The following is a re-print of a past column by former Advertiser columnist Stephen Thorning, who passed away on Feb. 23, 2015.
Some text has been updated to reflect changes since the original publication and any images used may not be the same as those that accompanied the original publication.
July 1 is now the patriotic holiday in a country that has never been loud or strident in proclaiming its patriotism, but for the first 30 or so years after Confederation, the significance of the day was rarely noticed – it was merely a summer holiday.
The first Dominion Day, in 1867, was marked by large celebrations, parades and fireworks in some of the major towns and cities, but in other places the day went uncelebrated.
Some stores remained open and many factories operated, and would continue to do so until the 1880s. Elora, on July 1, 1867 avoided both the extremes. Most places of business were closed, a few people went on picnics and the Elora Rifle Company scheduled a shooting competition with their counterparts from Peel township.
In truth, the country was uncertain about how to celebrate the day in 1867. Many citizens doubted strongly that there were any advantages to the new union of the provinces, and a greater number exhibited no interest whatever in Confederation and constitutional discussions.
Nothing basic had changed in the government of the country from the perspective of small-town Ontario. The government still sat at Ottawa, run by the same group of men as before Confederation. The day-to-day operation of the various government departments was not yet organized on a federal basis: the Dominion post office did not begin until 1868, and the finance department did not become fully operational until 1871.
As well, the British North America Act, which came into force on July 1, 1867, was only the latest in a series of Canadian constitutional documents: the Quebec Act of 1774, the Constitutional Act of 1791, the Act of Union of 1841.
None of these others had ever received special notice, but rather, were regarded as part of the evolution of Canadian government within the British system.
By 1867, Canada already had a patriotic holiday. Victoria Day had begun modestly as a celebration of Queen Victoria’s birthday in the 1840s, but by the 1860s it had acquired a distinct flavour in Canada, celebrating the stability and inherent justice of the British system in marked contrast to the various excesses of the republic to the south.
The first Dominion Day, in Elora and most other towns, set a precedent that continued to be observed for decades: picnics, sports matches and excursions – a day for relaxation and fun.
Even in the 1860s, Canadian patriotism consisted in large part of anti-Americanism, a characteristic it has retained ever since. There seems to have been a deliberate effort from the beginning to make Dominion Day as different from its American counterpart, July 4, as possible. Americans stood for hours to listen to blustering Fourth of July orations; Canadians shunned such performances and organizers of Dominion Day events frequently advertised that no speeches were on the program.
During the 1870s, Dominion Day became generally accepted as a national holiday, observed through recreational activities, rather than loud, patriotic demonstrations. In most years, Elora attracted a large crowd from the townships to watch baseball, football and lacrosse games, to cheer on their favourites in horse races (and bicycle races in the 1890s), and to listen to concerts.
An interesting performance took place in Elora on the Dominion Day of 1876, centred on an Indigenous theme. In the afternoon, Six Nations representatives offered a thinly-disguised re-enactment of Ouster’s Last Stand, which had taken place only five days before, and which was the major newspaper story in the last week of June. The performance was followed by a lacrosse game with an Elora team. In the evening the action moved to the Drill Shed, where the Six Nations performed a variety of dances and ceremonies from a variety of tribal traditions.
In some years Elora was quiet because few people remained in town for Dominion Day. The railway would put on a special train, and a large portion of the village would buy cheap tickets for a trip to Hamilton, Niagara Falls or Port Elgin.
At the first Dominion Day excursion in 1870 hundreds of yawning and red-eyed Elora residents waited at the station to board a train at 5am, bound for Niagara Falls. This was the first passenger train to leave Elora; regular service did not begin for another two months.
The special train did not return until almost midnight. The fare was a genuine bargain: about a quarter of the regular rate in the 1870s. For many in Elora, this was their first ride in a train and their first view of the falls. Such excursions became popular Dominion Day events in the latter part of the 19th century.
In other years, trainloads of visitors would come to Elora for the day, exploring the gorge and the village, and eating a picnic lunch. Some years, more than 2,000 visitors would come to the village. It was the start of tourism industry in Elora.
Dominion Day took on a more blatantly patriotic tone in 1897. The year marked a double anniversary: the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s reign and the 30th anniversary of Confederation.
Canadians used the day to mark the growth of Canada as a country within British constitutional traditions. Flags and bunting appeared in abundance; they had seldom been used before.
The maple leaf was in the process of becoming Canada’s national symbol. Pictures of Queen Victoria festooned with maple leaves and similar images continued to be produced in the following years, up to the First World War.
It was a period of optimism in Canada. Public figures called for Canada to take over leadership of the British Empire.
England was old and declining, they argued, and compared Canada to the strong son who was ready to take over the family farm.
*This column was originally published in the Elora Sentinel on June 23, 1992.
