were a work in progress even now we are a work in progress.

   

"Ruled" ? We're a democracy.

   

Canada is not a democracy and you should thank your lucky stars it isn't.

   

True, but we're not ruled, we're governed.

   

Well, everyone is covertly ruled by the US and their shadow government. There are at least three agencies of Men In Black monitoring us right now. But I think he meant "When did Canada truly gain independence of the United Kingdom?"

   

Canada has been self-governing since 1867 in terms of its domestic laws, taxation, spending, etc but it remained a Dominion of the British Empire meaning it did not manage its own foreign policy (international relations, foreign treaties and trade, etc were all conducted and decided by British). Because of the latter, did not maintain its own "official" international symbols (flags, anthems, etc)but there were unofficial symbols used within the empire on certain occasions

Direct Canadian involvement in its own foreign policy started to take place in the early 1900's when Canada opened its first foreign office in the US. Partly, this was in response to growing nationalism (or at least a sense of North American identity) and partly in response to the widespread feeling that Britain had sold out Canadian interests to the US in the Alaska Panhandle dispute for its own purposes. But perhaps most important of all, the growing number of day-to-day cross-border issues just became too cumbersome for all parties involved when things had to be managed by the British Foreign Office and its Parliament in Westminster.

Canadian independence grew during and after World War I, due to Canada's sizable contribution to that War and its strategic value (being a resource-rich, industrialized member of the British Empire and outside the theatre of conflict). The government of the time actively sought (sometimes struggled) to play a greater diplomatic and decision-making role in the conflict and when the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919, Canada insisted on signing the Treaty as an independent member.

Canada did not "officially" have independent foreign policy until the Statute of Westminster in 1931. From that point on, Canada basically functioned as a politically independent country, but remained very loyal to Mother Britain and so trappings such as the Union Jack remained (although the unofficial Canadian Flag was increasingly used in official functions). In part this was due to social conservatism and "preserving British heritage" and in part due to fears that we would be swallowed by the US if we moved any further away from Britain. Even in 1965, the decision to adopt an official Canadian flag was controversial, with the Conservative Party of the day and many war veterans considering it a betrayal of our heritage.

As Canada's "constitution" prior to 1982 was the 1867 British North America Act, which was an Act of British Parliament, whenever the Canadian Parliament voted on provisions governed by this Act (for example, to increase the number of seats in the Canadian Senate) it still required that the British North America Act be amended in British Parliament. This was effectively a a formality though as Britain never refused or interfered with such requests.

So as you can see, it depends on where you want to draw the line as Canadian sovereignty evolved gradually over a period of time.

   

Some would have us believe that these are the MiB who run everything.

   

Back before "Men in Black" was a movie, I once read a website that made the argument that Mormons secretly worshiped the aliens that walk among us and many of their suited leaders acted as police or enforcers for our alien overlord's policies and to keep their influence secret. They explicitly used the term "Men In Black" to refer to them.

All in all, I think the conspiracies about "suits" running things is as much an irrational prejudice as racism or any other guilt by association.