The most important constitutional act in Canadian history
was the British North America Act
of 1867 proclaimed on July 1st, 1867; a date which is now celebrated
as Canada Day. It
provided that there should be 4 provinces within the Dominion of Canada;
Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with the provision that
others could join later.
Each province would have its own seat of government, its own law-making body and its own lieutenant governor to represent the Crown. In addition, the act established a Federal government at Ottawa, composed of a House of Commons (elected), a Senate (appointed for life), and a governor general as the Crown’s representative. (The Act remained in force until the Constitution Act of 1982.) The first parliament met on November 6, 1867, with Sir John Alexander Macdonald as Prime Minister. Manitoba was constituted a province in 1870. In 1871 British Columbia joined the new Canada Confederation. In 1873 Prince Edward Island became the 7th province. In 1905 2 new provinces were carved out of the Northwest Territories, Alberta and Saskatchewan. In 1949 Newfoundland joined the confederation as the 10th province.
The Imperial Conference of 1926 confirmed in its
Declaration of Equality that the United Kingdom, as well as the Dominions,
had become “autonomous
Communities within the British Empire, equal in status, and in no way
subordinate one to another”. They
were, however, “united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely
associated as Members of the British Commonwealth of Nations”,
by Statute of Westminster, 1931.
The Statute provided that no law passed in the future by
the United Kingdom should extend to any dominion except “at the request
and the consent of that Dominion”.
Canada’s red and white Maple Leaf Flag was adopted by
parliament in 1964.
In 1982 The British North America Act was replaced by a
new constitution for the Government of Canada.
This completed the transfer of constitutional powers from Great Britain
to Canada. Queen Elizabeth visited
parliament to proclaim the document. In 1992 voters in the Northwest Territories
authorized the partition of their huge area to include a new territory called
Nunavut, meaning “ Our Land”. The
plebiscite was not binding on the Canadian Government; however, later in the
year the government decided that Indians and Inuit
have the right of self-government.
Official name = Canada
Capital = Ottawa
National Emblems = Maple Leaf and Beaver
Motto = A mari usque ad mare (From sea to sea)
Anthem = O Canada
Major Languages = English, French
Population = 27,500,000 (1991 census)