Editing British North America Acts (section)

==Constitutional changes==

Canada dates its history as a country to the ''[[British North America Act 1867|British North America Act, 1867]]'', which came into effect on July 1, 1867. However, Canada was not established as fully independent, since the United Kingdom retained legislative control over Canada and full control over Canadian foreign policy. Canada did not have any foreign embassies until the first one was established in [[Washington, D.C.]], in 1926. Until 1949, changes to the British North America Acts could be made only by the British Parliament. The ''[[British North America (No. 2) Act 1949|British North America (No. 2) Act, 1949]]'', gave the Parliament of Canada the power to make limited [[constitutional amendment]]s, but full Canadian control over the constitution was not achieved until the passage of the [[Canada Act 1982|''Canada Act 1982'']]. This long delay was in large part due to the inability to agree upon a procedure for making constitutional amendments that was acceptable to all of the provinces, in particular the Province of [[Quebec]].

Because of this, all British North America Acts dated before 1949 were enacted by the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]], while some of those dated after 1949 were passed by the [[Parliament of Canada]]. When Canada [[patriated]] its constitution with the passage of the [[Canada Act 1982|''Canada Act 1982'']], most of the ''British North America Acts'' were renamed as ''Constitution Acts'' in Canada, while a few of the acts were repealed as no longer having any relevance. The acts are collectively called the ''Constitution Acts, 1867 to 1982''.