The Maple Crown in Alberta

About the Book

The Maple Crown in Alberta: The Office of Lieutenant-Governor celebrates the centennial of Alberta's entry into Confederation as a province in 1905. Consequently, the book is informative, educational and celebratory. By looking at the Office of Lieutenant-Governor within an historical context, this book explains the nature of the Canadian Crown, particularly that aspect of the Crown represented by the Alberta Lieutenant Governor.

The Maple Crown in Alberta is a reference and coffee-table book which can be a source of enjoyment for a reader or someone more visual who only wishes to scan through it and look at pictures. For the latter person, approximately 200 photographs illuminate the written text. The text itself includes humorous anecdotes to illustrate more clearly aspects about the Office and individuals occupying this Vice-regal position. Consequently, this book should appeal to those who love pictures and those who wish a more informative read. Tourists will cherish it as a keep-sake.

This book attempts to explain the nature and role of the Maple Crown, Canada's constitutional monarchy, in the province of Alberta. The Canadian Crown is the only monarchy, other than Belize, in all of continental America and is manifest in a team of persons: the Monarch who lives outside the country and who joins us in a world-wide community with peoples of different place, ethnicity, and creed, the Governor General who resides in Ottawa and exercises all prerogatives of the Crown within the federal sphere of jurisdiction, and the ten Lieutenant-Governors who reside in their respective provincial capitals and exercise the prerogatives of the Crown with the provincial sphere of jurisdiction. This book explains how the importance of the Lieutenant-Governors has changed since Confederation and the role Alberta's Lieutenant-Governors have played in that transformation.

Through the ceremony, pageantry and colour associated with the Office of Lieutenant-Governor, the Crown in Alberta plays a vital role in the presence and functioning of the Monarchy and reminds us, from time to time, that worshipping convenience above all else reduces our humanity and prevents us from reaching beyond the usual to attain our dreams. The Maple Crown, through the Lieutenant-Governor, protects the rights of Albertans, consoles our sorrows and celebrates our joys and achievements. The administrative functions and ritual associated with this high Office are the subject of analysis and discussion. This book explains the worth of this institution to our lives by examining the Lieutenant-Governor's function within the constitution and represents our highest ideals to ourselves and to those outside our provincial community.

About the Author

Kenneth Munro is a professor of History and acting Chair of the Department of History and Classics in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta.

Dr. Munro received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Ottawa in 1973. Since 1972, he has taught at the University of Alberta. Although Dr. Munro specializes in political biography in late-19th. century French Canada, he has studied and written on the Canadian Crown. His articles include: "The Crown and French Canada: The role of the Governors-General in Making the Crown relevant, 1867-1917", in Imperial Canada, ed. Colin Coates, The University of Edinburgh, 1977, 109-121 and "Canada as Reflected in her Participation in the Coronation of her Monarchs in the Twentieth Century", Journal of Historical Sociology, 14.1 (March 2001), 21-46. Besides numerous articles on French Canada, Professor Munro has published three books: The Political Career of Sir Adolphe Chapleau, Premier of Quebec 1879-1882; A Biography of Francois-Xavier-Anselme Trudel, Quebec's Foremost Political Maverick in the Nineteenth Century and First Presbyterian Church, Edmonton: A History, a book published by Trafford.