Law 201 Module 2

Constitution

grants the exclusive, legitimate authority to make law and to enforce the law with force if necessary

setting the rules of the game of government and the rules that govern how to use that power within the nation state

creates structures of the government itself

story that the nation tells about itself

Sovereignty

The constitution puts the power to make and enforce laws in the hands of the Parliament and Provincial legislatures

Constitution composed of

Canada Act of 1982, the Acts and orders referred to in the schedule to the Constitution and any amendment or changes to those Acts

Constitution Act of 1867

Alberta Act of 1905

not an exhaustive list

Treaties

unwritten constitution

Constitution Act 1867

legislation that joined together Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick which created the Dominion of Canada

Senate Member Number

105

House of Commons Number

308

Powers of Fed Gov

1A. The Public Debt and Property.

2. The Regulation of Trade and Commerce.

2A. Unemployment insurance.

3. The raising of Money by any Mode or System of Taxation.

4. The borrowing of Money on the Public Credit.

5. Postal Service.

6. The Census and Statistics.

7. Militia, Military and Naval Service, and Defence.

8. The fixing of and providing for the Salaries and Allowances of Civil and other Officers of the Government of Canada.

9. Beacons, Buoys, Lighthouses, and Sable Island.

10. Navigation and Shipping.

11. Quarantine and the Establishment and Maintenance of Marine Hospitals.

12. Sea Coast and Inland Fisheries.

13. Ferries between a Province and any British or Foreign Country or between Two Provinces.

14. Currency and Coinage.

15. Banking, Incorporation of Banks, and the Issue of Paper Money.

16. Savings Banks.

17. Weights and Measures.

18. Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes.

19. Interest.

20. Legal Tender.

21. Bankruptcy and Insolvency.

22. Patents of Invention and Discovery.

23. Copyrights.

24. Indians, and Lands reserved for the Indians.

25. Naturalization and Aliens.

26. Marriage and Divorce.

27. The Criminal Law, except the Constitution of Courts of Criminal Jurisdiction, but including the Procedure in Criminal Matters.

28. The Establishment, Maintenance, and Management of Penitentiaries.

29. Such Classes of Subjects as are expressly excepted in the Enumeration of the Classes of Subjects by this Act assigned exclusively to the Legislatures of the Provinces.

Powers of Provincial Govs

2. Direct Taxation within the Province in order to the raising of a Revenue for Provincial Purposes.

3. The borrowing of Money on the sole Credit of the Province.

4. The Establishment and Tenure of Provincial Offices and the Appointment and Payment of Provincial Officers.

5. The Management and Sale of the Public Lands belonging to the Province and of the Timber and Wood thereon.

6. The Establishment, Maintenance, and Management of Public and Reformatory Prisons in and for the Province.

7. The Establishment, Maintenance, and Management of Hospitals, Asylums, Charities, and Eleemosynary Institutions in and for the Province, other than Marine Hospitals.

8. Municipal Institutions in the Province.

9. Shop, Saloon, Tavern, Auctioneer, and other Licences in order to the raising of a Revenue for Provincial, Local, or Municipal Purposes.

10. Local Works and Undertakings other than such as are of the following Classes:

(a) Lines of Steam or other Ships, Railways, Canals, Telegraphs, and other Works and Undertakings connecting the Province with any other or others of the Provinces, or extending beyond the Limits of the Province:

(b) Lines of Steam Ships between the Province and any British or Foreign Country:

(c) Such Works as, although wholly situate within the Province, are before or after their Execution declared by the Parliament of Canada to be for the general Advantage of Canada or for the Advantage of Two or more of the Provinces.

11. The Incorporation of Companies with Provincial Objects.

12. The Solemnization of Marriage in the Province.

13. Property and Civil Rights in the Province.

14. The Administration of Justice in the Province, including the Constitution, Maintenance, and Organization of Provincial Courts, both of Civil and of Criminal Jurisdiction, and including Procedure in Civil Matters in those Courts.

15. The Imposition of Punishment by Fine, Penalty, or Imprisonment for enforcing any Law of the Province made in relation to any Matter coming within any of the Classes of Subjects enumerated in this Section.

16. Generally all Matters of a merely local or private Nature in the Province.

Constitution Act 1982

added further details to Canada’s written constitution

included Charter of Rights and Freedoms which prevents the government from breaching the rights of individual Canadians

also recognized existing aborginal and treaty rights

established a process for amending the constitution (process no longer required approval from britain)

Royal Proclamation of 1763

Established that the unceded territories of the Indigenous peoples would be protected from the encroachment of settlers, and protocols would be ensured that the lands reserved for Indigenous People would be honored

Historic Treaties

covered an extensive portion of the land in Canada

much of the historic treaties were made in the spirit of following protocols and diplomacy but as setttler population increased then the majority of treaties were negotiated in a political atmosphere of colonization and subjugation of Indigenous Peoples

Modern Treaties

very detailed and highly complex in their terms of rights

set out complex regulatory regimes that can govern aa number of different matters

eg Nunavut Land Claim Agreement is the largest land claim agreement in history

broad concepts that are apart of unwritten Constitution

constitutional supremacy, federalism, judicial independence, democracy, protection of minorities, rule of law