Under Canada's system of constitutional monarchy, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II became Queen of Canada at the same time she became Queen of the United Kingdom on Feb. 6, 1952.

The Queen is our Head of State. She is also Head of the Commonwealth, which has evolved into a voluntary association of 54 independent countries and includes Canada.

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Cover of 1953 Empire Day Pamphlet (detail)
Gov't Doc Ed/ Em 1953
Archives of Ontario

Lieutenant Governors:

The Queen is represented in Canada federally by the Governor General and provincially by a Lieutenant Governor in each of the ten provinces. The Lieutenant Governors give the Crown an official identity and public face within Ontario.

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The Right Honourable John Keiller McKay
with Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II (detail)

In a speech delivered on June 26, 1973, at the Ontario Government's Provincial State Dinner held at the Royal York Hotel, the Queen discussed the crown and its relationship to Canada. Present at the dinner were Premiers John Robarts and William Davis, and The Honourable Lt. Gov. WIlliam Ross Macdonald.

The speech was captured on film and a couple of short clips have been included here.

Click in the box below to see a short video clip.
RG 9-138 Information Services Branch of the
Department of Economics and Development

Click in the box below to see a short video clip.
RG 9-138 Information Services Branch of the
Department of Economics and Development

Original films of the Queen's visit have now been transferred to video. This preservation strategy ensures aging film images are available on a more stable format and that video reference copies are available for researchers.

The speech illustrated above encouraged diversity in the nation's growth and upheld the Crown as a link between "Canadian citizens of every national origin and ancestry". Since then the Ontario government has officially reflected the Canadian Crown through the appointments of Lieutenant Governors. The Honourable Pauline McGibbon was the first woman to be sworn into the position.

The Honourable Pauline McGibbon

According to newspaper accounts in Pauline McGibbon scrapbooks, the appointment of the first woman Lieutenant Governor was a popular one. The newly inaugurated Lieutenant Governor had to remove her rings to shake hands with hundreds of well wishers.

The Archives of Ontario thanks Toronto photographer Onnig Cavouk for permission to exhibit the official portrait he took to commemorate the occasion. The portrait is in the private records of the late Pauline McGibbon.

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Portrait of the Honourable Pauline McGibbon
by Onnig Cavouk

The photograph below was taken on board the Royal Yacht Britannia in 1976. The picture includes Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, His Royal Highness Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Right Honourable Pierre Elliot Trudeau, His Excellency Jules Leger, Governor General of Canada, as well as the Premiers and Lieutenant Governors from all ten provinces.

Click to see a larger copy of the photograph (132K)
and a list identifying the individuals
Fonds Pauline McGibbon
Reference Code: F 4161
Archives of Ontario

The photograph is from the private fonds of The Honourable Pauline McGibbon, a collection that includes 15 photo albums of nearly 400 photographs and 800 loose photographs.

The Honourable Lincoln Alexander

In September, 1985, The Honourable Lincoln Alexander became the first black citizen to be appointed to the position of Lieutenant Governor.

The footage from the Televised Proceedings of the Ontario Legislature, captures the traditional ceremony accorded to the opening of Parliament. Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander pulls up in front of Queen's Park in a landau, heralded by trumpets and saluted by honour guards. When he takes his seat in the Legislative Assembly, he reaffirms the province's loyalty to the Queen.

Click in the box below to see a short video clip.
RG 49-9 Televised Proceedings of the Ontario Legislature

The most extensive single holding in Sound and Moving Images consists of RG 49-9 approximately 8,000 videocassettes of the broadcast recordings of the proceedings of the Ontario Legislature. This one is of the 2nd Session, 33rd Parliament in April of 1986.