Editing Constitution of Canada (section)

==Sources of the constitution==
{{Further|List of Canadian constitutional documents|Aboriginal land title#Canada|The Canadian Crown and Indigenous peoples of Canada|Canadian Aboriginal law|Numbered treaties|page 4=|page 5=}}
Canada's constitution has roots going back to the thirteenth century, including England's [[Magna Carta]] and the first [[Parliament of England|English Parliament of 1275]].<ref>{{citation| last=Tidridge| first=Nathan| title=Canada's Constitutional Monarchy: An Introduction to Our Form of Government| page=54| publisher=Dundurn Press| location=Toronto| year=2010| isbn=9781459700840| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JvGsvHsAtDgC}}</ref> Canada's constitution is composed of several individual statutes. There are three general methods by which a statute becomes entrenched in the Constitution:
# Specific mention as a constitutional document in section 52(2) of the ''Constitution Act, 1982'' (e.g., the ''Constitution Act, 1867'').
# Constitutional entrenchment of an otherwise statutory English, British, or Canadian document because its (still in force) subject-matter provisions are explicitly assigned to one of the methods of the amending formula (per the ''Constitution Act, 1982'')—e.g., provisions with regard to the monarchy in the English [[Bill of Rights 1689]]<ref>{{cite web| url=http://senparlvu.parl.gc.ca/Guide.aspx?viewmode=4&categoryid=-1&eventid=8763&Language=E| last=Senate of Canada| title=LCJC Meeting No. 74| date=March 20, 2013| publisher=Queen's Printer for Canada| access-date=March 24, 2013| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130614215631/http://senparlvu.parl.gc.ca/Guide.aspx?viewmode=4&categoryid=-1&eventid=8763&Language=E| archive-date=June 14, 2013| df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>[https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/2519/index.do ''Re: Resolution to amend the Constitution'', [1981<nowiki>]</nowiki> 1 SCR 753 at p. 785.]</ref> or the [[Act of Settlement 1701]].<!--
 --><p>English and British statutes are part of Canadian law because of the [[Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865]]; section 129 of the ''Constitution Act, 1867''; and the Statute of Westminster 1931. If still at least partially unrepealed those laws then became entrenched when the amending formula was made part of the constitution.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Statute of Westminster: A Stepping Stone towards Canadian Independence|url=https://www.lawnow.org/the-statute-of-westminster-a-stepping-stone-towards-canadian-independence/|access-date=July 8, 2021|website=www.lawnow.org}}</ref></p>
# Reference by an entrenched document—e.g., the Preamble of the ''Constitution Act, 1867''{{'s}} entrenchment of written and unwritten principles from the [[constitution of the United Kingdom]] or the ''Constitution Act, 1982''{{'s}} reference to the [[Proclamation of 1763]].<!--
 --><p>Crucially, this includes Aboriginal rights and Crown treaties with particular First Nations (e.g., historic "numbered" treaties; modern land-claims agreements).</p>

===Unwritten or uncodified sources===
The existence of unwritten constitutional components was reaffirmed in 1998 by the Supreme Court in ''[[Reference re Secession of Quebec]]''.<ref name="Pentassuglia2009">{{cite book|author=Gaetano Pentassuglia|title=Minority Groups and Judicial Discourse in International Law: A Comparative Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mZbl0WBuk8oC&pg=PA117|year=2009|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers|isbn=978-90-04-17672-0|page=117}}</ref>
<blockquote>The Constitution is more than a written text. It embraces the entire global system of rules and principles which govern the exercise of constitutional authority. A superficial reading of selected provisions of the written constitutional enactment, without more, may be misleading.</blockquote>

In practice, there have been three sources of unwritten constitutional law:<ref name="BaumanKahana2006">{{cite book|author1=Richard W. Bauman|author2=Tsvi Kahana|title=The Least Examined Branch: The Role of Legislatures in the Constitutional State|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0KpYkm9SJvAC&pg=PA159|year=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-46040-8|pages=159–161}}</ref>

; Conventions: [[Constitutional convention (political custom)|Constitutional convention]]s form part of the constitution, but they are not judicially enforceable.<ref name="OliverFusaro2011">{{cite book|author1=Dawn Oliver|author2=Carlo Fusaro|title=How Constitutions Change: A Comparative Study|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AoV6BAAAQBAJ&pg=PT16|date=August 9, 2011|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-84731-788-9|pages=16–}}</ref> They include the existence of the office of [[Prime Minister of Canada|prime minister]] and the [[Cabinet of Canada|Cabinet]], the practice that the Crown in most circumstances is required to grant [[royal assent]] to bills adopted by both houses of Parliament, and the requirement that the prime minister either resign or request a dissolution and general election upon losing a vote of confidence in the [[House of Commons of Canada|House of Commons]].
; Royal prerogative: Reserve powers of the Canadian Crown, being remnants of the powers once held by the British Crown, reduced over time by the parliamentary system. Primarily, these are the [[orders in council]], which give the government the authority to declare war, conclude treaties, issue passports, make appointments, make regulations, incorporate, and receive lands that [[escheat]] to the Crown.<ref name="Jackson2013">{{cite book|author=D. Michael Jackson|title=The Crown and Canadian Federalism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y9_abe_a1m8C&pg=PT61|date=August 31, 2013|publisher=Dundurn|isbn=978-1-4597-0990-4|pages=61–}}</ref>
; Unwritten principles: Principles that are incorporated into the Canadian constitution by the preamble of the ''[[Constitution Act, 1867]]'', including a statement that the constitution is "similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom", much of which is unwritten.<ref name="BrydenAnastakis2009">{{cite book|author1=Penny Bryden|author2=Dimitry Anastakis|title=Framing Canadian Federalism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZrwpIRcRwIAC&pg=PA21|year=2009|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-9436-0|page=21}}</ref> Unlike conventions, they are [[Justiciability|justiciable]]. Amongst those principles most recognized as constitutional to date are [[federalism]], [[liberal democracy]], [[constitutionalism]], the [[rule of law]], and respect for minorities.<ref>these were identified in [[Reference re Secession of Quebec]] [1998] 2 S.C.R. 217</ref> Others include [[responsible government]], [[representation by population]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/confederation/023001-3010.43-e.html |title=ARCHIVED - Key Terms - Provinces and Territories - Canadian Confederation - Library and Archives Canada |publisher=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |access-date=April 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130213082237/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/confederation/023001-3010.43-e.html |archive-date=February 13, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[judicial independence]], and [[parliamentary supremacy]].<ref>[http://www.mapleleafweb.com/features/parliamentary-government-canada-basic-organization-and-practices< Parliamentary Government in Canada: Basic Organization and Practices]{{Dead link|date=July 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>