Editing Constitution of Canada (section)

==History of the constitution==
{{Main|Constitutional history of Canada}}
The first semblance of a constitution for Canada was the [[Royal Proclamation of 1763]].<ref name="Webber2015">{{cite book|author=Jeremy Webber|title=The Constitution of Canada: A Contextual Analysis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f357BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11|year=2015|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-78225-631-1|page=11}}</ref> The act renamed the northeasterly portion of the former French province of [[New France]] as the Province of Quebec, roughly coextensive with the southern third of contemporary Quebec. The proclamation, which established an appointed colonial government, was the constitution of Quebec until 1774 when the British parliament passed the [[Quebec Act]], which expanded the province's boundaries to the [[Ohio River|Ohio]] and [[Mississippi River]]s (one of the grievances listed in the [[United States Declaration of Independence]]). Significantly, the Quebec Act also replaced French criminal law with the English common law system; but the French civil law system was retained for non-criminal matters.<ref name="May2013">{{cite book|author=Stephen May|title=Language and Minority Rights: Ethnicity, Nationalism and the Politics of Language|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ejhq5N0UMzEC&pg=PA248|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-83706-7|page=248}}</ref>
[[Image:Fathers of Confederation LAC c001855.jpg|thumb|left|A painting depicting negotiations that would lead to the enactment of the ''[[British North America Act, 1867]]'']]

The [[Treaty of Paris of 1783]] ended the [[American War of Independence]] and sent a wave of British loyalist refugees northward to Quebec and Nova Scotia.<ref>{{cite book|author=James Harley Marsh|author-link=James Harley Marsh|title=American Revolution|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wR_-aSFyvuYC&pg=PA71|year=1999|publisher=The Canadian Encyclopedia|isbn=978-0-7710-2099-5|page=71}} = {{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/treaty-of-paris-1783|title=Treaty of Paris 1783|encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]|access-date=October 8, 2019}}</ref> In 1784, the two provinces were divided: Nova Scotia was split into Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island (rejoined to Nova Scotia in 1820), Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick, while Quebec was split into Lower Canada (southern Quebec) and Upper Canada (southern through lower northern Ontario). The winter of 1837–38 saw rebellion in both Canadas, contributing to their re-union as the [[Province of Canada]] in 1841.

The ''British North America Act, 1867'' established the Dominion of Canada as a federation of provinces.<ref name="Hussey">{{cite book|author=W. D. Hussey|title=Government in Great Britain the Empire, and the Commonwealth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xHg6AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA250|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=250|id=GGKEY:Z7HUCT7C4X9}}</ref> Initially, on July 1, 1867, four provinces entered into confederation as "One dominion under the name of Canada": [[Canada West]] (former [[Upper Canada]], now [[Ontario]]), [[Canada East]] (former [[Lower Canada]], now [[Quebec]]), [[Nova Scotia]], and [[New Brunswick]].<ref name="Hussey"/> Title to the [[Northwest Territories]] was transferred by the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] in 1870, out of which the province of [[Manitoba]] (the first to be established by the [[Parliament of Canada]]) was created. [[British Columbia]] joined Confederation in 1871, followed by [[Prince Edward Island]] in 1873. The [[Yukon Territory]] was created by Parliament in 1898, followed by [[Alberta]] and [[Saskatchewan]] in 1905 (all out of parts of the Northwest Territories). [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]], Britain's oldest colony in the Americas and by then also a Dominion, joined Confederation in 1949. [[Nunavut]] was created in 1999 from the Northwest Territories.

An [[1926 Imperial Conference|Imperial Conference in 1926]] that included the leaders of all Dominions and representatives from [[British Raj|India]] (which then included [[Myanmar|Burma]], [[Bangladesh]], and [[Pakistan]]), led to the eventual enactment of the [[Statute of Westminster 1931]]. The statute, an essential transitory step from the [[British Empire]] to the [[Commonwealth of Nations]], provided that existing Dominions became fully sovereign of the United Kingdom and any new Dominions would be fully sovereign upon the grant of Dominion status.<ref name="HarrisonFriesen2015">{{cite book|author1=Trevor Harrison|author2=John W. Friesen|title=Canadian Society in the Twenty-First Century, 3e: An Historical Sociological Approach|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dksqCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA67|year=2015|publisher=Canadian Scholars' Press|isbn=978-1-55130-735-0|pages=67–69}}</ref> Although listed, Newfoundland never ratified the statute so was still subject to imperial authority when its entire system of government and economy collapsed in the mid-1930s. Canada did ratify the statute but with a requested exception—the Canadian federal and provincial governments could not agree on an amending formula for the Canadian constitution. It would be another 50 years before this was achieved. In the interim, the British parliament periodically passed constitutional amendments when requested by the government of Canada. This was never anything but a [[Rubber stamp (politics)|rubber stamp]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection-R/LoPBdP/BP/prb0004-e.htm |title=International Treaties: Canadian Practice |first=Daniel |last=Dupras |date=April 3, 2000 |work=Depository Services Program |publisher=Public Works and Government Services Canada |access-date=December 17, 2010 |quote="In 1931, under the ''Statute of Westminster'', Canada and other British dominions, acquired full independence(4) and with it authority to act internationally with all the attributes of a sovereign state. Full power over foreign affairs was thus conferred on Canada and section 132 of the ''Constitution Act, 1867'' became obsolete." Footnote 4: "Except with respect to amendments to Canada's Constitution, which remained under the British Parliament's jurisdiction until 1982."}}</ref>

The [[patriation]] of the Canadian constitution was achieved in 1982 when the British parliament, with the request and assent of the Canadian Parliament, passed the ''[[Canada Act 1982]]'', which included in its schedules the ''[[Constitution Act, 1982]]''. The United Kingdom thus renounced any remaining responsibility for, or jurisdiction over, Canada. In a formal ceremony on [[Parliament Hill]] in Ottawa, Queen [[Elizabeth II]] proclaimed the ''Constitution Act, 1982'' into law on April 17, 1982.<ref name="McMenemy2006">{{cite book|author=John McMenemy|title=The Language of Canadian Politics: A Guide to Important Terms and Concepts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WeV0CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA271|year=2006|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press|isbn=978-0-88920-694-6|pages=271–272}}</ref>

The ''Constitution Act, 1982'', includes the ''[[Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms]]''. Before the Charter, various statutes protected an assortment of civil rights and obligations but nothing was enshrined in the constitution until 1982. The Charter has thus placed a strong focus upon individual and collective rights of the people of Canada.<ref name="Tierney2016">{{cite book|author=Stephen Tierney|title=Accommodating Cultural Diversity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NBXPCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT95|year=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-18591-8|page=95}}</ref> The enactment of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has fundamentally changed much of Canadian [[constitutional law]].<ref name="Newman2004">{{cite book|author=Stephen L. Newman|title=Constitutional Politics in Canada and the United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=28X4RsAOftgC&pg=PA63|year=2004|publisher=York University Press|isbn=978-0-7914-5937-9|pages=63–65}}</ref> The act also codified many previously oral constitutional conventions and made amendment of the constitution in general significantly more difficult. Previously, the Canadian constitution could be formally amended by an act of the British parliament, or by informal agreement between the federal and provincial governments, or even simply by adoption as the custom of an oral convention or performance that shows precedential but unwritten tradition. Since the act, textual amendments must now conform to certain specified provisions in the written portion of the Canadian constitution.