POL 4134 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Canada Act 1982

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POL 4134
• Professor: Roger Rickwood

Document Summary

Pol4134 law, politics, and the constitution in canada. Canada is a sovereign country, and so our constitution was built over time, not adopted like the united states. The constitution was originally a collaboration between three main provinces not all provinces joined at the same time (newfoundland was the last one to join in 1949) The 1982 version of the constitution acknowledged first nations groups more than previous versions. Purposes: defining our relationship with the united kingdom. Seeking to be a self-defined colony within the british empire (1867) No longer necessary because canada is fully sovereign: establish the institutions that carry out the legislative, executive, and judicial powers, as well as establish the links between them. This was started in the 1867 version, continued to the 1982 version. What was lacking was a way of amending the constitution; neither the provinces nor the federal government could change the constitution the government relied of britain to amend the constitution.