Je me souviens Too: Eugene Forsey and the Inclusiveness of 1950s’ British Canadianism

Abstract

This article tells the story of the 1951–2 debate over the removal of the term “Dominion” from Canadian legislation and official life. It focuses on the role of constitutional expert and labour activist Eugene Forsey in calling for the preservation of British traditions in Canada. Some scholarship has presented the supporters of British Canadianism in the 1950s as ethnic and race-based nationalists whose ideas were overturned on the road to a more inclusive civic-based nationalism that emerged in the 1970s and later. This article revisits the actual arguments put forward by Forsey and those appealing for the preservation of British symbols in 1950s’ Canada. It argues that the case for British Canadianism was actually more inclusive and tolerant of diversity than has hitherto been appreciated.