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The Constitution Act, 1867 is the constitutional statute which established Canada. Originally named the British North America Act, 1867, the Act continues to be the foundational statute for the Constitution of Canada, although it has been amended many times since 1867. It is now recognised as part of the supreme law of Canada.
Canada's constitution has roots going back to the thirteenth century, including England's Magna Carta and the first English Parliament of 1275. [19] Canada's constitution is composed of several individual statutes. There are three general methods by which a statute becomes entrenched in the Constitution:
The Constitution of Canada is a large number of documents that have been entrenched in the constitution by various means. Regardless of how documents became entrenched, together those documents form the supreme law of Canada; no non-constitutional law may conflict with them, and none of them may be changed without following the amending formula given in Part V of the Constitution Act, 1982.
The Parliament of Canada comprises the King and two chambers (the House of Commons of Canada and the Senate of Canada), as created by section 17. Section 18 defines its powers and privileges as being no greater than those of the British parliament. Section 19 states that Parliament's first session must begin six months after the passage of the act.
On June 10, 1791, the Constitutional Act was enacted in London and gave Canada its first parliamentary constitution. Containing 50 articles, the act brought the following changes: The Province of Quebec was divided into two distinct provinces, Province of Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) and Province of Upper Canada (present-day Ontario).
Section 45 of the Constitution Act, 1982 allows provinces to amend their own provincial constitutions. However, many parts of provincial constitutions are embedded in documents forming part of the Constitution of Canada, and could require approval of the Senate and House of Commons under the section 43 amending formula.
The British North America (No. 2) Act, 1949 amended the division of powers in the Constitution Act, 1867, by adding section 91(1). This limited which portions of the constitution that the Parliament of Canada could unilaterally amend. One rule that Parliament could not unilaterally amend was that the House of Commons could not last for more ...
The preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the introductory sentence to the Constitution of Canada's Charter of Rights and Constitution Act, 1982. In full, it reads, "Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law".