Constitutional history of Canada

Part of a series on the
Constitution of Canada
Constitutional history Implied bill of rights Bill of Rights (1689) Act of Settlement (1701) Treaty of Paris (1763) Royal Proclamation (1763) Quebec Act (1774) Constitutional Act (1791) Act of Union (1840) Constitution Act (1867) Supreme Court Act (1875) Constitution Act (1886) British North America Acts (1867–1975) Statute of Westminster (1931) Succession to the Throne Act (1937) Letters Patent (1947) Canada Act (1982) Constitution Act, 1982 Succession to the Throne Act, 2013
Document list Amendments Unsuccessful amendments
Constitutional law Constitutional debate Patriation Charter of Rights and Freedoms Canadian federalism Law of Canada Canadian Bill of Rights Implied bill of rights
Canada portal Law portal
v t e

The constitutional history of Canada begins with the 1763 Treaty of Paris, in which France ceded most of New France to Great Britain. Canada was the colony along the St Lawrence River, part of present-day Ontario and Quebec. Its government underwent many structural changes over the following century. In 1867 Canada became the name of the new federal Dominion extending ultimately from the Atlantic to the Pacific and the Arctic coasts. Canada obtained legislative autonomy from the United Kingdom in 1931, and had its constitution (including a new rights charter) patriated in 1982. Canada's constitution includes the amalgam of constitutional law spanning this history.