Editing Canada Day (section)

==Commemoration==
Canada Day is often informally referred to as "Canada's birthday", particularly in the popular press.{{refn|<ref>{{Cite news| last1=Panetta| first1=Alexander | last2=Pedwell| first2=Terry| title=An unforgettable Canada Day, eh?| newspaper=Toronto Star| date=July 2, 2007| url=https://www.thestar.com/article/231568| access-date=May 12, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news| title=Canada Day celebrations| newspaper=Toronto Star| date=June 29, 2007| url=https://www.thestar.com/article/230791| access-date=May 12, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news| last=Canwest News Service| title=Harper salutes international role in Canada Day address| newspaper=National Post| date=July 1, 2007| url=http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=1153724d-9877-48af-9608-adef9a42d9cf| access-date=May 12, 2007| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628214610/http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=1153724d-9877-48af-9608-adef9a42d9cf| archive-date=June 28, 2011| df=mdy-all}}</ref>}} However, the term "birthday" can be seen as an [[oversimplification]], as Canada Day is the anniversary of only one important national milestone on the way to the country's full sovereignty, namely the joining on July 1, 1867, of the colonies of [[United Province of Canada|Canada]] (divided into [[Ontario]] and [[Quebec]]), [[Nova Scotia]], and [[New Brunswick]] into a wider British federation of four provinces.<ref>{{Cite news| last1=Garrard| first1=Graeme | title=Happy anniversary, Canada| newspaper=Toronto Star| date=July 1, 2013| url=https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2013/07/01/happy_anniversary_canada.html}}</ref> Canada became a "kingdom in its own right" within the [[British Empire]], commonly known as the ''Dominion of Canada''.{{refn|Canadian representatives had actually requested the title ''Kingdom of Canada'' be granted, to "fix the monarchical basis of the constitution", but the idea was vetoed by the [[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs|British Foreign Secretary]] at the time, [[Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby|the Lord Stanley]], and the title ''[[dominion]]'' was used in its place.<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qs6IKxQxUjsC&pg=PA60| last1=Wrong| first1=George M.| last2=Langton| first2=H. H.| title=The Chronicles of Canada: Volume VIII – The Growth of Nationality| page=60| year=2009| publisher=Fireship Press| isbn=978-1-934757-51-2| access-date=June 30, 2013}}</ref> See [[Name of Canada#Adoption of Dominion|Name of Canada > Adoption of Dominion]].|group=n|name=Kingdom}}{{refn|<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.saintjohn.nbcc.nb.ca/~HeritageSaintJohn/CorporateSeal/heraldry.htm| title=Heritage Saint John &gt Canadian Heraldry| publisher=Heritage Resources of Saint John and New Brunswick Community College| access-date=July 3, 2009| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050306130913/http://www.saintjohn.nbcc.nb.ca/~HeritageSaintJohn/CorporateSeal/heraldry.htm| archive-date=March 6, 2005| df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchAndCommonwealth/Canada/Historyandpresentgovernment.aspx| last=The Royal Household| title=The Queen and the Commonwealth > Queen and Canada > History and present government| publisher=Queen's Printer| access-date=July 3, 2009| archive-date=July 27, 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727070332/http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchAndCommonwealth/Canada/Historyandpresentgovernment.aspx| url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| author=Department of Canadian Heritage| author-link=Department of Canadian Heritage| title=The Crown in Canada| publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada| year=2005| page=7| url=http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection/CH4-127-2003E.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706181817/http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection/CH4-127-2003E.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-06 |url-status=live| access-date=July 3, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| last=Department of Canadian Heritage| url=http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/ceem-cced/symbl/101/101-eng.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611165523/http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/ceem-cced/symbl/101/101-eng.pdf |archive-date=2011-06-11 |url-status=live| author-link=Department of Canadian Heritage| title=Canada: Symbols of Canada| publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada| page=3| access-date=July 1, 2010}}</ref>}}

Although a British dominion, [[Canada]] gained an increased level of political control and governance over its own affairs, the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|British parliament]] and [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|cabinet]] maintaining political control over certain areas, such as foreign affairs, national defence, and [[constitutional amendment|constitutional changes]]. Canada gradually gained increasing sovereignty over the years—notably with the passage of the [[Statute of Westminster 1931|Statute of Westminster]] in 1931—until finally becoming completely sovereign with the passing of the [[Constitution Act, 1982]], which served to fully [[Patriation|patriate the Canadian constitution]].<ref>{{cite book| first1=Trevor| last1=Harrison| first2=John W.| last2=Friesen|title=Canadian Society in the Twenty-First Century, 3e: An Historical Sociological Approach|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dksqCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA67|year=2015|publisher=Canadian Scholars' Press|isbn=978-1-55130-735-0|pages=67–68}}</ref>

Under the federal Holidays Act,<ref>{{cite web| url=http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/H-5/page-1.html#h-2| last=Canada Department of Justice| title=Holiday Act| year=1985| publisher=Canada Department of Justice| access-date=June 18, 2012}}</ref> Canada Day is observed on July 1, unless that date falls on a Sunday, in which case July 2 is the statutory holiday. Celebratory events will generally still take place on July 1, even though it is not the legal holiday.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=b3903533-2a8d-40d7-8bc9-d718d9fd9367| last=Government of Saskatchewan| title=Canada Day to be observed Monday, July 2| date=June 18, 2007| publisher=Queen's Printer for Saskatchewan| access-date=January 23, 2010| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706203616/http://www.gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=b3903533-2a8d-40d7-8bc9-d718d9fd9367| archive-date=July 6, 2011| df=mdy-all}}</ref> If it falls on a weekend, businesses normally closed that day will usually dedicate the following Monday as a day off.<ref>{{Cite web| url=https://www.ehlaw.ca/july-1st-a-sunday-holidays-act-bumps-canada-day-to-july-2nd/| title=July 1st a Sunday? Holidays Act "Bumps" Canada Day to July 2nd| date=June 26, 2018}}</ref>