The Constitution Act 1982

In 1981, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was determined to bring the constitution to Canada with or without provincial ageement. This was a very difficult undertaking because Quebec had a separatist government, led by René Lévesque, whose very last interest was to renew Confederation. The federal government asked the British Parliament to send the Canadian constitution to Canada; in other words, the BNA Act, a British law, changeable only by the British Parliament, would become a Canadian law, which could only be changed by Canadians. This was done in 1982.

Canada became totally independent. It no longer needed any British agreement for any thing it chose to do. The old BNA Act became one part of the new constitution, renamed the Constitution Act.

A second part of the new constitution set out how the constitution could be changed in future. Any change required both federal and some provincial support; the federal government could not just go ahead on its own. This is known as the Amending Formula. The constitution can be changed by a formula which usually requires the

• agreement of the federal government
• plus the agreement of at least seven provinces which contain over half the Canadian population.

A third part of the constitution set out the rights of individual citizens. The Charter of Rights guarantees freedom of speech, the press, religion, assembly and the right to live and work anywhere in Canada. It protects against discrimination on the basis of race, ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or disability.The rights and freedoms of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms are guaranteed equally to men and women.

A number of other guarantees were made. The federal government and provinces kept their areas of control. No province can have its responsibilities taken away without its consent. The treaty rights and the rights of Canada's first peoples were protected.

Canada has two official languages, but the many other languages and cultural groups in Canada are recognized and their rights protected.

On April 17th in 1982, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth signed the royal proclamation of Canada's constitution in a ceremony on Parliament Hill. This clip contains the voices  of Queen Elizabeth and of Prime Minister Pierre  Trudeau, who was instrumental in patriating Canada's constitution. [119Kb]