Canadians cannot be knighted while holding Canadian citizenship. Federal policy blocks citizens from accepting any foreign honour that carries a title such as “Sir” or “Dame,” and it has done so since a House of Commons resolution passed in 1919. A Canadian who is offered a British knighthood or peerage has essentially two choices: decline, or give up Canadian citizenship to accept it.
The rule is firm in practice but softer in law than most people assume. It rests on a parliamentary resolution and successive government policy rather than a binding statute, which is why the details matter.
Where the Ban Comes From
In the decades after Confederation, British titles flowed freely to prominent Canadians, including several prime ministers. That ended after the First World War. MP William Folger Nickle introduced a resolution in the House of Commons asking the British government to stop conferring “any title of honour or titular distinction” on Canadian citizens. It passed in 1919.
The Nickle Resolution is not a law. It was a resolution of the House of Commons, not an act of Parliament, and it could not go to the Senate because it touched on the royal prerogative. What it created was a political precedent no subsequent government has broken. The non-titular levels of British orders continued for a time, but by 1935 the first two levels of the Order of the British Empire, which confer knighthood, were no longer available to Canadian citizens.1Veterans Affairs Canada. Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
How the Current Policy Works
Any Commonwealth or foreign government that wants to award an order, decoration, or medal to a Canadian citizen must first get approval from the Canadian government. Approval will not be granted for any award that carries an honorary title or confers precedence or privilege.2Global Affairs Canada. Policy Respecting the Awarding of an Order, Decoration or Medal by a Commonwealth or Foreign Government That is the specific clause that catches knighthoods, since they come with the style “Sir” or “Dame.”
Because the underlying resolution is not a statute, enforcement has always tracked the political will of the sitting prime minister. Brian Mulroney’s government reaffirmed the policy in 1988, and it has been invoked whenever a foreign government has tried to bestow a titular honour on a Canadian.
Honorary Knighthoods Are Also Blocked
The British Crown sometimes awards honorary knighthoods to foreign nationals who are not subjects of a Commonwealth realm. Recipients can use post-nominal letters but are not entitled to the style “Sir” or “Dame.”3The Royal Family. Knighthoods and Damehoods An American who receives one is technically a knight without being “Sir.”
For Canadians, the distinction largely collapses. Canada’s foreign honours policy bars approval for any award carrying an honorary title, and the Nickle Resolution’s original language targeted “any title of honour or titular distinction.” Substantive or honorary, a knighthood is treated as impermissible.
Canadians Who Ran Into the Rule
The policy is easier to understand through the people it has stopped.
Roy Thomson
Media mogul Roy Thomson was offered a British peerage and gave up his Canadian citizenship in 1963 to accept it, becoming Lord Thomson of Fleet. His case set the pattern: to hold a British title, stop being Canadian.
Conrad Black
In 1999, the British government offered Conrad Black a life peerage, which would have given him a seat in the House of Lords. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien objected, citing the Nickle Resolution and later policy, and blocked the appointment. Black sued Chrétien for abuse of power and lost in two courts. In 2001 he renounced his Canadian citizenship and became Lord Black of Crossharbour.
Terry Matthews and George Sayers Bain
Also in 2001, dual British-Canadian citizens Terry Matthews and George Sayers Bain were knighted by the British government without Canadian approval. Ottawa formally objected, saying Britain had acted “without seeking the agreement of the Canadian government.” Both men kept their titles. The episode exposed the limit of the policy: when Britain ignores the protocol, Canada has no legal mechanism to strip the honour. Enforcement rests on diplomatic pressure, not statute.
What Canadians Get Instead
Canada created its own top honour in 1967, the centennial year. The Order of Canada is the cornerstone of the Canadian Honours System and recognizes outstanding achievement, dedication to community, and service to the nation.4The Governor General of Canada. Order of Canada More than 7,600 people have been invested since it was founded. It has three levels: Companion, Officer, and Member. Any Canadian can nominate someone, and appointments are made by the Governor General on the recommendation of an independent Advisory Council chaired by the Chief Justice of Canada.
The Order of Canada does not come with a title in the British sense. Companions, Officers, and Members use post-nominal letters (C.C., O.C., C.M.) but do not become “Sir” or “Dame.” That is by design, and it is the shape the country chose in place of the honours system it walked away from in 1919.
Non-titular foreign honours remain available to Canadians with government approval, provided the award does not confer a title, precedence, or privilege, and provided it meets the other conditions in the foreign honours policy.2Global Affairs Canada. Policy Respecting the Awarding of an Order, Decoration or Medal by a Commonwealth or Foreign Government Knighthood is not one of them.