From: msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader)
Subject: British Subjects (was: Charactor Titles [sic])
Followup-To: poster
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 05:43:54 GMT

> > Since Canadians are still nominally British subjects
> 
> Nope...  The British monarch is also "{King | Queen} of Canada", but that
> does not make us British subjects, no way no how;  try applying for British
> citizenship ... [without immediate British ancestry].

This has been hashed out in the past in soc.culture.canada and/or
can.general (therefore, followups are directed to email rather than
to one of those groups).  The following is from memory, but could not
contain major errors.

It may once have been true that any citizen of any part of the British
Empire was called a "British Subject" and not further distinguished.
However, this ended no later than the late 1940s, and we got "Canadian
citizen", "citizen of the UK and colonies", and so on.  (And in particular,
"Indian citizen", which I assume was the motivation for the change.)
However, all of these people continued to be "British Subjects".
So, since that time at least, "British Subject" does NOT imply any
particular citizenship.

More recently, "citizen of the UK and colonies" has been subdivided
again (think Hong Kong), and the official term for a citizen of the UK
is now "British Citizen".

"British Subject" has apparently vanished from all official usage in
both the UK and Canada.  As recently as about 10 years ago, though,
British subjects resident in Canada were eligible to vote in elections
for all levels of government, whether Canadian citizens or not.
Official advertisements would define "British Subject" in this fashion:
"A citizen of any of the following countries:" followed by a list which
was very similar, if not identical, to the list of Commonwealth countries.
And Canadian passports into the 1970s contained the notation "A Canadian
citizen is a British subject."

So, is a Canadian citizen a British subject today?  It appears that the
question is moot because "British subject" no longer designates a status
of any practical relevance.  However, the British monarch is still our
formal head of state, so if that suffices, the answer is still yes.

P.S. for the geography-impaired: "UK" = "United Kingdom" = "The United
  Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" = sovereign state
  comprising England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland (de facto,
  though disputed violently by certain parties).  "Britain" = "Great
  Britain" = large island including the main part of each of England,
  Scotland, and Wales; used informally to denote those three countries
  taken together (i.e. including small offshore islands) *or* to denote
  the whole UK (somewhat legitimate if you think of it as a contraction of
  the long form of UK).  "British" = adjective for either "Britain" or "UK".
  "British Isles" = Great Britain plus the island of Ireland plus small
  offshore islands = UK plus the republic of Ireland plus the Channels
  Islands and Isle of Man.
-- 
Mark Brader, Toronto			"Don't be silly -- send it to Canada"
utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com			     -- British postal worker

This article is in the public domain.