An outline, era by era

Canada

full independence (1982)

20th Century · 1914 – 2000

Canada became independent from Britain in stages rather than at one moment. Confederation in 1867 joined several colonies into a self-governing Dominion, but Britain kept control of foreign policy and of the Canadian constitution. Canada's part in the First World War, the Statute of Westminster of 1931 and the Second World War steadily widened its freedom of action. Full legal independence came in 1982, when the Constitution Act ended the last role of the British Parliament in amending Canada's constitution.

The 1982 settlement was the result of years of argument between the federal government, the provinces and Indigenous peoples, and over the status of Quebec. It brought the constitution home to Canada, set out an amending formula and added the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Quebec's government did not agree to it, and that disagreement shaped Canadian politics for years afterwards. This entry follows the road to 1982 and the stories told about it.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. Confederation in 1867

    Event

    What happened

    After conferences at Charlottetown and Quebec City in 1864, delegates from the British North American colonies agree on a plan for union. The British North America Act, passed by the British Parliament, creates the Dominion of Canada on 1 July 1867 from Canada (split into Ontario and Quebec), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

    The rest is history

    The Dominion governed its own domestic affairs, but Britain kept control of foreign relations and the power to amend the act. That left a legal link to London which lasted for 115 years. Other provinces joined later, among them Manitoba in 1870, British Columbia in 1871 and Newfoundland in 1949.

    Sources

    1. BookMartin, Ged. Britain and the Origins of Canadian Confederation, 1837-67. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1995.
    2. BookWaite, P. B. The Life and Times of Confederation, 1864-1867. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1962.

  2. Canada in the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles

    Event

    What happened

    Britain's declaration of war in August 1914 brings Canada into the First World War automatically. More than 600,000 Canadians serve, and the Canadian Corps wins a reputation at Vimy Ridge in April 1917. In 1919 Canada signs the Treaty of Versailles separately and joins the League of Nations as a member in its own right.

    The rest is history

    The war effort, and the conscription crisis of 1917 that divided English and French Canada, strengthened the sense that Canada should decide its own policy. Prime Minister Robert Borden pressed for a voice in imperial war decisions. The separate signature in 1919 was an early sign of Canada acting as a distinct state in world affairs.

    Sources

    1. BookCook, Tim. Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting the Great War, 1917-1918. Toronto: Viking Canada, 2008.
    2. BookMacMillan, Margaret. Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World. New York: Random House, 2002.

  3. The Chanak Crisis and the Halibut Treaty

    Event

    What happened

    In September 1922 Britain asks the dominions to send troops to the Chanak crisis with Turkey. Prime Minister Mackenzie King does not commit Canada and says Parliament will decide. In 1923 Canada signs the Halibut Treaty with the United States without a British signature.

    The rest is history

    These two episodes showed Canada setting its own course in foreign policy. They helped prepare the declaration of the Imperial Conference of 1926, which called Britain and the dominions equal in status. That declaration in turn led to the Statute of Westminster.

    Sources

    1. BookEayrs, James. The Art of the Possible: Government and Foreign Policy in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1961.
    2. BookNeatby, H. Blair. William Lyon Mackenzie King, 1924-1932: The Lonely Heights. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1963.

  4. The Statute of Westminster, 1931

    Event

    What happened

    The British Parliament passes the Statute of Westminster in December 1931. It removes its power to make laws for the dominions without their consent and gives them full legislative freedom. Canada's federal and provincial governments could not agree on how to amend the Canadian constitution at home, so the British North America Act stays in London's hands.

    The rest is history

    This made Canada legally sovereign in almost every field, yet the constitution still had to be amended by the British Parliament at Canada's request. The amending formula remained unsettled for fifty years. That gap is what the 1982 patriation finally closed.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryStatute of Westminster 1931 (22 & 23 Geo. 5, c. 4). Act of the United Kingdom Parliament, 1931.
    2. BookWheare, K. C. The Statute of Westminster and Dominion Status. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1938.

  5. Canadian citizenship and the end of appeals to London

    Event

    What happened

    Canada declares war on Germany in its own right on 10 September 1939, a week after Britain. The Canadian Citizenship Act takes effect on 1 January 1947 and creates a Canadian citizenship distinct from British subject status. In 1949 appeals from Canadian courts to the Privy Council in London are abolished, and the Supreme Court of Canada becomes the final court.

    The rest is history

    Each step cut one of the remaining imperial links. The Second World War also gave Canada a large military and industrial role and a seat in new international bodies such as the United Nations. By the 1950s the Constitution was the main part of Canada's government still tied to Britain.

    Sources

    1. BookStacey, C. P. Arms, Men and Governments: The War Policies of Canada, 1939-1945. Ottawa: Queen's Printer, 1970.
    2. BookBothwell, Robert. Canada and the World since 1945. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2007.

  6. The Quiet Revolution and the Quebec question

    Event

    What happened

    After Jean Lesage's Liberals win the Quebec election in 1960, the province expands state education and health systems and takes control of its economy from the Church and English-speaking business. Nationalist movements grow, and the Front de libération du Québec carries out bombings from 1963. In 1970 the group kidnaps a British diplomat and a Quebec minister, and the federal government invokes the War Measures Act.

    The rest is history

    Quebec's new assertiveness made constitutional reform a pressing national matter, because Quebec wanted more power and recognition of its distinct place. The Parti Québécois, founded in 1968, won power in 1976. It held a referendum on sovereignty-association on 20 May 1980, which the No side won with about 60 percent of the vote. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau had promised constitutional renewal during that campaign.

    Sources

    1. BookBehiels, Michael D. Prelude to Quebec's Quiet Revolution. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1985.
    2. BookMcRoberts, Kenneth. Quebec: Social Change and Political Crisis. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1988.

  7. The patriation struggle, 1980 to 1982

    Event

    What happened

    After the 1980 referendum, Trudeau's government proposes to ask Britain to amend the constitution without the consent of most provinces. Eight provinces object, and in September 1981 the Supreme Court rules that the plan is legal but breaks constitutional convention without substantial provincial consent. On 5 November 1981 the federal government and nine provinces, without Quebec, reach agreement in Ottawa.

    The rest is history

    The deal dropped the proposed provincial opt-out in the Charter's override and added the notwithstanding clause, which lets legislatures override some Charter rights. Indigenous groups and women's groups campaigned for changes, and Aboriginal and treaty rights, along with sex equality, were restored to the text. Quebec's National Assembly voted against it, and the province has never signed the 1982 constitution.

    Sources

    1. BookRussell, Peter H. Constitutional Odyssey: Can Canadians Become a Sovereign People? Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992.
    2. PrimaryReference re Resolution to Amend the Constitution [1981] 1 S.C.R. 753. Supreme Court of Canada, 28 September 1981.

  8. The Constitution Act, 1982

    Event

    What happened

    Queen Elizabeth II proclaims the Constitution Act, 1982 in Ottawa on 17 April 1982. The Canada Act 1982, passed by the British Parliament, ends its power to legislate for Canada. The act includes the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and an amending formula that needs the approval of Parliament and seven provinces with half the population.

    The rest is history

    This completed Canada's legal independence, so the British North America Act became the Constitution Act, 1867. Later attempts to bring Quebec in through the Meech Lake Accord of 1987 and the Charlottetown Accord of 1992 both failed. Quebec held a second sovereignty referendum in 1995, which the No side won by a very narrow margin.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryCanada Act 1982 (UK), c. 11, with the Constitution Act, 1982 as Schedule B. Act of the United Kingdom Parliament, 1982.
    2. BookRomanow, Roy, John Whyte, and Howard Leeson. Canada... Notwithstanding: The Making of the Constitution, 1976-1982. Toronto: Carswell/Methuen, 1984.

  9. Vimy Ridge and the birth of a nation

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Canadians often say their nation was born at Vimy Ridge in April 1917, when the four Canadian divisions fought together for the first time and took the ridge. The victory is said to have turned a colony into a country.

    The rest is history

    The capture of Vimy Ridge was a real success, and Canadian soldiers suffered over 10,000 casualties in the battle. But the idea that it created the nation was shaped mostly by later commemoration, notably the memorial unveiled in 1936. Canada's autonomy came through the political and legal steps described above, including the 1919 treaty signature, the 1931 Statute of Westminster and the 1982 patriation. Historians have also noted that the 1917 conscription crisis divided Canadians as much as the war united them.

    Sources

    1. BookVance, Jonathan F. Death So Noble: Memory, Meaning, and the First World War. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1997.
    2. BookCook, Tim. Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting the Great War, 1917-1918. Toronto: Viking Canada, 2008.

  10. Canada became independent on 1 July 1867

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Canada Day marks Canada's birthday, and many people believe that Canada became an independent country on 1 July 1867.

    The rest is history

    On that date the Dominion of Canada was created, with self-government in domestic matters, but Britain kept control of foreign policy and the power to amend the constitution. Independence came gradually, through the 1919 Versailles signature, the 1931 Statute of Westminster, the 1947 citizenship act and the end of Privy Council appeals in 1949. The final legal step was the Canada Act 1982. The holiday was called Dominion Day until it was renamed Canada Day in 1982.

    Sources

    1. BookBuckner, Phillip, ed. Canada and the End of Empire. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2005.
    2. BookHillmer, Norman, and Philip Wigley. The First British Commonwealth: Essays in Honour of Nicholas Mansergh. London: Frank Cass, 1980.

  11. The Night of the Long Knives

    Popular belief

    The legend

    In Quebec the night of 4 to 5 November 1981 is called the Night of the Long Knives. The story goes that the other provinces and Ottawa made a secret deal while Quebec's delegation slept, betraying the province.

    The rest is history

    Quebec's premier, René Lévesque, had earlier joined an alliance of eight provinces opposing patriation. During negotiations he accepted a federal referendum proposal, and the other premiers then dropped him from their group and negotiated a compromise with Trudeau. The agreement was reached in the kitchen of the Ottawa conference centre, and Quebec's delegation was lodged across the river in Hull. Participants have disputed how far Quebec was deliberately excluded. In December 1981 Quebec's National Assembly formally opposed the package, and a Quebec court challenge ended with the Supreme Court ruling in 1982 that the province had no veto.

    Sources

    1. BookRussell, Peter H. Constitutional Odyssey: Can Canadians Become a Sovereign People? Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992.
    2. BookRomanow, Roy, John Whyte, and Howard Leeson. Canada... Notwithstanding: The Making of the Constitution, 1976-1982. Toronto: Carswell/Methuen, 1984.

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