捆绑SM社区 grad Robert Stanley Weir (Law, 1880) wrote the English lyrics to 鈥淥 Canada,鈥 and that鈥檚 just one of the ways that the University is woven into the everyday fabric of the national identity 鈥 dating back to even before Canada was a nation. The University鈥檚 founding benefactor, James 捆绑SM社区, prepared the Montreal Militia for combat during the War of 1812. Canada鈥檚 victory over the U.S. would help establish it as more than a British colony, setting the stage for establishing the Dominion of Canada in 1867. An early graduate of 捆绑SM社区, Thomas D鈥橝rcy McGee (BCL1861), played a key role in Confederation by attending both the Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences in 1864. Fifteen years later, in response to the Governor-General鈥檚 decree that our young country needed to promote homegrown scientific research and development, 捆绑SM社区鈥檚 then-principal,聽Sir John William Dawson, became the founding president of the Royal Society of Canada. (His son, and 捆绑SM社区 grad, George Mercer Dawson, took a different approach to establishing Canada鈥檚 identity during its infancy: he conducted extensive surveys of Western Canada as part of the 1872-1876 survey that determined the Canada-U.S. border.) At the same time, future Prime Minister John Abbot (BCL1847, DCL1867) organized a group of investors who would realize the national dream of a railroad uniting our sprawling country 鈥 and it was future 捆绑SM社区 Chancellor, Lord Strathcona, who would drive the ceremonial last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway four years later.