Crimes of the Constitutional Order the Crown Preserves and Perpetuates
A special sitting of the House of Commons was held on September 15. Then, on Monday, September 19, there is to be a Day of Mourning so that Canadians can watch the Queen’s funeral and “reflect”.
The prevailing coverage and comments by various politicians hide from view discussion about the institution of the monarchy, its Westminster system of government and the crimes that have been committed in order to preserve the rule of a part over the whole. The preservation and perpetuation of this constitutional order, with or without monarchy, is at the heart of the actions of states such as those that prevail in the U.S., Britain, Canada and the countries whose constitutions are based on a system that permits a part to rule over the whole. On this basis, they are committing crimes today against their own peoples and the peoples of the world.
In the case of Canada’s relationship with the monarchy and the discussion taking place on the legacy of the Queen, crimes of the past and present are dismissed by saying Elizabeth II had no role in their commission. The fact is that the Monarch and their duty are essential to permit the perpetuation of an anachronistic constitutional order in the present.
In Canada the crimes committed under royal authority are many. They start with the acts of genocide committed against the Indigenous peoples under Royal Charter; the crimes committed by the Hudson’s Bay Company under Royal Charter; the creation of the North West Mounted Police (today the RCMP, who will attend the Queen’s funeral to “represent” Canada); the hanging of Louis Riel and the imprisonment and execution of hereditary chiefs; the banning of Potlatch ceremonies and the Sun Dance and adoption of the Indian Act, which made the Indigenous peoples “wards of the state” and condoned the residential school system, the kidnapping of children and the genocidal assimilationist policy. The monarch is the head of the Church of England, “defender of the faith,” but has taken no responsibility for the acts committed under its auspices. The British Crown also directly commanded the brutal suppression of the nascent nation of Quebec and imposed the policy of divide and rule as the basis of the system of rule and government designed to disempower the people. This is the constitutional order enshrined in the Constitution Act 1867, adopted by the Imperial Parliament in London, England, and used to unite the British “dominions” in British North America. This foundational document was incorporated in toto into the Constitution Act 1982. To date Canada has no Constitution written by the people of this country.
The crimes committed by British imperialism during the Queen’s long reign of 70 years begin with the crimes committed against the Mau Mau in Kenya (1952-1960) where she was when she was declared Queen on the death of her father, George VI, in 1952. The factual accounts of massacres, the enslavement of peoples, the suppression of rebellions, the acts of human cruelty and violence committed by special forces and political police, in the name of “Her Majesty,” are relegated to the margins of another perspective. So too are other pertinent facts, such as how the Royal Family has accumulated its vast wealth, possessions and its retinues, the role of its charities and even its discretion to influence legislation to protect and favour personal interests.