D. The Canada Act 1982

• Author: Patrick J. Monahan - Byron Shaw
• Pages: 184-187

Page 184

The two main purposes of the Canada Act 1982 were to terminate the legal authority of the Westminster Parliament to legislate for Canada, and to define the procedure whereby the English and French versions of the Constitution Act, 1982 could be brought into force. Patriation was

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accomplished by section 2 of the Canada Act 1982, which stated that "[n]o Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed after the Constitution Act, 1982 comes into force shall extend to Canada as part of its law." At the same time, sections 4 and 7(1) of the Statute of Westminster, 1931, which had recognized the continuing authority of Westminster to legislate for Canada, were repealed.⁵⁸Consequently, since 17 April 1982, the Westminster Parliament can no longer enact any changes in Canadian law, including changes to the Constitution of Canada.⁵⁹Although the Canada Act 1982 terminated the legislative authority of Westminster, it did not affect the position or office of the queen. Those provisions of the Constitution of Canada recognizing the queen as Canada’s head of state were unaffected by the Canada Act 1982. The queen’s powers and prerogatives in relation to Canada have largely been delegated to the governor general, but she continues to exercise or perform certain limited functions, such as the appointment of the governor general or of additional senators under section 26.

The Canada Act 1982 also provided that the English and French versions of the Constitution Act, 1982, which took the form of Schedules to the Canada Act 1982, were to come into force in accordance with their terms. Section 58 of the Constitution Act, 1982, states that it comes into force when proclaimed by the queen. In this way the proclamation issued by the queen on 17 April 1982 brought the Charter and the new amending formula into effect. It also fixed the precise date for the termination of the authority of the British Parliament to legislate for Canada.

Section 3 of the Canada Act 1982 provides that the English and French versions of the Constitution Act, 1982 are equally authoritative. This recognition of the equal legal status of both official language versions of the Act was a departure from previous British practice, which had been to enact only English versions of amendments to the BNA Act. Sections 55 and 56 of the Constitution Act, 1982 require that these previous British enactments be translated into French and set out a procedure whereby authoritative...