Amendments to the Constitution of Canada

Before 1982, modifying the Constitution of Canada primarily meant amending the British North America Act, 1867. Unlike most other constitutions, however, the Act had no amending formula; instead, changes were enacted through Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (or "Imperial Parliament") called the British North America Acts.^[1]

Other Commonwealth countries had taken over the authority for constitutional amendment after the Statute of Westminster 1931, but at the time, Canada decided to allow the Parliament of the United Kingdom to retain the power "temporarily". Between 1931 and 1982, the federal government, on behalf of the House of Commons of Canada and the Senate, would issue an address to the British government requesting an amendment. The request would include a resolution containing the desired amendments, which in turn were always passed by the British Parliament with little or no debate.

With the Constitution Act, 1982, Canada took over the authority to amend its own constitution, achieving full sovereignty.^[2]^[3]^[4] Since then, amendments to the Constitution of Canada are made using one of five amending formulas requiring consent of some combination of the House of Commons, Senate, and provincial legislatures.

^ Oliver, Peter C. (April 2005). "Canada I: Confederation and the Imperial Theory". The Constitution of Independence: The Development of Constitutional Theory in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Oxford University Press. pp. 111–134. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198268956.003.0005. ISBN 978-0-19-826895-6. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
^ "Proclamation of the Constitution Act, 1982". Government of Canada. 5 May 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
^ "A statute worth 75 cheers". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. 17 March 2009. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
^ Couture, Christa (1 January 2017). "Canada is celebrating 150 years of... what, exactly?". CBC. Retrieved 10 February 2017. ... the Constitution Act itself cleaned up a bit of unfinished business from the Statute of Westminster in 1931, in which Britain granted each of the Dominions full legal autonomy if they chose to accept it. All but one Dominion – that would be us, Canada – chose to accept every resolution. Our leaders couldn't decide on how to amend the constitution, so that power stayed with Britain until 1982.

[1] Oliver, Peter C. (April 2005). "Canada I: Confederation and the Imperial Theory". The Constitution of Independence: The Development of Constitutional Theory in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Oxford University Press. pp. 111–134. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198268956.003.0005. ISBN 978-0-19-826895-6. Retrieved 6 December 2023.

[2] "Proclamation of the Constitution Act, 1982". Government of Canada. 5 May 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2017.

[3] "A statute worth 75 cheers". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. 17 March 2009. Retrieved 10 February 2017.

[4] Couture, Christa (1 January 2017). "Canada is celebrating 150 years of... what, exactly?". CBC. Retrieved 10 February 2017. ... the Constitution Act itself cleaned up a bit of unfinished business from the Statute of Westminster in 1931, in which Britain granted each of the Dominions full legal autonomy if they chose to accept it. All but one Dominion – that would be us, Canada – chose to accept every resolution. Our leaders couldn't decide on how to amend the constitution, so that power stayed with Britain until 1982.

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