The Constitution Act, 1867 (Canada)
The founding statute of Confederation — originally the British North America Act, 1867
📖 Go to the source
For the complete official text, see the Government of Canada’s own justice laws archive: Constitution Act, 1867, Justice Laws Website.
In force since July 1, 1867 — still marked every year as Canada Day — the Constitution Act, 1867 (originally enacted by the British Parliament as the British North America Act, 1867) united the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick into a single federal Dominion of Canada. It is the founding instrument of the modern Canadian state.
A federal union
The Act’s preamble declared the intent to form “a Federal Union” with “a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom” — combining British parliamentary government (a Crown-in-Parliament, with a Governor General as the Crown’s representative) with an American-style federal division of powers between a national government and provincial legislatures.
Sections 91 and 92 — Dividing the powers
The Act’s structural core: Section 91 lists the subjects on which the federal Parliament may legislate — including defence, trade and commerce, currency, banking, and criminal law — while Section 92 lists matters reserved to the provincial legislatures, including property and civil rights, hospitals, and matters of a merely local or private nature. This division of powers remains the backbone of Canadian federalism today.
Growing the union
The Act also set out the process by which other British North American colonies and territories could join Confederation — the mechanism through which Manitoba, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, and eventually all of Canada’s current provinces and territories became part of the federation.
From the BNA Act to the Constitution Act
The statute was originally titled the British North America Act, 1867, reflecting its origin as an ordinary Act of the British Parliament in Westminster — Canada did not yet have full authority to amend its own constitution. When Canada “patriated” its constitution in 1982, ending the need for British parliamentary involvement in constitutional amendments, the 1867 Act was renamed the Constitution Act, 1867 and became, alongside the new Constitution Act, 1982 (which added the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms), one of the two central pillars of Canada’s constitution.
Primary source: Constitution Act, 1867 (formerly the British North America Act, 1867), Government of Canada.
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