Constitution

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Québec, formerly Canada

The people of Québec has seen many constitutions throughout history, all of which were made into law by European powers, the notable exception being the current one, enacted in 1982 by the Canadian federal parliament and all but one of Canada's provinces. (We will let you guess which one.) To this day, not a single Québec legislature, whether sovereignist or federalist, liberal or conservative, has agreed to sign the 1982 constitution.

Federal Canada

The British North America Act, enacted by the Parliament of Great Britain in 1867, gave birth to the Dominion of Canada, a federal union of three British American provinces. The British provinces of Canada (formerly two separate colonies named Upper Canada and Lower Canada), New Brunswick and Nova Scotia became federated provinces of a new federal state named Canada, itself an autonomous colony of Great Britain. The provinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada, merged as a single province between 1841 and 1867, were re-separated and given the names of Ontario and Quebec. Since 1867, "Canada" is a word that refers to a federal Dominion and "Quebec" refers to the province previously known as Lower Canada, itself previously known as Quebec, itself previously known as Canada, the most developed region of the province of New France.

The interpretation of this historical event (the birth of a Dominion given the name of Canada) is radically different in Québec when compared to that of the other parts of the federation. In English-speaking Canada, the "confederation" of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia is the act of foundation of Canada itself, and Canada really became Canada in 1867, with the creation of the new federal state. In French-speaking Québec, the conservative politicians who joined the self-proclaimed "Great Coalition" determined to bring about the federal regime sold the federation project to the electorate by promoting it as a confederative pact between two founding nations. Quebec liberals opposed the project as vigorously as the liberals of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, however while the anti-confederation movement eventually died out in the maritime provinces, it continued in Québec to this day.

In 1931, the Statute of Westminster gave formal independence to the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, the Irish Free State and the Dominion of Newfoundland.

United Kingdom

From 1763 to 1847, all laws intended to rule the lives of Quebecers had to be approved 1) by a Governor receiving orders from the Colonial Office attached to the British governement and 2) by the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain which includes the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Crown. Between 1848 and 1866, the laws had to be approved 1) by a Cabinet made out of members of the elected Legislative Assembly and 2) by the Governor and 3) the Imperial Parliament.

From 1867 to 1931, all provincial laws had to be approved by the Parliament of Quebec and federal laws by the federal Dominion Parliament in addition to the usual approvals by the Governor and the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain. As of 1931, all Quebec laws and Canadian laws could be adopted without the approval of the Imperial Parliament, except laws modifying the constitution of the Dominion. Since 1982, the legal and political separation with Great Britain is complete except at the symbolic level, because the Sovereign of the UK is also the sovereign of Canada.

Colonial regimes

Quebecers suffered quite a number of successive colonial regimes throughout their history. Here they are, in chronological order:

  • 1534 to 1663 - First French Colonial Regime, Company Rule: 129 years
  • 1663 to 1759 - Second French Colonial Regime, Sovereign Council: 96 years
  • 1759 - Québec City British Occupation: 3 months
  • 1759 to 1763 - First British Military Regime: 4 years
  • 1763 to 1774 - British Royal Regime: 11 years
  • 1774 to 1791 - First British Parliamentary Regime: 17 years
  • 1791 to 1837 - Second British Parliamentary Regime: 46 years
  • 1838 - Second British Military Regime: 1 year
  • 1839 to 1840 - Third British Parliamentary Regime, Special Council: 2 years
  • 1840 to 1867 - Fourth British Parliamentary Regime, Union of Upper and Lower Canada: 27 years
  • 1867 to present - Fifth British Parliamentary Regime, federal Dominion: 136 years

Total: 472 years in 2006

Other relevant documents

Constitutional terminology

See also

Sources