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Canadian peers and baronets

Canadian peers and baronets () exist in both the peerage of France recognized by the Monarch of Canada (the same as the Monarch of the United Kingdom) and the peerage of the United Kingdom.

In 1627, French Cardinal Richelieu introduced the seigneurial system of New France. Almost all of the early French Canadians who came as officers in the military or filled important official positions within the colony in New France came from the ranks of the French nobility. Under the Ancien Régime, several of these men were promoted to more senior ranks within the peerage of France. From the early 1700s, it became customary for the governors of New France to be given the title marquis. Except for the Marquis de Vaudreuil and the Marquis de Beauharnois, most were in Canada only for a few years before returning to France and are therefore not counted as Canadians.

The Baronetage of Nova Scotia (a British hereditary title, but not a peerage) had been devised by King James VI and I in 1624 as a means of settling Nova Scotia. Except for Sir Thomas Temple, almost none of them came to Nova Scotia, therefore they are counted as British, not Canadian.

Following the British Conquest of New France in 1763, the likes of The 1st Baron Amherst and The 1st Baron Dorchester were raised to the Peerage of Great Britain for their part in the taking of Canada and as Governors General of Canada, but they were not Canadians. As the colony grew under British rule both in terms of geography and economy, baronetcies began to be conferred upon various Canadian politicians, military commanders and businessmen.

In 1891, Lord Mount Stephen became the first Canadian to be elevated to the peerage of the United Kingdom. The significant losses of the First World War included many direct heirs to titles and some replacements were found in Canada, resulting in the acquisition of titles by Canadians.

After the controversial elevation of Lords Atholstan and Beaverbrook to the Peerage of the United Kingdom, the Nickle Resolution was presented to the House of Commons of Canada in 1917 requesting the Sovereign not to grant knighthoods, baronetcies or peerages to Canadians. This triggered the Canadian titles debate and led to a separate system of orders, decorations, and medals for Canada. Canadians who were granted peerages after that date had to hold or acquire British citizenship, such as The 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet. However, the 1946 Canadian Citizenship Act provided that Canadians who acquired another citizenship by any means other than marriage had renounced their Canadian citizenship. The 1977 Citizenship Act undid this provision.

Canadian nobility in the French aristocracy

Extant

Unknown

Extinct

Canadian nobility in the aristocracy of the United Kingdom

Peerages awarded before the Nickle Resolution

Extant

Extinct

Peerages awarded after the Nickle Resolution

Extant

Extinct

Life peerages

A life peerage is not an hereditary title. The title lasts as long as the recipient of the honour is alive. The recipient's children can style themselves with the prefix 'honourable' but they cannot inherit the baronial title.

Current

  • Baron Black of Crossharbour, of Crossharbour in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. In 2001, Tony Blair advised Queen Elizabeth II to confer on Conrad Black the dignity of a life peerage with the title of Baron Black. Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien gave the opinion to his government's nationality department that a Canadian citizen should not receive a British titular honour, citing the 1919 Nickle Resolution. Black at the time held both Canadian and British citizenship. After the Federal Court of Canada ruled against Black in his suit against Chrétien, Black renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2001, remaining a citizen of the UK. In 2007, in Chicago, Conrad Black was sent to jail for six years after being convicted of defrauding investors. He was released in May 2012 following an appeal, after spending three years in a prison in Florida. He has since been expelled from the Queen's Privy Council for Canada and removed from the Order of Canada. In an interview with Peter Mansbridge in May 2012, Black said he would consider applying for Canadian citizenship "within a year or two" when he hoped the matter would no longer be controversial and he could "make an application like any other person who has been a temporary resident." Black regained his Canadian citizenship in April 2023. Black ceased to be a member of the House of Lords on 9 July 2024 under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014 because of non-attendance in the preceding session of Parliament.
  • Baron Wasserman, of Pimlico in the City of Westminster. Created 2011 for Gordon Wasserman, retired Assistant Under Secretary of State (i.e. two grades lower than Permanent Secretary in Civil Service) at the Home Office. Lord Wasserman sits in the House of Lords as a Conservative.

Former

Canadian baronetcies

Although a baronet is not a peer, it is a British hereditary title and an honour that was conferred upon several Canadians.

Extant

Dormant

Extinct

Canadians with hereditary titles

Canadian peers by marriage

Canadians married to royalty in the line of succession

Russian nobility and royalty

See also

References