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Canada and the Commonwealth

Does the Commonwealth Have a Future as Well as a Past?

Policy Studies Organization

Paul Rich

Hoover Institution, Stanford University, University of the Americas-Puebla, Mexico

Canada is one of the original members of the Commonwealth, and many Canadians retain an interest in the organization. Americans and others find the Commonwealth to be a rather esoteric concept and have difficulty appreciating why it continues to attract support from Britain’s former colonies. This article suggests the Commonwealth plays a role in maintaining Canada’s separate identity in the face of its giant neighbor and that in some ways, the informality and pluralism is, rather than being dated, actually almost postmodern.

Key Words: Commonwealth • Britain • monarchy • Canadian • national identity

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