When Canadian confederation was agreed upon in 1866, the conferees in London had trouble common to parents everywhere: what to name the baby. Canadians would not take "colony," and Britons vetoed "kingdom." New Brunswick's Sir Leonard Tilley found inspiration in Psalms 72:8"He shall have dominion also from sea to sea." From that, according to legend and Lady Tilley, the Dominion of Canada got its name.
Three generations of Canadians were proud of the word "Dominion." In 1926 Prime Minister King accepted it in the Imperial Conference's definition of Canada's nationhood.* Of late there have been rumbles. (A bill to...