Last week’s announcement that royal titles would be restored to Canada’s navy and air force awakened personal memories for me while stirring public debate.
I was early in my regular force career when then-defence minister Paul Hellyer began the process of restructuring the military, which, on Feb. 15, 1968, blossomed into formally merging the three armed services into one. Old uniforms and old names — including the ‘royal’ designation for the naval and air arms — were jettisoned. The process went on for some years after that and, as I was by then a staff officer at the Ottawa headquarters, I had a box seat to the change as various specialist branches were merged and reconfigured. Some of it was sensible. Some was the inept product of fevered minds seeking to make their mark, assisted by yes men eager to hop on a jazzy new bandwagon.
I had a number of rows with proponents of blending the military police and military intelligence functions into one branch. It didn’t work, the world’s armed forces did not follow suit, and 12 and a half years later — without public fanfare — the branch was split back into two. Many years later, I learned that a man I remembered well from my argumentative days was proclaiming how he had hated having to toe the official line back then. No such reluctance had been evident earlier during our conversations. Similarly, I recall spirited debate with a high-ranking military police officer who defended replacing the centuries old title ‘Provost Marshal’ with the sparkling new term ‘Director of Security.’ The English language was unyielding and, with an assist from wartime artillery officer (later Chief Justice of Canada) Brian Dickson, the ‘Provost Marshal’ eventually reappeared. So did a distinctly named ‘Military Police Branch.’
The present return to old names with a monarchial flavour has varied acceptance. Predictably, there has been a hallelujah chorus from the staunch monarchists. Militarily, the move is popular with the Royal Canadian Legion. It did not find favour with Quebec separatists. Noted military historian and former Canadian War Museum head Jack Granatstein was appalled and called the change “abject colonialism.” Canada has not been even technically a British colony since the Statute of Westminster in 1931. And before that Canada was not averse to limiting the impact of monarchial trappings. The Nicol Resolution of 1919 effectively ended the practice of titles being conferred on Canadians — save for a few individual exceptions, and a brief general restoration by former prime minister R.B. Bennett.
Granatstein’s feverish words are in keeping with a concept of Canada’s royalty gradually fading out like the Cheshire Cat — one last smile, a final wave, and they’re gone! In practice, Canada’s continued monarchial status is a constitutional convenience retained because there is nowhere near a political consensus on the idea of ending it, and public debate on the issue could be bitterly — and unnecessarily — divisive. Restoring a couple of ‘royals’ to a military already well steeped in monarchial nomenclature would scarcely impede a fade-out nor affect any potential debate, while it does invoke a valid, and recent, part of our military heritage.
St. Albert resident David Haas has worn eight Canadian military badges. All had the Crown, one had ‘Royal,’ and another referred to royalty.
