Dominion Day is or was a commemoration day of the granting of national status in various
Commonwealth countries.
Canada
Dominion Day () was the original
Anglophone name of the holiday that commemorated
the formation of the Dominion of
Canada on 1 July 1867. The holiday was renamed
Canada Day (
FĂȘte du Canada) on 27 October 1982.
From the 1960s into the 1980s, Dominion Day was the date the
Miss Dominion of Canada beauty pageant, held at
Niagara Falls, Ontario, to select the Canadian representative for the major international beauty pageants (
Miss Universe,
Miss World,
Miss International, and Queen of the Pacific).
New Zealand
Dominion Day is the name given to 26 September, the anniversary of the day
New Zealand was granted
dominion status within the
British Empire in 1907. No longer a statutory (bank) holiday, the only current official observance of the day is as a
Provincial Anniversary Day in
South Canterbury. There is support in some quarters for the day to be revived as an alternative
New Zealand Day, instead of renaming
Waitangi Day, New Zealand's current national day.