Understanding why we embrace Royal

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Maple Leaf Empire

Canada, Britain, and Two World Wars

By Jonathan Vance

Oxford University Press, 272 pages, $30

RECENTLY, the Canadian government announced that the prefix "Royal" would once again be attached to the names of the various branches of the Canadian Armed Forces.

This decision was widely popular among veterans, a reflection of a deep-seated appreciation for our British cultural heritage.

Those who believe Canada was never entirely British should read this academic press study that documents the interaction between Canada and Britain, beginning just after Confederation and continuing through the Second World War.

The two world wars of the 20th century were the most salient demonstrations of the close ties between Britain and Canada, and Jonathan Vance's account of Canada's role in these conflicts constitutes the bulk of his narrative.

Vance, who teaches Canadian military and cultural history at the University of Western Ontario, has written six previous books, including one called, ambitiously, A History of Canadian Culture.

This new book addresses a topic that has been somewhat neglected by historians, and is therefore a welcome contribution to Canadian historiography.

Usually, however, the writer of a work of history will include, in a preface or introduction, some indication of the chronological scope of his or her narrative, as well as a sense of the purpose of the book and how that purpose is going to be realized.

Vance includes none of these signposts to guide the reader, who is obliged to try to infer the scope and structure of the work in the process of reading.

Despite this shortcoming, Vance makes several interesting points. One of his themes is the close relationship between imperialism -- a devotion to the British Empire -- and nationalism in English Canadian culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In particular, Canada's sacrifice on the battlefields of Europe in the First World War fostered a sense of Canada as a distinct nation. This new nationalism, however, did not imply a movement away from Britain.

Rather, it was believed that Canada could play a major role within a revamped British Empire; it was within the context of the Empire that Canada would fulfill its national destiny.

Vance is not the first to identify this amalgam of imperialism and nationalism. The Canadian historian Carl Berger argued, in The Sense of Power (1970), that imperialism was a form of Canadian nationalism.

Vance's most original insight is his notion of a Canadian empire in Britain. During two world wars, a kind of "reverse colonialism" occurred, as large contingents of Canadian soldiers were stationed in Britain, establishing outposts of Canadianism in the mother country.

"In the 18th and 19th centuries, Britain came to Canada and helped to shape the nation as a critical part of the British Empire," Vance writes. "In the 20th century, Canada went to Britain and established, at least for a time, a Maple Leaf Empire."

Canadians of all ethnicities can embrace this heritage, the legacy of which is a stable, humane, civilized political order. And for those wishing to deepen their understanding of that heritage and how it has played out in Canadian history, Vance's account is a good place to start.

Graeme Voyer is a Winnipeg writer.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 5, 2011 J8