Marks left by the raindrops as they smudged the ink can still be seen as physical reminders of the rich history of the act. The signing of the Proclamation in was the result of over years of Canadian political progress, beginning with the signing of the British North America Act in , also known as the BNA, which formed the Dominion of Canada. Through the 20th century, Canadians worked to gain political independence and sovereignty from Britain, and by , Canada had all the elements of an independent nation except authority over its Constitution.
This act replaced the BNA Act and transferred all legislative authority to Canada, including the power to make changes to the Constitution. The Constitution Act, is a landmark document in Canadian history. It achieved full independence for Canada by allowing the country to change its Constitution without approval from Britain.
The Act was passed after a fierce, month political and legal struggle that dominated headlines and the agendas of every government in the country. See Patriation of the Constitution. Also included were a series of British constitutional conventions widely accepted, unwritten rules.
With the Statute of Westminster in , Britain was willing to grant full autonomy to the self-governing parts of its empire, including Canada. See also Commonwealth. But Canadians were left with a dilemma: If Canada accepted the transfer of constitutional power from Britain, and was free to amend its own Constitution, how would this be done? Should the federal government be allowed to amend the Constitution unilaterally, or was provincial consent required?
Did all the provinces need to agree to an amendment, or just a majority? Should all provinces be counted equally, or should larger provinces have more say than smaller ones?
Generations of Canadian politicians had grappled unsuccessfully with the problem of constitutional change. Since the s, a series of federal-provincial conferences had ended in failure when the prime minister and premiers could not agree on how the Constitution should be amended.
See also Federal-Provincial Relations. The turning point came with the Quebec referendum on sovereignty-association in May During the campaign, the federal government under Pierre Trudeau promised Quebecers that Ottawa would re-open constitutional negotiations. After the separatists were defeated in the referendum, Trudeau immediately began a process to create a charter of rights and an amending formula the criteria that would have to be met to make future changes for the Constitution.
However, Trudeau faced opposition from eight of the ten provincial governments — all but Ontario and New Brunswick. See Gang of Eight.
So, he announced that he would proceed alone. In September , the Supreme Court issued a confused ruling. See Patriation Reference. Legally, Trudeau could proceed with a resolution of the Senate and the House of Commons. But a constitutional convention required Ottawa to seek substantial provincial support before asking Britain for amendments. Trudeau returned to the bargaining table one last time.
In November , the federal government and nine of the 10 provincial governments all but Quebec agreed on a proposal to send to Britain. It would also include a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Democracy, in part, means that legislatures are elected by popular vote and that citizens have the right to vote. Constitutional conventions are also unwritten. These are political rules, not legal rules. They are not found anywhere in the Constitution.
They come from the practices of government officials. Politicians and government officials who do not follow them are not acting illegally, nor can courts enforce them. For example, the Constitution states that Royal Assent is required before any bill becomes law. However, it is a constitutional convention that the Governor General cannot use his or her discretion to refuse to give Royal Assent to a bill after it has been passed by the House of Commons and the Senate.
The Constitution may have meant one thing in , but it could mean something different today. For example, the Constitution since has said that the federal government can make laws about marriage. In , the meaning of marriage was limited to being between a man and a woman. If the government had tried to change the definition of marriage, it probably would have been unconstitutional. However, in , the Supreme Court of Canada said that the government was allowed to make laws about same-sex marriage.
In contrast with how Canadian courts should interpret the Constitution, some judges in the United States prefer to interpret the American Constitution by what they thought it meant when it was first written, or by how other people living at the time would have interpreted it. The Constitution Act, created the federal system of government.
Canada could not change or add to this. The Constitution at that point also included older documents like the Treaty of Paris and the Quebec Act After , the Constitution began to evolve as the courts interpreted it. Until , it was occasionally amended as Parliament grew and more provinces were added.
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