United Empire Loyalists - Today

Today

Modern-day descendants of those original refugees often employ the term "United Empire Loyalist", sometimes using "U.E." as postnominal letters (the honorific is not part of the official Canadian honours system but was an attempt to recognise the sacrifices of the Loyalists). The practice is rare today, even in the original Loyalist strongholds like southeastern Ontario, but historians and genealogists still use it extensively as a kind of shorthand for identifying the ancestry of particular families.

The influence of the Loyalists on the evolution of Canada remains evident. Their ties with Britain and their antipathy to the United States provided the strength needed to keep Canada independent and distinct in North America. The Loyalists' basic distrust of republicanism and "mob rule" influenced Canada's gradual, "paper-strewn" path to independence. In effect, the new British North American provinces of Upper Canada (the forerunner of Ontario) and New Brunswick were created as places of refuge for the United Empire Loyalists. The mottoes of the two provinces reflect this history: Ontario's motto is Ut incepit fidelis sic permanet ("As it began faithful, so it remains"); New Brunswick's, Spem Reduxit ("It restored hope").

The word "Loyalist" appears frequently in school, street, and business names in such Loyalist-settled communities as Belleville, Ontario. The nearby city of Kingston, established as a Loyalist stronghold, was named in honour of King George III. And on the outskirts of that city is a township named simply "Loyalist".

In 1996, Canadian politicians Peter Milliken (a descendant of American Loyalists) and John Godfrey sponsored the Godfrey-Milliken Bill, which would have entitled Loyalist descendants to reclaim ancestral property in the United States which had been confiscated during the American Revolution. The bill, which did not pass the House of Commons, was intended primarily as a satirical response to the contemporaneous American Helms-Burton Act.

In 1997, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario passed a bill declaring June 19, "United Empire Loyalist Day" in the province of Ontario. United Empire Loyalists are also remembered in the province's motto, "Loyal She Began, Loyal She Remains," which can also be found on the province of Ontario's Coat of Arms.

On 1 July 1934 Canada Post issued 'United Empire Loyalists, 1776-1784' designed by Robert Bruce McCracken based on a sculpture "United Empire Loyalists" by Sydney March. The 10¢ stamps are perforated 11 and were printed by British American Bank Note Company.