Canada's Constitutional History

At this point in history, we knew that the UK was creating laws in "order to establish mechanisms for governance in the colonies". Major chartered companies were given lawmaking, judicial and administrative powers over the French colonies.

When Louis XIV established this, it was the only "legitimate source of law throughout New France". Officials were nominated and voted in by the bishop, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, and the kings Governer, with the King having the final say. Church was powerless unless given power from these government officials and civil officials were exempt from any powers the church did have.

At this point in time, France lost a large portion of their North American colonies to the United Kingdom by the Treaty of Utrecht.

In 1763, King George III released The Royal Proclamation in order to create a base for government administration for North American territories after France ceded them to Britain during the Treaty of Paris also in 1763. This could be called the first real established government in Canada. King George reserved western lands specifically for natives, barring all non-natives from entering. If a native group so chose to, they could create a treaty with authorised members of the British monarchy to sell their land.

The Quebec Act introduced a governor and appointed members of a government for Quebec, using a seigneurial system of government. It worked to combine French civil law with English criminal law. The Quebec Act was a highly controversial act which prompted Americans to revolt as they felt offended by its tolerance for Catholicism and because it began to extend Quebec's boundaries towards the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Although highly controversial, "many historians feel its concessions helped encourage French Canadian support of continued British rule".

Upper (Ontario) and Lower (Quebec) Canada were divided by the Ottawa River. This Constitutional Act gave each part of Canada a two-house legislature.

Responsible Government: Government that is responsible for the people, also described as "an executive or Cabinet that is dependent on the support of an elected assembly, rather than on the monarch"
Governor General Lord Durham came to Canada in 1838 after multiple rebellions. He appointed a cabinet of executive members and began to form his idea of the first responsible government. Once the hesitation had passed from other by standing provinces, responsible government was brought to Nova Scotia (1848) and then spread quickly throughout the rest of Canada.

In Ottawa, a "federal Parliment of two chambers" was formed. The House of Commons and the Senate. It outlines a democratic government with three levels; executive, legislative and judiciary. "Peace, order and good government" is the opening phrase of section 91 of the BNA. This provided a clause that "was a general power enabling Parliament to enact laws on matters not specifically conferred upon the provinces, ie, on "residuary" matters".

The Statute of Westminister signified the transfer or power from Britain to Canada's Parliment. This gave former colonies full legal rights as their own independent province "except in areas they chose to be subordinate to Britain". This was the first time a British law was put into place clearly outlining Canada's parliamentary power and independence from Britain.

Amending Formula: "To change the Constitution using the general formula, the change needs to be approved by 1) the federal Parliament, 2) the Senate, and 3) a minimum number of provincial legislatures. There must be at least seven provinces that approve the change, representing at least 50% of Canada’s population. This is often called the 7 + 50 rule. This means that provinces with large populations will typically need to approve a change in order for the amendment to succeed. However, the change cannot happen without some support from provinces with smaller populations."