...and the pictures hanging in every school and federal and provincial buildings...
Uhh, they don't hang in any school I've been in(and I've been inside enough schools) and there are absolutely no pictures of her anywhere that I've seen. They were slowly removed from most places during the 70's. Plus, nobody ever mentions her, she plays no role in the lives of Canadians.
until you were a teenager. I am frankly astonished. Did you never question the fact that her picture is on money, stamps etc? I don't rememer not knowing.
I still am a teenager, that was only last year. And I'm sad that this discussion has deteriorated into accusations of my supposed ignorance. Does it really matter
when I found out? The facts still stand. And trust me, plenty of adults don't know that the queen is the head of state here in Canada.
"Four in ten (42%) believe that the Prime Minister is Canada’s head of state, and one in three (33%) think this title belongs to the Governor General. In truth, though, the Queen is Canada’s Head of State, and only one quarter (24%) of Canadians knew this."
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http://netnewsledger.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1923&Itemid=75
Actually, the monarchy is egalitarian in that a monarch can be a perfectly average person and still be a good monarch.
Sadly, I wish this was the case. According the The Act of Settlement of 1701, the head of state must not be a Roman Catholic and the must hold the position of the Head of the Church of England. This is contradictory of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms that state that nobody can be discriminated against on the basis of "race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age, or mental or physical disability" unfortunately though, the 'criteria' for our head of state is rather discriminatory on basis of religion.