British North America Acts

The British North America Acts 1867–1975 are a series of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and the Parliament of Canada dealing with the government of Canada, which was known as "British North America" until 1867. The first and most important Act of the series, the British North America Act 1867 (now the Constitution Act, 1867), was passed in 1867, and created the self-governing dominion of Canada. Canada and the other British dominions achieved full legislative sovereignty with the passage of the Statute of Westminster 1931, but prior to the Canada Act 1982 the British North America Acts were excluded from the operation of the Statute of Westminster. In 1949, the Parliament of Canada received the power to make certain types of amendment to the British North America Acts, but other amendments (and all amendments prior to 1949) could only be enacted by the United Kingdom Parliament. This long delay was in large part due to the inability to create a constitutional amendment procedure which was acceptable to all of the provinces, particularly Quebec.

In 1982, Canada patriated its constitution and entrenched within it the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, through the Constitution Act, 1982. By the Canada Act 1982, the British Parliament, acting at the request and with the consent of Canada (excluding the province of Quebec), enacted the Constitution Act 1982, which established a procedure for the amendment of the Canadian constitution by the Canadian Parliament. The British North America Acts 1867–1975 are generally named Constitution Acts in Canada, and together with the Constitution Act 1982 are now collectively known as the Constitution Acts 1867–1982, though they remain named as they originally were in the United Kingdom. These and other Acts form the Constitution of Canada.

The different Acts of the series are distinguished by appending the year of their enactment. BNA Acts were passed in 1867, 1871, 1886, 1907, 1915, 1916*, 1930, 1940, 1943*, 1946*, 1949, 1949 (No. 2) *, 1951*, 1952*, 1960, 1964, 1965, 1974 and 1975. Those marked with (*) have since been repealed.

Five of the British North America Acts were enacted by the Parliament of Canada; namely those of 1952, 1965, 1974, 1975, and 1975 (No. 2). The other fifteen were enacted by the Imperial Parliament at Westminster.

French-language versions

The fifteen BNA Acts enacted by the United Kingdom Parliament do not have official French-language versions. Only the English version is official. The five BNA Acts enacted by the Canadian Parliament do have official French-language versions, and the English-language and French-language versions are equally authoritative (as with all legislation enacted by the Canadian Parliament).

The French Constitutional Drafting Committee produced translations of all the British North America Acts, pursuant to section 55 of the Constitution Act, 1982, but these were never enacted by Parliament to make them official.[1]

British North America Act, 1867

The act comprises a major part of Canada's constitution. The Act entails the original creation of a federal dominion and sets the framework for much of the operation of the Government of Canada, including its federal structure, the House of Commons, the Senate, the justice system, and the taxation system. It received its current name in 1982, with the patriation of the constitution (having originally been enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom). Amendments were also made at this time: section 92A was added, giving provinces greater control over non-renewable natural resources.

British North America Act, 1871

This act gave Canada the power to establish new provinces and territories and change provincial boundaries with the affected province's consent. The act recognized the creation of the province of Manitoba and the incorporation of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory into Canada and allowed parliament and the Ontario and Quebec legislatures to redraw the boundaries of Ontario and Quebec in order to incorporate parts of these acquisitions.[2]

British North America Act, 1886

This act gave parliament the authority to allow the Territories of Canada to have representation in the Canadian Senate and Canadian House of Commons.[3]

British North America Act, 1907

This act regulated transfer payments by the federal government to smaller provinces to support their legislatures and governments. The funds transferred were set at between $100,000 and $250,000 depending on the province's population with an extra $100,000 a year for ten years to British Columbia. [4]

British North America Act, 1915

Expanded the Canadian Senate by giving Western Canadian provinces 24 Senators, the same number guaranteed to Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime provinces. The Act also guaranteed Newfoundland six Senators should the British colony join Confederation (it did in 1949).[5]

British North America Act, 1916

Extended the life of the 12th Canadian Parliament until October 1917, beyond the normal maximum of five years. The extension was due to World War I.[6] This Act was repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act, 1927.[7]

British North America Act, 1930

Gave the newer provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan rights over certain natural resources found in federally controlled crown lands.[8]

British North America Act, 1940

This act gave the federal government the jurisdiction over Unemployment Insurance thus allowing such a progam to be created on a national level.[9] An earlier attempt to create an Unemployment Insurance program during the Great Depression was ruled unconstitutional as unemployment relief was deemed to be a provincial responsibility.

British North America Act, 1943

This act delayed redistribution of seats in the Canadian House of Commons until the end of World War II.[10]

British North America Act, 1946

This act adjusted the formula for distributing seats in the Canadian House of Commons amongst the provinces and territories.[11]

British North America Act, 1949

Allowed for the entry of Newfoundland as the tenth province. It was renamed the Newfoundland Act when Canada's Constitution was patriated from the United Kingdom in 1982.

This Act should not be confused with the British North America (No. 2) Act 1949 (see below).

See also: 1949 in Canada.

British North America (No. 2) Act, 1949

Granted Canada limited powers to amend its own constitution. The Parliament of Canada was thereafter allowed to amend the Canadian constitution in many areas of its own jurisdiction without appealing to the British Parliament first. However, the approval of the British Parliament was still needed for wider constitutional change such as that involving areas of provincial responsibility. Therefore, the Act can best be seen as a "partial patriation" of the Canadian constitution.

The Act was repealed in 1982 with the full patriation of the constitution from the United Kingdom and the addition of a new, comprehensive amending formula.

This Act is not to be confused with the British North America Act, 1949 - later renamed the Newfoundland Act in 1982 - which confirmed the terms of union between Newfoundland and Canada and made Newfoundland the tenth province.

British North America Act, 1951

Gave the federal government the power to pass legislation concerning Old Age Pensions while recognizing the right of provincial legislatures to do likewise.[12] While parliament had instituted an Old Age Pension in 1927 it was administered by the provinces and jointly funded by them. This amendment allowed the federal government to administer and operate its own pension plan and allowed it to pass the Old Age Security Act.[13]

British North America Act, 1952

This was the first of the British North America Acts to be enacted by the Canadian Parliament (rather than the "Imperial Parliament" at London, England). This was possible under the provisions of the British North America (No. 2) Act, 1949.

This act adjusted the number of seats in the House of Commons and limited the number of seats a province could lose due to redistribution based on the census to 15% of its previous number. Gave Yukon territory its own Member of Parliament.[14]

British North America Act, 1960

This act instituted a mandatory retirement age of 75 for all superior court judges. [15]

British North America Act, 1964

This act expanded the federal government's jurisdiction over pensions to include survivor benefits and disability benefits while continuing to allow provincial legislation. [16] This amendment to the BNA Act made the Canada Pension Plan possible.

British North America Act, 1965

This was the second of the British North America Acts to be enacted by the Canadian Parliament (rather than the "Imperial Parliament" at London, England). This was possible under the provisions of the British North America (No. 2) Act, 1949.

Renamed the Constitution Act, 1965 in 1982, this legislation was introduced by the government of Lester B. Pearson and instituted a mandatory retirement age of 75 for all persons appointed to the Canadian Senate. Those appointed prior to the passage of the Act were exempt.[17]

British North America Act, 1974

This was the third of the British North America Acts to be enacted by the Canadian Parliament (rather than the "Imperial Parliament" at London, England). This was possible under the provisions of the British North America (No. 2) Act, 1949.

Changed the rules for the redistribution of seats in the Canadian House of Commons so that Quebec would have 75 seats while other provinces' seat allocation would be determined based on the size of their population in comparison to Quebec's. Provinces continued to be guaranteed to have at least as many MPs as Senators.[18]

British North America Act, 1975

This was the fourth of the British North America Acts to be enacted by the Canadian Parliament (rather than the "Imperial Parliament" at London, England). This was possible under the provisions of the British North America (No. 2) Act, 1949.

Increased the representation of the Northwest Territories in the House of Commons, to two members. [19]

British North America Act (No. 2), 1975

This was the fifth of the British North America Acts to be enacted by the Canadian Parliament (rather than the "Imperial Parliament" at London, England). This was possible under the provisions of the British North America (No. 2) Act, 1949.

Increased the number of Senate seats to 104 from 102 and allocated one seat for the Yukon and one for the Northwest Territories.[20]

External Links

- The original acts cited below are held by the Parliamentary Archives.

Texts on Wikisource: