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Why Canada Was Called a "Dominion"

The following explanation of the word Dominion as used in the name given Canada when it was constituted in 1867 was given by Tonya Gonnella Frichner. Tonya was a professor from upstate New York as well as a lawyer and highly respected activist whose academic and professional life was devoted to the pursuit of human rights for Indigenous peoples. This excerpt is from "Impact on Indigenous Peoples of the International Legal construct known as the Doctrine of Discovery, which has served as the Foundation of the Violation of their Human Rights," UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, February 4, 2010. She explained:

The Old World idea of property was well expressed by the Latin word dominium: from dominus, ... and the Sanskrit domanus (he who subdues). Dominus carries the same principal meaning (one who has subdued), extending naturally to signify "master, possessor, lord, proprietor, owner."

Dominium takes from dominus the sense of "absolute ownership" with a special legal meaning of "property right of ownership" (Lewis and Short, A Latin Dictionary, 1969).

Dominatio extends the word into "rule, dominium, and ... with an odious secondary meaning, unrestricted power, absolute dominium, lordship, tyranny, despotism. Political power grown from property -- dominium -- was, in effect, domination." (William Brandon, New Worlds for Old, 1986, p.121).

State claims and assertions of "dominion" and "sovereignty over" Indigenous peoples and their lands, territories and resources trace to these dire meanings, handed down from the days of the Roman Empire, and to a history of dehumanization of Indigenous peoples. This is at the root of Indigenous peoples' human rights issues today.

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This article was published in

Volume 50 Number 24 - July 4, 2020

Article Link:
: Why Canada Was Called a "Dominion"

    

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