Republican group says Canada should break ties with the British monarchy

With low approval for the British monarchy across Canada, one group is renewing calls to ditch the institution altogether.

The Republican organization Citizens for a Canadian Republic is renewing calls for Canada to have its own head of state rather than a monarch from the United Kingdom.

The organization’s spokesperson Pierre Vincent says, while the monarchy has no effect on people’s day-to-day lives, it also has no place in Canada’s democratic system.

“You can’t call an unelected head of state Democratic, you just can’t unless you believe that all individuals are equal. You can’t defend it either.”

Vincent says low approval for the monarchy in Canada stems from the country growing more diverse, and more people starting to look critically at the role of the institution.

“Do we truly want to strengthen our democracy and our values as Canadians? So, it does affect us that way, it kind of puts us asleep to those incredibly important democratic issues,” he said.

“We need to wake up and clean this up. It’s a historical remnant, it belongs in history, let’s put it in history and move forward as a real nation.”

Related articles:

• Coronation party cancellation sparks debate on new King’s popularity

• King Charles III crowned in Britain’s first coronation in 70 years

While not an official proposal, the organization has put forward a possible method by which Canada could break from the monarchy.

The proposal is called Plan23 and details a possible means that Canada could remove the British monarch as its head of state and transform the country into a republic.

“There are rules for who gets to be our head of state and there’s nothing we can do about it. If Charles had died an infant, we’d be stuck with Andrew right now, and there’s nothing we could do.”