House of Commons, Committee on Canadian Heritage

The letter · 30 September 2026

Brief for the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage — "served to reaffirm Canada's sovereignty": the Crown in Canada and the record of 2025 and 2026, with a request for a study under Standing Order 108(2)

Hello,

Danilo Dzyuban, Ottawa. This is a brief for the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage and a request that the Committee undertake a study under Standing Order 108(2). The text follows.

BRIEF TO THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON CANADIAN HERITAGE

The Crown in Canada and the sovereignty of Canada, 2025 and 2026

Submitted by Danilo Dzyuban, Ottawa, Ontario
29 September 2026

SUMMARY

On 5 May 2026 the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture appeared before this Committee on the Main Estimates. The Department's material for that appearance states that the royal visit of 26 and 27 May 2025 "served to reaffirm Canada's sovereignty and unique identity" and cost the Department $442,958.26 as of January 2026. The same material records that "Royal Tours and Visits are initiated at the request of the Prime Minister" and calls the Crown "a living symbol of Canada's history, sovereignty, and traditions".

The record of 2025 and 2026 tests that statement. This brief sets out the record, the requests now before 4 federal institutions, and 5 recommendations.

THE RECORD: THE UNITED STATES

THE RECORD: THE CROWN AND THE OTHER REALMS

On 15 May 2025 The Round Table, the Commonwealth journal of international affairs, recorded that the Commonwealth Secretary-General had issued no statement of solidarity with Canada. The Northwood Declaration of the United Kingdom and France of 10 July 2025 does not name Canada. The joint statement of Australia and Canada of 5 March 2026 names neither the United States nor the sovereignty of Canada. No published instrument obliges the government of any other realm of the King to answer a nuclear attack on Canada with any particular action.

THE RECORD: ALLEGIANCE

In Motard, 2019 QCCA 1826, the Court of Appeal of Quebec held that whoever is King of the United Kingdom is King of Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear an appeal. New citizens of Canada swear allegiance to the King, his heirs and his successors. The Schedule to the Citizenship Act, as captured on 28 September 2026, still sets out allegiance to "Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors", 4 years after her death. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada publishes a different text, to "His Majesty King Charles the Third".

On 26 October 2022 the House negatived, 266 to 44, a motion that the House express its desire to sever ties between the Canadian State and the British monarchy, in Vote No. 199.

Allegiance runs one way.

WHAT THE DEPARTMENT'S MATERIAL LEAVES OUT

The material, last updated on 20 January 2026, gives the cost of the visit to the cent. Windsor Castle appears nowhere in it, and no act of the Crown for the sovereignty of Canada after 27 May 2025 is named.

THE REQUESTS

On 29 September 2026 requests under the Access to Information Act went to the Privy Council Office, Global Affairs Canada, the Department of Canadian Heritage and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. They ask what the Government of Canada asked of the King, of the Royal Household, of the governments of the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand and of the Commonwealth Secretariat, and what was answered. They ask for the record on which the words "served to reaffirm Canada's sovereignty" rest, and for the authority for the oath now administered. The answers are due on 29 October 2026.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. That the Committee undertake a study, under Standing Order 108(2), of the Crown in Canada and the sovereignty of Canada in 2025 and 2026.

2. That the Committee order the Department of Canadian Heritage, under Standing Order 108(1)(a), to produce the record on which its statement that the royal visit "served to reaffirm Canada's sovereignty" rests, and the finalized cost of the visit.

3. That the Committee order the Privy Council Office to state in writing what the Government of Canada asked of the King and of the Royal Household after 7 January 2025, and what was answered.

4. That the Committee order Global Affairs Canada to state in writing what Canada asked of the governments of the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand and of the Commonwealth Secretariat, and what was answered.

5. That the Committee report to the House whether any instrument obliges the government of any other realm of the King to take any particular action if Canada is attacked, and name it or state that none exists.

The record, with its sources and a checksum for each capture, is published under my name at https://dzyuban.com/reformation/.

WHAT YOU ARE TO DO

Distribute this brief to the members of the Committee and confirm the date of distribution in writing. Place the request for a study before the Chair for the next meeting on committee business, and state that date in writing. Answer by 13 October 2026, with a name and a title. The answer, or its absence, is recorded with its date at https://dzyuban.com/reformation/.

Respectfully,
Danilo Dzyuban