.
Search
Email this articleE-mail this story  Letter to the EDITORWrite letter to editor  Discuss this articleOrder a classified ad

Who is Victoria?

Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Hay River (May 24/04) - For most people, May 24 is simply a day off work and the unofficial beginning of summer.

And that seems fine with monarchists, even though May 24 marks the birthday of Queen Victoria and is the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II in Canada (her actual birthday is April 21).

NNSL Photo/Graphic
Queen Victoria



Hay River's Vicky Latour, who believes in the monarchy, doesn't really mind that there's no widespread observance of Victoria Day.

However, she would like people to understand the meaning of the holiday.

"I would say the whole of the younger generation haven't got a clue about what it is and what it means," she says.

Latour, whose actual first name is Victoria, says she also doesn't do anything in particular to observe Victoria Day, "but I think about the whole institution of the monarchy."

Just after the Second World War, when she first arrived in Canada from England, Latour says she recalls some Alberta towns would put bunting up for Victoria Day, but it was never a big celebration.

Another Hay River monarchist is Peter Osted, who remembers Victoria Day as a firecracker day in some Alberta communities.

"It was controlled mayhem," he says, noting some people still explode firecrackers on the holiday, even in Hay River. "There are places in Western Canada where it's still done."

Osted says he is happy as long as Victoria Day keeps that name "so people will ask, 'Who's Victoria?' There's room for an answer there."

Monarchy as fun

Even John Aimers, the chairperson of the Monarchist League of Canada, is not bothered by the lack of ceremony on Victoria Day.

"For most people, let's be honest, it's May 24," Aimers says. "Let's go to the cabin."

May 24, as a time for family and friends to get together, fits in well with the community of Canadians as symbolized by the monarchy, he explains.

"The monarchy is fun. The monarchy is a celebration," he says. "It's pomp and circumstance, and colour and personality."

One of the few official observances of Victoria Day are cannon salutes at several military bases across the country.

Aimers says while everyone knows about the Fathers of Confederation, Queen Victoria was the Mother of Confederation, who chose Ottawa as Canada's capital and named British Columbia.